A few notes: 1) At the time of writing this I have not completed the zoo 2) I have created a completely new thread to keep everything together as I will do this in sections 3) This isn't a tacky marine park 4) This is my first (proper) marine park I've designed, and I've never visited one before.
Location
My marine park is based somewhere in the UK, so not a warm climate, that's why much of it's located indoors or under cover. It's based in a coastal town.
The History
The two founders/ owners, Betty and Pat, originally owned a small fish shop in the town where the current park is based. Soon they realised a lot of people came to see the fish,and not to make a purchase. Consequently, they built a small aquarium in the small building at the rear of the shop, a year after opening the aquarium, they purchased three Humboldt Penguins from an animal dealer, these lived in a small enclosure.
In 1969 they purchased part of the site which is now occupied by the park. They bought it at a fairly low price for the size of the site. Its a large brownfield site, which is a derelict rubbish tip (the brownfield site is now fully occupied by the car park). They set about building the aquarium building, which still included the fish shop. In January 1970, they opened to the public and in their first year made a large profit. At this time most of the fish were just common fish in the pet trade, but they started to get more exotic and less common fish. By 1971 they had more penguins, seals, otters, sharks and a lot more animals, gradually they found themselves expanding.
In 1972, they purchased more land and set about building a pool for two Bottlenose Dolphins. The dolphin's arrived and they had the most profitable year yet.
In 1980, they purchased all of the land, which is now owned by the marine park. They also created their large lakes for their growing amount of cetaceans, these are still used to this day.
In 1982, they completed their large dolphinarium, which was built for doing educational shows. This still exists to this day.
In 1990 they launched their charity, Sea SOS, which aims to save the seas, in partnership with other organisations. This year also saw them become a not for profit organisation.
General Information
They stand for Education and Conservation, not entertainment, like most marine parks. They breed many rare fish and other species such as Hawksbill Sea Turtles.
Their visitor numbers are annually in excess of 750,000 people, which means a lot of money goes to various marine charities.
They continue to hold cetacea, but Betty once said in an interview "We still, and always will hold dolphins and porpoises, but we believe as an organisation, they should only be held in large naturalistic conditions, and not small cramped tanks. We also don't think anything larger than a Bottlenose Dolphin should be held, due to the size being needed to large to cater for in captivity".
All their animal shows (dolphin and sea lions) are educational, and only exhibit natural and useful tricks for ease of veterinary treatment, not anything like blowing plastic horns or dolphin's firing people into the air. They are all accompanied by a talk about, cetacea/ pinnipeds in the wild, how they are endangered, and even about how they are wild caught, like the Taiji dolphin hunt.
This is all I will post for now, although I will start on the tour a little later. Please comment and give me your opinion's and constructive criticisms. I hope you enjoyed reading so far and thank you for reading!
Location
My marine park is based somewhere in the UK, so not a warm climate, that's why much of it's located indoors or under cover. It's based in a coastal town.
The History
The two founders/ owners, Betty and Pat, originally owned a small fish shop in the town where the current park is based. Soon they realised a lot of people came to see the fish,and not to make a purchase. Consequently, they built a small aquarium in the small building at the rear of the shop, a year after opening the aquarium, they purchased three Humboldt Penguins from an animal dealer, these lived in a small enclosure.
In 1969 they purchased part of the site which is now occupied by the park. They bought it at a fairly low price for the size of the site. Its a large brownfield site, which is a derelict rubbish tip (the brownfield site is now fully occupied by the car park). They set about building the aquarium building, which still included the fish shop. In January 1970, they opened to the public and in their first year made a large profit. At this time most of the fish were just common fish in the pet trade, but they started to get more exotic and less common fish. By 1971 they had more penguins, seals, otters, sharks and a lot more animals, gradually they found themselves expanding.
In 1972, they purchased more land and set about building a pool for two Bottlenose Dolphins. The dolphin's arrived and they had the most profitable year yet.
In 1980, they purchased all of the land, which is now owned by the marine park. They also created their large lakes for their growing amount of cetaceans, these are still used to this day.
In 1982, they completed their large dolphinarium, which was built for doing educational shows. This still exists to this day.
In 1990 they launched their charity, Sea SOS, which aims to save the seas, in partnership with other organisations. This year also saw them become a not for profit organisation.
General Information
They stand for Education and Conservation, not entertainment, like most marine parks. They breed many rare fish and other species such as Hawksbill Sea Turtles.
Their visitor numbers are annually in excess of 750,000 people, which means a lot of money goes to various marine charities.
They continue to hold cetacea, but Betty once said in an interview "We still, and always will hold dolphins and porpoises, but we believe as an organisation, they should only be held in large naturalistic conditions, and not small cramped tanks. We also don't think anything larger than a Bottlenose Dolphin should be held, due to the size being needed to large to cater for in captivity".
All their animal shows (dolphin and sea lions) are educational, and only exhibit natural and useful tricks for ease of veterinary treatment, not anything like blowing plastic horns or dolphin's firing people into the air. They are all accompanied by a talk about, cetacea/ pinnipeds in the wild, how they are endangered, and even about how they are wild caught, like the Taiji dolphin hunt.
This is all I will post for now, although I will start on the tour a little later. Please comment and give me your opinion's and constructive criticisms. I hope you enjoyed reading so far and thank you for reading!
Last edited:
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, hope you enjoyed!
