Am hoping to visit Howletts this easter, I am looking forward to seeing something not many zoos other. A fully functioning Gorilla troup and how they behave in a much more naturally grouping.
I imagine I will find the enclosures terrible in terms of looks, however when not many zoos have offered anything more naturally looking I believe this is the better way of keeping these great apes. I hope Chester do something exceptional in the "heart of africa" to prove it can be done.
Well, Congo Gorilla Forest at the Bronx Zoo and gorilla exhibits at San Diego, Woodland Park and Disney's Animal Kingdom blow the Howletts metal cages out of the water in terms of exhibitry. One group of enclosures are spacious, naturalistic, and full of dense foliage, mountainous terrain and lush landscapes while the others are metal boxes with toys and deep hay. The photos in the gallery for the above-mentioned zoos showcase outstanding habitats of high quality, but as I said before one could argue that the Howletts cages (while all but extinct in North America) might actually be preferable for enrichment. I would love to visit Howletts one day, and even though the physical appearance of the cages is dreadful I think that I would enjoy seeing the interactions amongst the gorilla troops. After all, the Howletts-style great ape enclosures are amongst the last of their kind.
Gotta disagree with Alan--showing caged apes playing as "pets" with their owner sends too many wrong messages. Again, the welfare of the animals is not in question--it is the "take away" perceptions of visitors watching this. How different is this from the Siegfreid and Roy Las Vegas tiger shows? Not very--it is presenting an entirely false picture of what the animals are about, wrapped in a warm and cuddly facade of inter-species "love."
I take your points and I would have agreed with many of them, if I hadn't seen this for myself. I had heard John Aspinall speak and seen photos, movies and video clips of him with the gorillas; I never doubted his sincerity, but I did feel that it was a rather self-indulgent thing to do.
I changed my mind when I saw his son Damien and a keeper entering the cage of Kifu's group and playing with the gorillas for about 20 minutes. There was no doubt who was in charge or who enjoyed it most, it was Kifu from first to last - which is not to say that the youngsters, a couple of the females and both the humans didn't have fun too. It seemed to me that Kifu viewed the humans in his cage as his pets, rather than the other way round.
I emphasise that it was nothing like a circus show, or like the trained session that I saw in Frankfurt in 1973 when the keepers shut away the male gorilla and made the females and youngster sit in a row before feeding them.
I have admired and studied gorillas for many years, but I found it a thoroughly positive and enlightening experience and I think that the vast majority of the other spectators thought so too. In other words, it was mutual enrichment.
If you mean at Howletts, nobody was ever seriously hurt by the Gorillas as far as I know. A visiting child(member of the public) had his arm ripped off through the mesh by a Chimpanzee many years ago but that was completely different to accidents caused by entering the Gorilla enclosures.
However, a few of Aspinall's Gorillas weren't very friendly though. An early male Gugis', leader of the original group, was not at all trustworthy and I believe as an adult he was shut away before they could go in with the females. Another silverback 'Bitam' although goodtempered was too strong for them so his group were largely off limits too. Female 'Kaja' (sister of the very amenable group leader Kijo) rejected Aspinall's advances to play and would threaten him with cough-threats. She was later allowed to go to Chessington (as punishment?!!) But generally speaking John Aspinall did have an amazing rapport with the Gorillas, or at least those they 'went in with'.
Several people have mentioned on here the historical differences between these old fashioned 'cages' and the elaborate, naturalistic Gorillas exhibits seen nowadays in most of the commercial zoos around the World. So I won't enter into that except to say that at Port Lympne where these old style enclosures also exist alongside very large open areas, the Gorillas largely prefer to spend their time in the covered areas, indicating their own preference.
I emphasise that it was nothing like a circus show, or like the trained session that I saw in Frankfurt in 1973 when the keepers shut away the male gorilla and made the females and youngster sit in a row before feeding them.
I have admired and studied gorillas for many years, but I found it a thoroughly positive and enlightening experience and I think that the vast majority of the other spectators thought so too. In other words, it was mutual enrichment.
I once spent a day as (old) Aspinall's guest. In the afternoon he and the (then) head keeper entered the enclosure with Djoum's group. I had also previously though this was all a rather self indulgent exercise but I changed my mind.. Aspinall and the keeper were visitors with the group- and no more. As someone said, Djoum treated them more like his pets than the other way round...
I saw the same 'feeding session' at Frankfurt Zoo as you did a few years previously, where the gorillas sat in a row like children. But afterwards, as the keeper left the enclosure and shut the steel door behind him, the blackback male 'Max' walked over, climbed up on the door and slammed it very hard with his feet. I got the feeling he was giving the keeper a clear message-
I always find myself conflicted with John Aspinall. I always try to focus on the positives: That he was an icon for the zoo world, created revolutionary enclosures with fantastic breeding in large and rare species, and created such wonderful wild animal parks that I find better than 'big' UK zoos like Chester and London.
And yet, his misanthropic side always lingers in my mind. He didn't seem to just dislike humans treatment of nature, which the murals in Port Lymnpe Manor of tigers and elephants brutally killing poachers indicate: He was seriously disliking, feeling half of the world's population should become extinct in the next 200 years. That always pits my stomach. And on a side-note, his extremely right-wing persona, and the rumour of overthrowing the government, but to the former I guess that's just based on personal party allegiance, given my left-wing view, and to the latter that is very likely to be just a rumour.
EDIT: Got the quote wrong. This also gives me the opportunity to post this vid:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0WsmOhm2Qc"]YouTube - Gorilla Gorilla - Damian Aspinall at Howletts Wild Animal Park, Kent[/ame]
