South Lakes Wild Animal Park South lakes 2014 news

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Chlidonias said:
I'm not sure I follow you. It says "Hand-feed giraffes, penguins and lemurs and get up close to tigers, lions, rhinos and hippos. A day you'll never forget."

How is that misleading when they do have pigmy hippos?
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Agreed and seconded -it's no more "misleading" than any zoo claiming they have penguins which turn out not to be the more iconic versions (King or Emperor) found on the biscuit wrapper or Lions which (are Asian and) don't have the classic big manes.

Unfortunately I think there's a little bit of a shooting (sometimes very miniscule) fish in a barrel mentality when it comes to South Lakes where, because it has no vocal apologists (apart from Gill himself), some people are picking increasingly petty matters to score points from. A similar thing happens with Twycross.

I'm not against criticising either of these, or any other, collections (as my past posts will attest) it's just that I believe that any points raised should have a little more substance.
 
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Perhaps at times some members do make petty critical remarks about certain zoos, but I don't think all criticism is petty, most of it is justified.Perhaps both Twycross and South Lakes have themselves to blame for the criticism aimed at them as neither allow any negative comments on their respective facebook pages, the culprit is barred. In fairness to South Lakes I do suspect at times a certain amount of jealousy has crept in from certain members as David Gill, despite his very outspoken views and at times unorthodox business practices has been successful in running this zoo now for twenty years, which he started from virtually nothing, no mean achievement by any means, perhaps if some people thought about this instead of a constant stream of negative comments about his zoo then they may start to see things in a different light, I am not stating that every thing is fine and perfect at this zoo, far from it, but there is a great deal of difference from being a zoo owner to critical zoo enthusiast.
 
Animal Friendly said:
Perhaps at times some members do make petty critical remarks about certain zoos, but I don't think all criticism is petty, most of it is justified.Perhaps both Twycross and South Lakes have themselves to blame for the criticism aimed at them as neither allow any negative comments on their respective facebook pages, the culprit is barred. In fairness to South Lakes I do suspect at times a certain amount of jealousy has crept in from certain members as David Gill, despite his very outspoken views and at times unorthodox business practices has been successful in running this zoo now for twenty years, which he started from virtually nothing, no mean achievement by any means, perhaps if some people thought about this instead of a constant stream of negative comments about his zoo then they may start to see things in a different light, I am not stating that every thing is fine and perfect at this zoo, far from it, but there is a great deal of difference from being a zoo owner to critical zoo enthusiast.
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Without doubt the biggest pile of BS I've seen on this site in a long time. So you claim people are jealous of this man as they are frustrated zoo owners and they are critical because he's done something they haven't?

Given the allegations involved I'm saying nothing else but you've got a lot to learn or else you are Yorik posting under another name.
 
Gary said:
Without doubt the biggest pile of BS I've seen on this site in a long time. So you claim people are jealous of this man as they are frustrated zoo owners and they are critical because he's done something they haven't?

Given the allegations involved I'm saying nothing else but you've got a lot to learn or else you are Yorik posting under another name.
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Well I am now accused by your good self of being Yorik!, I am Animal Friendly not Mike Yarwood, who may I wonder will you suggest I am next, Will Travers, Tea loving Dave, Chlilonias?, you also suggested recently that I was Jane Doe, well if I wished to pursue a career as a female impersonator, which I do not, I would take to the stage six nights a week to packed houses at the London Palladium and make millions, just like Danny La Rue, You naughty little zoo chatter Gary. all together now "Hold your hand out you naughty boy, hold your hand out you naughty boy!!
 
just because someone is having a different view on the place does not make them yorik. i personally love south lakes i know some of the enclosures are run down and a bit strange but for someone that built the zoo from scratch its good! I think that having mixed enclosures is a good thing because its more natural for the animals and it gives the owner more space to bring in more animals.

I am probably going to be accused of being mr gill now aren't i!!!!!!!:p

so mr gill ignore some of the rude comments on this silly thread and keep up the good work!!!!!!!!!:):):):):)
 
[E=banham.tiger;791099] I think that having mixed enclosures is a good thing because its more natural for the animals and it gives the owner more space to bring in more animals.
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Not referring here to South Lakes in particular, but I think that is a blanket statement and one probably held by some zoo visitors who see mixed exhibits too. In some cases it works well and looks fine too. Giraffe, White Rhino etc and (some) antelope(or zebra) normally seem to work well for example. Often however there are hidden 'undercurrents' which you can't see- zebras will kill antelope fawns for example, though the adults look fine out grazing together. Males of unrelated species will sometimes fight each other in the absence of rivals of their own species too.

Animals in the wild, even those that inhabit the same environment, often don't actually meet or associate together closely in the way they have to in a Zoo or park because of the much more limited space. So just because several species kept together are all from 'Africa' or 'South America' doesn't mean it is at all natural for them to share an enclosure. Some mixed exhibits- the unsuitable ones, actually cause a great degree of stress or even fighting- usually the species in the mix have an order of dominance so the ones lowest in the pecking order are the worst off. This isn't always evident from casual observation however, when the animals may appear quite content for periods of time.
 
banham.tiger said:
I think that having mixed enclosures is a good thing because its more natural for the animals and it gives the owner more space to bring in more animals.
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I think this highlights the main reason why it is difficult to take South Lakes seriously next to other UK zoos. There is very much a mentality of pack in as many animals as you can, even if it involves rotating use of an outdoor exhibit / putting a hand reared tiger back with its parents / incompatible mixed exhibits that cause considerable stress (Spectacled Bears with Tapir) and risk to the species involved.

It reminds me somewhat of playing 'Zoo Tycoon' when I was younger, when I would try and fit in every single species in the game - often by putting together bizarre mixed exhibits (Gorillas/Chimps/Okapi/Bongo/Mandrill/Pygmy Hippo was an old favourite of mine). Although I haven't yet managed to get to South Lakes to see for myself, this attitude appears to be in plain sight purely from reading updates from the place.
 
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