Chester Zoo Islands - Opening and impressions

I have been quite critical of the handling of Islands however when you post this I have to speak out

redstarsmith said:
Walking from the Elephants past Monkey Islands through to the South American area my students saw a total of 8 animals 7 of which included the Elephants themselves and after a lot of searching a Tapir. The old Anona paddock was empty. One Orang on display. Jags as usual missing. In Islands only 2 animals on view the Warty Pigs. Asian paddock empty. Giraffes locked in so Okapis not on view as well.
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Orangs and Jags have huge enclosures allowing them to explore and disappear from view (which is a must for a modern zoo) and is something needed for the welfare of the animals. So how can you complain about not seeing them and then state that they are prioritizing the commercial over the animals. If this was the case we would see animals packed into un finished enclosures in numbers so many you definitely would see them.

And the Giraffe house was closed for a birth which you reported, therefore is justified why they had closed it, or should you have been allowed entrance to disturb them at a critical time for mother and calf? :confused:

redstarsmith said:
But they are far more concerned with getting the commercial operations up and running and up to speed rather than the welfare of the animals because again quite frankly I pay my money for the animals first and expect the exhibits to be done first rather than the cladding on the Food court.
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It also meant to be an adventure Islands, one you may not see everything you go exploring for, however said that the Zoo need to make sure they are up front with customers and tell them that only these animals may be visible.
 
redstarsmith said:
Did either of you Maguari or Prawnie1975 visit the Zoo yesterday? Are you speaking from knowledge or guessing what my students experience was? I have been to Chester Zoo 100's of times and have never had an experience like that. I really don't feel that my comments are extreme. Chester Zoo obviously is trying to position itself amongst the elite Zoos in the world and the experience has to match that. Yesterday Chester Zoo did not act like they are the Elite they acted arrogantly.

Walking from the Elephants past Monkey Islands through to the South American area my students saw a total of 8 animals 7 of which included the Elephants themselves and after a lot of searching a Tapir. The old Anona paddock was empty. One Orang on display. Jags as usual missing. In Islands only 2 animals on view the Warty Pigs. Asian paddock empty. Giraffes locked in so Okapis not on view as well. I could go on and on and on. Paddock after paddock was completely empty. I understand the complex nature of animal behavior more than my students but 12 year olds who have travelled over on a ferry and by by coach for over 5 hours do not understand how they can walk for hours and hours and see very few animals.
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But short of staking the animals out in the middle of the paddock, what is the zoo meant to do about that? If animals are given free movement, sometimes they will not be seen. If you'd gone through Monkey Islands instead of past it you would certainly have seen more animals (or indeed via the hunting dogs, where more of the animals, including the rhinos, have indoor viewing).

And of course the old anoa paddock's empty, they only moved last week and it's hardly a high-profile enclosure to fill!


redstarsmith said:
I think the Zoo is a disgrace on this issue because my students have payed their money to see animals but the Zoo has seen them as a group to exploit for more money. How many staff not taking photos do you really need? Did they really need 30 staff milling about doing nothing when the ride had broken down? Surely getting them into the Zoo talking to the thousands of kids there and explaining why they couldn't see many of the animals or explaining what they could do to get a better view would be be a better use of their time.
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I don't know what the 30 staff you refer to were meant to be doing so can't comment. Were they all stood together in one place or all over the zoo? I don't believe the photographers are actually employed by the zoo - they are outside contractors as I understand it.


redstarsmith said:
As for the ride the kids have paid their money and as far as I am concerned have been discriminated against by being refused entry. They are good kids who walk away with negative attitudes with the place.
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As Rob asked, were you offered any 'official' explanation for this? If not then this is clearly a just cause for upset, but I'm aware there may be an explanation.
 
I was at the zoo yesterday, I believe I may have seen some of your school group (maybe the teachers/leaders) they had to wait for the next boat because they all wanted to go on the same boat, which is understandable, so my family of 3 queue jumped past them.
The Tapir where not currently in their enclosure, they where in the opposite paddock that used to house Vicuna.
 
no i wasn't there yesterday as i was in work but i can understand why you wern't happy that all the animals wern't on show ... you can't force a animal to sit there and be pretty 24/7 ... i go regular sometimes once a week and sometimes animals are not in pubic sight but you can't blame the zoo for that
 
I asked a few questions earlier about the zoo opening Islands to early and got some good replies but again not just on here but other social media as well the zoo unfortunately is taking a pounding from the general public.

I do feel the zoo have put the finances before anything else on this as why would you open an new exhibit if it wasn't completed.

Mind you people can always come and walk around my garden (just refurbished) I have at least 20 species of birds that can be seen over the day and it's free!!
 
prawnie1975 said:
its one thing that really annoys me has though people visiting the zoo simply forget that there is the other part of the zoo to visit with plenty of animals to see so really your not wasting your money ... i can understand that the Islands are not finished but its been mentioned on here quite a few times and also on the Facebook page that they are not finished so people should know what to expect
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But the zoo has run a huge advertising campaign - leaflets, tv adverts, internet adverts - promoting Islands. And people come looking for Islands. And find .....
 
Funnily enough I've just seen the tv advert seconds ago on C4.

"Six South East Asian islands just waiting to be explored"

And which six would they be if I went tomorrow?
 
People ...., mind you it is a big project .... really for any zoo! Give it some time, will you!!! Rome was never built in a day and neither has the Islands project at NZES/Chester Zoo.

In its current state of development, it will no doubt linger for another few months or so before it really will look the part. And: there will always be learning curves and stuff that comes out a way it was not planned for or it might need some remodifying. We can only learn by learning from any of our mistakes, OK!!? And I am in no way even suggesting here they made any or any big ones!

The plantings will have grown significantly, which at the moment they have not. Et cetera .... Et cetera.

Illustrative: at the new Vincennes Zoo in Paris people are still complaining about the exhibitry and plantings!!!
 
Seems the problem is in the expectation- I personally would not plan a visit for many months to come now to allow the whole thing to mature and be completed- like next year!;) Of course for people who have to book in advance e.g. school parties etc even knowing in advance there were major sections incomplete wouldn't help very much as they would be unable to alter the date of their visit. That's bound to lead to a lot of disappointment initially.
 
There's quite a long review of "Islands" in this morning's Guardian: Chester Zoo: walk with the animals | Travel | The Guardian.

The review is broadly positive, but a little lukewarm - there's a sense of the writer's frustration at looking at what might be and will be, rather than at what actually is.

(In the same paper, there is also a review of the overnight accommodation at Port Lympne, but that's another story).

Fair play to the zoo's marketing team - they have secured excellent coverage for Islands. Whether this is all rather premature is another matter (and I think it would be difficult to argue otherwise). One thing I will say, in the zoo's defence, is that there is nothing to sharpen minds as much as a deadline - I rather suspect that, whenever the opening date was set, there would have been a rush to meet the deadline and a finishing off that would follow after. Knowing that, however, it does seem rather naive of the zoo to have leapt in with both feet in promoting the opening of the thing. Oh well - you live and learn....
 
sooty mangabey said:
(In the same paper, there is also a review of the overnight accommodation at Port Lympne, but that's another story).
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Thanks, I'd conspired to miss that even though it's on the opposite page. :o Then again, having dug it out the recycle bag and read it I'm not sure it was worth the effort. :D
 
I have had a few busy days with the end of the school term and wanted to make a final post. I will not direct my comments at any particular people but wish to reply to some points made and clarify my comments.

It was suggested, after my review of Islands, that I should consider the experience of the core of the zoo as a balance to my opinion and comments about Islands. To which I replied with a description of what had been seen on the day of my review. Others then implied or suggested that I advocate animal cruelty. This refers to comments about tying animals to stakes in the ground and over population of the exhibits. At no point in my comments did I suggest that is what I advocate or any other form of animal cruelty. Nor did I ever blame Chester Zoo for the empty exhibits I merely gave a description of a dispointing experience on the day and why that amplified the disappointment of Islands.

To clarify further:

I am a life long supporter of Chester Zoo

I have, what I believe are, very high standards for what I think is acceptable in Zoos especially when it comes to the experience of children (see my review of Bristol Zoo 2013)

My students travelled from the Isle of Man (this includes a ferry journey that lasted 3hrs, a hotel stay and coach journey of an hour) based on publicly and expectation of the Islands exhibits

They expected to see Islands open bar Monsoon Forest and Sumatra because of the recent promotional material released by Chester Zoo

They were very disappointed to see a very high number of exhibits empty in the core of the zoo.

They were very disappointed with the experience of Islands. Including being barred from the Water Ride with no explanation etc etc

Between them they spent approximately £2000 at the zoo including ticket admission. After six years of this trip we will now consider alternatives in future

Many of those students do not wish to visit a zoo ever again which could be the worst legacy of this experience


What do I blame Chester Zoo for?

Extremely Poor communication (in many different areas)

Getting the commercial side of Islands up and running before the exhibit side of islands

Opening Islands before it was ready

Opening phase 1 before it was ready

Not allowing paying customers on the water ride

Not giving those customers an explanation


My students were very dispointed by the experience in the core of the Zoo (understandable that's the luck of the draw) but they felt cheated by the experience of Islands and that is squarely down to Chester Zoo
 
I personally completely relate and sympathise with your experience redstarsmith, and agree with your post.

I'm disappointed by Chester,this dissapointment is not because Islands isn't finished (I understand these things take time and often encounter delays).

I think it's been terribly managed, and to advertise an incomplete attraction the way they have is completely unfair on visitors. Members often don't realise that a visit to the zoo might be a "once in a year" thing for most families. Large families may spend £100+ to enter and visit the zoo, and are met with an incomplete islands attraction. Is it fair to ask those families to spend another £100 to come back a few months later? If I was in their position Chester would be crossed of my personal attractions list too.
 
My Niece visited yesterday and all I can say is she won't be going back to the zoo in the future.

In fact she described it as having a Christmas Dinner without the Turkey, Vegetables & Gravy (I take it she meant just Potatoes) and she's a member and will not be renewing her membership as she feels she's been misinformed by the zoo.
 
I have to agree with the last three posters.

Personally I enjoyed our (preview day) trip round Islands and was already well aware that there wouldn't be many animals to see.

But I think the Marketing Department deserve to be kicked from Caughall Road to the Lecture Theatre and back again for their handling of this.

To still be running TV ads featuring Molly searching for those ****** Sumatran Tigers on Islands, and claiming there are six islands to explore is wrong, wrong, wrong!
 
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