A look at the plans suggest some hugely ambitious ideas, but I do wonder if they wouldn't do better to open it with the sort of unpretentious wire and log cabin exhibits that typified Marwell in 1972 - say with gibbons, Tigers, Snow Leopards, giraffe, Grevy's (or Hartmann's) zebra, some unusual deer and antelope - animals that could be done comparatively cheaply with ABC potential.
Fundraising would surely be easier with visitors actually going to the place.
A look at the plans suggest some hugely ambitious ideas, but I do wonder if they wouldn't do better to open it with the sort of unpretentious wire and log cabin exhibits that typified Marwell in 1972 - say with gibbons, Tigers, Snow Leopards, giraffe, Grevy's (or Hartmann's) zebra, some unusual deer and antelope - animals that could be done comparatively cheaply with ABC potential.
Fundraising would surely be easier with visitors actually going to the place.
I think that would entirely miss the point. It's clear the vision for the National Wildlife Park was to be an "eden project"-type, multi-sensory "wow" experience, not another backyard animal collection. Whether it will ever happen, given the retirement of its visionary and the daunting economic environment, is a very different question.
You do realize that the Marwell type enclosures are what give the UK zoos a bad name to those of us outside of the UK? When I picture a typical UK zoo that is what I think of and it leaves me with no desire to hop on a flight a visit anytime soon.
You do realize that the Marwell type enclosures are what give the UK zoos a bad name to those of us outside of the UK? When I picture a typical UK zoo that is what I think of and it leaves me with no desire to hop on a flight a visit anytime soon.
A 'bad name'? I think that's somewhat excessive. As I said in another thread:
...in the UK quality isn't measured in terms of immersive exhibits and theming but rather a far more utilitarian approach is taken instead. I don't think this has an effect on animal welfare but there is no doubt that they are very different visitor experiences.
It's interesting that this extends to many aspects of life. I would say a similar difference exists between US and UK universities. In the US campuses are mostly beautiful and many aspire to look like a 'traditional' university. In Britain there is quite a different aesthetic and sense of design and its relationship with function and people. Ultimately the buildings have the same job but the process of packaging them is completely different.
The different philanthropic culture we have in the UK compared with the US also means that British zoos simply function differently. Most could never hope to have exhibits on the same scale of immersion or theming as the States so it just isn't on the agenda in most cases. There are large scale developments but I would argue that they are quite different to their US equivalents.
It's not just about money, there is a utilitarian culture to some extent which is suspicious of anything too theme-park like, too flashy. (see recent discussions on London Zoo for this) Again, this doesn't only apply to zoos!
I should add that I am not here defending the UK because I live here - in many ways I am quite indifferent to this country and am often highly critical, especially of the culture that is so hostile to large scale infrastructural investment and instead it shuffles along with a make do and mend attitude constantly harping on about past glories rather than actually looking forward thinking about how things could be done in new ways.
A 'bad name'? I think that's somewhat excessive. As I said in another thread:
I should add that I am not here defending the UK because I live here - in many ways I am quite indifferent to this country and am often highly critical, especially of the culture that is so hostile to large scale infrastructural investment and instead it shuffles along with a make do and mend attitude constantly harping on about past glories rather than actually looking forward thinking about how things could be done in new ways.
But I look at the beautiful, subtle but undeniably impressive Eden Project, the innovations at Living Coasts, London's Natural History Museum renovations, Bristol's seal/penguin exhibit, some of the newer developments at Chester and perhaps even some of ZSL's latest projects and think that there is hope and perhaps even momentum for a new way of looking at design of natural history/environmental exhibitions in the UK. The programmes for giant "biodomes" at Chester and Bristol may be postponed, but the thinking behind them is clearly an effort to move away from the agrarian/hobbyist approach so prevalent at Howlett's and similar places. I have no doubt that there will be some progressive and inspiring future developments in the UK zoo community; but retreating to the utilitarian wire cage and log cabin aesthetic of Marwell et al is most certainly not the way forward.
But I look at the beautiful, subtle but undeniably impressive Eden Project, the innovations at Living Coasts, London's Natural History Museum renovations, Bristol's seal/penguin exhibit, some of the newer developments at Chester and perhaps even some of ZSL's latest projects and think that there is hope and perhaps even momentum for a new way of looking at design of natural history/environmental exhibitions in the UK. The programmes for giant "biodomes" at Chester and Bristol may be postponed, but the thinking behind them is clearly an effort to move away from the agrarian/hobbyist approach so prevalent at Howlett's and similar places. I have no doubt that there will be some progressive and inspiring future developments in the UK zoo community; but retreating to the utilitarian wire cage and log cabin aesthetic of Marwell et al is most certainly not the way forward.
reduakari, I am NOT a nostalgist for the past. But I don't have excessive hopes for the future. As Shirokuma pointed out, for historic reasons we don't have the number of generous private philanthropists in the UK that you are fortunate to have in the US.
Whether we like it or not, the UK is a far poorer country than the US, and we need to cut our cap according to our cloth.
In the specific case of Hollywood Towers (the site of NWCP), which you may not have realised, the interminable delays in its opening are facilitating the devlopment of a really rather odd operation:http://www.noahsarkzoofarm.co.uk/pages/research/research.phphttp://, whose main raison d'etre seems to be the promotion of intelligent design.
I really fear that if Bristol's ruling body don't get on with things, the chance for a venerable zoo (opened in 1835, when California still had another decade under Mexican rule!) to have a site that will enable it to be involved with large animals will disappear, because the market will not be there. Hence my earlier comments.
