lions and tigers of glasgow zoo

Some of my pictures of the lions and tigers at Glasgow Zoo. My pride and joy...and dispite to the press reports and from those of the anti-zoo groups. These cats like all the other animals were well cared for, given the best husbandry and enrichment, and given that we wrote the book on subject. Our cats were a great joy to work with....

Was there not reports in the press when the last lion cub was born at the zoo that the parents were in fact brother and sister.

kiang said:

Was there not reports in the press when the last lion cub was born at the zoo that the parents were in fact brother and sister.

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That is correct, the cubs that were born were related to their parents. And the parents were indeed brother and sister...So what? (cats as well as other animal taxa do copulate with their own family groups). The health, the welfare and the management of these cats were never compromised and furthermore, not one animal organistation be it, from the Scottish SPCA, RSPCA, the Government or Zoo Inspectors...not one group stated that our cats were not of such quality etc.
Regards....

kiang said:

Was there not reports in the press when the last lion cub was born at the zoo that the parents were in fact brother and sister.

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Just for the record...we implanted the female adult lion (cleo) with contraception however, it is well known both within the veterinary world and zoo world that such contraception may and can fail. There is no magic bullet and we never ever intended these cats to breed, that was not our mission. We never told the press or any advertising body that we had these cubs, then we are hit with a barrage of pathetic, and highly slanderous claims especially from Advocates for Animals and the Born Free Foundation...who are totally wacko with their weird ethics and behaviour. Those two groups are the ones that help rescue Bongo the bear, they sent it to us, report to their French and Italian cousins - Le Free Bongo (that they were over the moon that the bear was free and in a safe and fantastic environment - still have their own press clip and booklet stating this) and then two weeks later stab us in the back. As I said before...this was not and never planed, and to say otherwise is crazy and plan stupid....Regards

That's sad that they would bale one of their bears off on you and then blame you for a simple mistake like that

ashley-h said:

That's sad that they would bale one of their bears off on you and then blame you for a simple mistake like that

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Its a long story..but the asiatic bear "bongo" was rescued from Noahs Ark Zoo in Milan. I was feeding the collard peccaries one morning and Virginia McKenna walks over and starts taking to me and asks for a tour of the zoo. I obliged and she saw the bear enclosure and within two hours, she was on the phone arranging the pick-up of this bear, the last animal in a very old, rundown and even worse zoo than Glasgow could ever be. The BFF asked us to fork out £22K to help towards the plane flight and travel costs plus holding fees. We (Richard O'Grady did...) agreed, and through the Born Free Foundation, the Cats Protection Society and Advocates for Animals...they did all the organising. Then came the big day of arrival (the bear was kept at Gatwick Holding Area the night before), the truck arrived, we unloaded and, after a few hours the bear was housed at Glasgow. However, some two weeks later these groups mentioned, then took up a "back-stabbing" moment (which we could see coming except from O'Grady, who lived in the clouds!) These groups had then bombarded us and the national press with untruthful, fancifull and unsubstantiated bad press...which we denied and proved to be the case. But that's anti-zoo politics for you...they attack from within if they get their devious claws into you..

thats Awful Animal rights groups live in an idea over 100 years old - Animals for entertainment...They think they are helping by closing down zoos but what happens to the animals??
They get put down theres not point letting animals die just because the principle is closing down all zoos