How was Port Lympne chosen above other collections to be part of the (ill-fated) breeding programme? Did Aspinall Snr wave the chequebook, or was it because of their success with Black rhino?
I always thought somewhere like Chester, Jersey or London could have housed Sumatrans but, due to ZSL’s predicament at the time (which I still think haunts it) I’m guessing that was the reason they didn’t go into them.
As I understand the matter from discussions I've had with various people, the collection was specifically asked to be part of the breeding programme as a condition of the initial export - due to their success with Black Rhinoceros as you surmise - but the various North American collections which were managing the programme weren't best pleased with this state of affairs and somewhat screwed the collection over by deliberately sending the animals in worst condition to PL.......
Makes you wonder how differently things could have gone had they been sent viable stock and potentially cracked breeding them a decade or so before North America finally worked it out after many losses.......
@TeaLovingDave I know that Aspinall Snr was besotted with the idea of getting them, so he may have pulled some strings politically, but at the same time do wonder if they would have cracked the breeding problems any quicker than they did in the USA, as although very successful with Black Rhino, it is evidently a less complex species. But Port Lympne did not seem to experience dietary problems with them, which was the main cause of death in the US, so maybe their techniques would have extended to breeding also... As this photo shows, at PL they also had access to a large paddock so at least some of their food intake was leaves and grass- I wonder if any in the USA had such a luxury?
@joe It runs a long way down the hill on the Western boundary of the park, from below the 'Palace of the Apes'. It has a green railing metal fence. Currently holds Malayan Tapirs afaik. Their indoor was/is the Tapir Building on the other side of the pathway.
