Chester Zoo Islands - Opening and impressions

ChesterZooFan said:
I do really hope that there is no lasting impact from the handling of this. I doubt there will be, but it is a good lesson for the zoo going forward. The last thing they can afford to do is lose the trust and respect of their members and visitors.
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I think that there are a lot of lessons to be learned from the whole process of the development of Islands: that means the good things as well the ones that went wrong of course. Although it is smaller in scale than the aborted 'Heart of Africa', it is by far the most ambitious project that the zoo has ever taken on, and well outside the experience of most of the staff involved.
Therefore it is important to analyse the procedures to improve on them in the future by better project management, staff training and so on. I do not mean that heads should roll, as I don't expect there has been any gross negligence or incompetence. Rather I hope that the Trustees will consider how to do this in a sensitive and constructive manner, once Stage 2 is complete.
Then we can expect that Stage 3 will run more smoothly.

Alan
 
adrian1963 said:
NEWS FLASH there are new animals in the ISLANDS PROJECT area of the zoo we would like to thank the British Farmers for contributing but unfortunately we don't sell supermarket milk here lol
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:confused: Is this a statement Chester put out? :confused:
 
Made a brief visit this afternoon and things are progressing very well. Observations as follows:

A new anoa has joined the mother and young. I assume it is a male to replace the one that died a few months ago.

The tiger enclosure looks finished with lush planting and additional platforms. The path leading to this has also been well planted and screened off from the site entrance.

Sulawesi macaque enclosure is almost complete. There were several staff adding finishing touches and testing the waterfall. I was told they are not far away from moving over.

Additional signage (some thematic, directional and adopters) has been added which makes the current areas that are open seem more polished.

Both waterfalls are fully operational and are a nice touch to the over all look and feel.

The inside of the school house, which will show a specially commissioned 4D video, looks close to completion, with workmen installing the tech required.

New underwater fencing has been erected in the warty pig and anoa exhibits. I was told the old fencing wasn't suitable (don't know why) and was therefore replaced

The only area I feel lets down the rest is the planting of the anoa and babirusa enclosures. I understand there are limitations due to the animals eating certain plants etc but it just feels bare compared to the lush planting everywhere else.
 
adrian1963 said:
It's a joke on the theme that is currently going on in the UK
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Well sorry but I can only speak for myself but I am not laughing,as I have alot of friends that are farmers many of which are dairy farmers,including one that is on the verge of going bankrupt,so you will forgive me if I don't find this very funny as he is very worried and scared as too just what will happen to him,his wife and 3 kids,if the farm does go under!
 
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Not only was it in rather bad taste, but it didn't have any context or relevance to the discussion either..... :rolleyes:
 
It's beer talk from our friend who is a nice chap but trips himself up. Read similar before.....
 
Reports from a regular visitor on Facebook suggest the Sulawesi Macaques have now left their old enclosure.

Species number 5 coming up! :D
 
Maguari said:
Reports from a regular visitor on Facebook suggest the Sulawesi Macaques have now left their old enclosure.

Species number 5 coming up! :D
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From that I take it you are discounting the Bird species in the Bali Bird Temple and all the herps,fish and inverts off-show in the monsoon forest then!
 
zoogiraffe said:
From that I take it you are discounting the Bird species in the Bali Bird Temple and all the herps,fish and inverts off-show in the monsoon forest then!
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Well, yes! Off-show species don't count yet. :D

Are the birds actually visible in the aviary now? Haven't seen that reported anywhere.
 
They were putting finishing touches to the outside enclosure Tuesday - it looks stunning I have to say. Hope they do scatter feeds outdoors so they can be seen, as in my experience they tend to spend most of their time inside. With monsoon forest not opening for a while it may be a 5th viewable species, but only of they venture outside!
 
Maguari said:
Well, yes! Off-show species don't count yet. :D

Are the birds actually visible in the aviary now? Haven't seen that reported anywhere.
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The 'temple' was finished a couple of weeks ago, so I assume they are in their just getting used to the surroundings.

Have a feeling that phase 2 might not be that far away now.....
 
zoogiraffe said:
I have that feeling as well,but it will be a phase 2 with no Gibbons or Orangs in it,so will be shutting again once they move across!
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I know the orangs will not be moving for quite a while, but I thought the gibbons were not going to be part of Islands at all - at least not this year? They were on the original plans but thought a decision had been made to keep them in RORA? Going forward would be great to have a larger breeding group in Monsoon Forest.
 
ChesterZooFan said:
I know the orangs will not be moving for quite a while, but I thought the gibbons were not going to be part of Islands at all - at least not this year? They were on the original plans but thought a decision had been made to keep them in RORA? Going forward would be great to have a larger breeding group in Monsoon Forest.
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I never said it was the Gibbons in the zoo!!!
 
ChesterZooFan said:
Hope they do scatter feeds outdoors so they can be seen, as in my experience they tend to spend most of their time inside. With monsoon forest not opening for a while it may be a 5th viewable species, but only of they venture outside!
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Unfortunately, like so many Forest-dwelling species(which is what Sulawesi macaques are really), they feel happier in the Zoo situation in their covered indoor environment. 'Going outside' is rather like leaving the security of the forest and canopy, to forage in open clearings or come down to ground level, with their associated perils. So they only do so at intervals.

The boats may well mostly drift past an empty enclosure here- unless efforts are made to continually draw them outside (as you said) with scatter feeds etc.
 
Pertinax said:
The boats may well mostly drift past an empty enclosure here- unless efforts are made to continually draw them outside (as you said) with scatter feeds etc.
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I don't see it being an issue, the enclosure size surely can accomondate a bigger group. In summer I find there are usually Macaques out and about on their island in the current exhibit, plus I expect at least the first few months they will be busy explore such a large exhibit. It would be nice to know if it is a 24hr access to the outdoor enclosure as getting them back in could be fun, which may limit the scatter feeds outside to ensure they can secure the macaques.

I also wonder if such fears will change over time for animals? Long term research would be good on this.
 
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