I know they've had problems with this enclosure before the arrival of the red panda's this was going to be thier enclosure I don't know what happened but they ended up where they are now
How about using it for Racoon's or Koala's as the zoo has neither and it wouldn't take much to adapt the enclosure
ref Cat Man I understand what you mean but this is an enclosure that is wasted
and could be used to house some small animals in.
Koala's could have a private area if they needed one were people could not stand and stare at them during the day.
Another idea would be to put anteaters in the enclosure as again they would not need to spend too mush on the enclosure
I know there are probaly thousands of animals they could put in the enclosure but it come down to cost as the keepers have probaly thought of all thiis before
Hope to see you on 13th October if you can make it
I've not seen photos of the meerkat enclosure at Dudley Zoo and I suppose they are a little too small to look down from this height, but I did wonder if this pit could be filled with, say, sand and plastic piping buried in the former pool area (or am I seeing things in the photo?) to provide the meerkats with artificial tunnelling and/or a thick layer in which to dig.
ref Cat Man I understand what you mean but this is an enclosure that is wasted
and could be used to house some small animals in.
Koala's could have a private area if they needed one were people could not stand and stare at them during the day.
Another idea would be to put anteaters in the enclosure as again they would not need to spend too mush on the enclosure
I know there are probaly thousands of animals they could put in the enclosure but it come down to cost as the keepers have probaly thought of all thiis before
Hope to see you on 13th October if you can make it
Yes, I guess it is confusing if you didn't see the Glasgow exhibit. The problem with just filling anything in as opposed to containers of some sort is that there isn't proper drainage. Otherwise I'm Dudley would have filled this pit with earth or sand many years ago, same for London and it's penguin pool. When London tried porcupines in the old penguin pool the substrate blocked the pool drain and the exihibit flooded in heavy rain.
what they could do is fill the pool with soil and put chipping across the concrete and plant some large tree in the soil and grass etc.. everywhere else and make a fully natural house made of thick plants and use it with a small deer aka, muntjac
What this needs is a right good cleaning and painting and then you will have a real money-spinner.Zoo visitors always want to get into cages and the older the better.The whole area should be an open-air "terraza" café with hefty charges for refreshments (always respecting the continuing availability of fairly-priced refreshments elsewhere in the zoo).All zoos that have installed cafés in outdated enclosures have found them tearaway successes.In some cases , visitors come to the zoo specifically to visit these "in" venues.Imagine enjoying your Martini in the old lion den or your gin and tonic in the camel stables.It´s sad indeed when a lack of vision denies us the possibility of these golden moments.The Roberts House , a veritable monument to Victorian zoo building design, in Dublin zoo, was found to be totally outdated for its original purpose of housing cats.With almost no adaptation , it would have made one of the most spectacular cafeterias / bars in Europe.I would have paid almost anything to enjoy a drink in any of the old Victorian cat cages , and of course anybody who passed through this house when there were still cats there has the whole place firmly imprinted on their mind.Very sadly , the Roberts house suffered the terrible vandalism of being gutted and transformed into a walk-through aviary.The ironic part is that the aviary is even more inappropriate for the birds housed , than the facility was inappropriate for the cats.Its has been stated that the vandalism done in this transformation was the zoo world´s equivalent to stripping the Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon.I would go further - at least in theory the Elgin Marbles could be reincorporated , whereas what was done to the Roberts House was irrecuperable.Anyone for a drink at Dudley?
