Sydney Zoo $36 million zoo with roaming African animals planned for Blacktown

Hix said:
Because that is not it's name. It's been referred to as "Sydney's Taronga Zoo", but the name "Sydney Zoo" is not a name they have ever used.
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I was getting mixed up about what you're allowed to do with trademarks. WildLife Sydney seems to have the domain name sydneyzoo.com.au (again, Taronga should really have snatched that up). I understand the new zoo wants to use the name, but really, it might just confuse more people. They should pick something new.
 
I wonder if it is more of a promotion/marketing tool than anything. For a tourist wanting to visit a zoo in Sydney (presumably Taronga with the superb views), they will simply type in Google "Sydney zoo" and one of the first pages that will pop up will be that of the new Blacktown zoo. By calling it anything else (e.g. Western Sydney zoo), it might be perceived by tourists as being too far out form the CBD (where I assume most tourists stay), so in their eyes calling it simply Sydney zoo might attract naive visitors (and trust me it will happen: at Featherdale Wildlife Park I heard a tourist complain that they visited the wrong place as they were looking after a "kangaroo sanctuary" somewhere nearby, whatever that might be!).
 
Jabiru96 said:
(and trust me it will happen: at Featherdale Wildlife Park I heard a tourist complain that they visited the wrong place as they were looking after a "kangaroo sanctuary" somewhere nearby, whatever that might be!).
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Or visit another park and then write a negative review about you because they can't remember exactly which park they visited!
 
This link works for me (and I'm certainly not a Daily Telegraph subscriber!):

No Cookies | Daily Telegraph

Is it just me, or does "Sydney Zoo's John Burgess" look remarkably similar to an aging Sean Connery?


EDIT: Now I've posted it, it doesn't work. Type into Google: "Claws out in Sydney's zoo battle".
 
Giant Panda said:
This link works for me (and I'm certainly not a Daily Telegraph subscriber!):

No Cookies | Daily Telegraph

Is it just me, or does "Sydney Zoo's John Burgess" look remarkably similar to an aging Sean Connery?


EDIT: Now I've posted it, it doesn't work. Type into Google: "Claws out in Sydney's zoo battle".
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thanks, I got the link to work through "Claws out in Sydney's zoo battle".

When was the last time you saw Sean Connery? - Burgess looks like a younger version of him!
 
Here is the article for people that are wondering:

IT IS the David and Goliath battle of two Western Sydney zoos.

One has been operating for more than 40 years with free koala interactions among its core business; the other is funded by the big end of town with ambitious plans to *become one of Australia’s highest-tech zoos.

But the battle between Featherdale Wildlife Park at Doonside and the proposed Sydney Zoo within the Western Sydney Parklands has turned nasty, with Featherdale’s owners engaging lawyers as it fights the state government for answers.

Opened in 1972, Featherdale was taken over three years ago by Elanor Investors Group, which immediately began talks with Blacktown City Council and the Western Sydney Parklands Trust to relocate from its cramped suburban site.

It is furious at the trust for failing to discuss the *chance to move to Bungarribee, the site awarded to Sydney Zoo operators John and Jake Burgess.

The Burgess family founded Sydney Aquarium but Featherdale claims they have little wildlife *experience and had no financial backers at the time the Burgesses submitted their proposal.

The trust argues it conducted a three-month “expression of *interest” process for a possible “zoological park”, with Featherdale failing to submit a proposal. With the new zoo to be situated just 3km away, Featherdale is concerned at its plans to stock native animals such as koalas.

Planning documents for the $36 million attraction lodged with the state government show the zoo is hoping to acquire hippos and elephants for its “waterhole” feature.

However, zoo insiders say there are fewer than 10 hippos in Australia, with each tightly held by other zoos given their star status.

Strict Federal Government live *import regulations also add years to securing an animal from overseas, even if one becomes available.

Featherdale is concerned the zoo will focus on acquiring natives in the short term, threatening the longstanding park’s survival.

It has engaged lawyers to secure the tender documents submitted by Sydney Zoo to determine why the Burgess family was chosen over other operators.

Group CEO Glenn Willis said it was disappointed the State Government had not involved the park in the early discussions with the trust about the site.

“We are concerned that the government provided land for a new zoo to compete 3km (away) from a successful NSW zoo, which jeopardises 100 jobs in an existing sustainable and successful attraction,” he said

Acting trust executive director Jacob Messer said it was satisfied with the Burgesses’ financial capability at the time it awarded the tender.

“The trust welcomes all western Sydney attractions like Featherdale, although Featherdale is not on trust land,” he said.

Sydney Zoo CEO Jake Burgess said sources for most of its animals had been identified. Twenty per cent would be dedicated to native species.

The zoo also hoped to establish *itself as a quarantine facility to be able import animals from overseas zoos.

Mr Burgess said he was happy to collaborate with Featherdale on its future operations.

“Featherdale is part of the story of western Sydney, and we think there’s a fantastic opportunity to work *jointly to drive visitation and tourism to the area,” Mr Burgess said.
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Three kilometres away? That's a death sentence for Featherdale. I'd be pissed too.

Hix
 
New zoo to teach old ways | Blacktown Sun

THE newest zoo in Australia has set the target of 10 per cent Aboriginal employees as part of a plan to offer a genuine cultural experience.

Sydney Zoo is awaiting developer application approval to commence work on the Bungarribee Park site, which is slated to be open by the fourth quarter of 2017.

The western Sydney attraction will employee up to 120 staff, half of which will be full-time.

Sydney Zoo announced on Friday that it will be partnering with not-for-profit Aboriginal cultural organisation Muru Mittigar to help train and employ 13 full-time rangers.

The rangers will deliver cultural tours, bush regeneration and animal care, with the view of producing the most visited Aboriginal experience in NSW.

Kyle Nicholls is a Gamilaroi man who has been working with Muru Mittigar for seven months, delivering programs to schools, universities and other groups. He said this proposal will be great for all involved.

“It’ll be good for tourists to learn about Aboriginal culture and Australian history, and the connection we have to the animals and our land,” Mr Nicholls said.

“They can learn a bit about our culture and we can learn about theirs.”

Darug woman Leanne Watson is involved with developing the programs and educating the rangers. She said it’s important for Aboriginal people to support each other in accessing this opportunity.

“The zoo's going to be built on Darug land, which is Aboriginal land, and we have a strong connection to the land, the plants, the animals, people, places,” Ms Watson said.

“It’s only going to enhance the zoo to have us there and share our culture and the connections. If people visit an area it’s better for them to have the connection as well.

“We need to get out there that Aboriginal culture is amazing and get rid of some of this stereotyping, and enable our people to be part of that.”

NSW Tourism Minister Stuart Ayres said the program will enhance the tourist experience and the state tourism industry.

“Aboriginal cultural experience is high on the demand list for international visitors," Mr Ayres said.

“Australians of all different cultural backgrounds are brought together by Aboriginal culture.

“It’s a fantastic way of being able to generate employment opportunities in western Sydney, built on an incredibly strong degree of respect to an institution like Muru Mittigar that understands and works on Darug land, works with Darug culture.

“To be able to embed that into the Sydney Zoo offering right from the very beginning is something not just special, it’s genuinely exciting.”
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yeah that's basically a brand new site. Says they are planning on opening in 2017...

Lots of graphics on there for what the entire zoo will look like. I like how happy the baby gorilla and the chimps are - the chimps look like they're doing the Gangnam and the baby gorilla is just rockin' out. The siamang are all walking round with their arms straight up in the air, coz they don't care. The pride of tigers don't seem to be paying any attention to the nearby herd of Cape buffalo...

Anyway, I like how in the walk-through Australian enclosure the rock wallabies' hills are provided over the tops of houses (presumably nocturnal and aquarium) - clever use of space. Something really obvious from the pictures, and the video, is how almost everything at the zoo is purely ABC material - elephants, lions, tigers, apes, monkeys, zebras, etc. There may be an aviary in the Australian section, and they are supposed to have an aquarium, but otherwise the entire zoo is populated by animals chosen purely as typical zoo animals and which can be housed in "non-cages". I think it may be very popular when it opens.
 
Apparently it is 'Australia's Most Advanced Zoo', I wonder by what measure they make that judgement. Judging by the images provided, most of the enclosures are plain lawns, and for apes in particular it doesn't look great to be honest. I'm looking forward to seeing what actually gets created.
 
I was just musing over the species line-up that the Sydney Zoo has proposed, with regards to whether they could actually stock their zoo from within Australia. The named animals are from their video, and I left out the Australian section for obvious reasons. Don't take the following as definites of course, it is just my thoughts.

"African Grasslands"
*Lions - lots of these
*Zebra - lots of these
*Rhino - I think they may be waiting quite a while for these!
*Hippo - they have already decided against these (replaced with Water Buffalo)
*Giraffe - lots of these
*Ostrich - lots of these
*Leopard - these would need an import obviously (none at all in Australia)
*Antelope - plenty of these about, with several species
*Cheetahs - they could get some from within Australia, but whether they will be able to is another matter
*Meerkats - these shouldn't be a problem...
*African Wild Dogs - I doubt they would be able to get these for opening, but as a future animal they shouldn't be difficult; there are a lot in Australia and they breed well.

"South East Asian Tropical"
*Sun Bears - I doubt they'd be getting these from within Australia, the only way would be if one of the exisiting holders wanted to off-load an old animal.
*Tigers - tigers seem like an animal which shouldn't be difficult to get in Australia, but I dare say they wouldn't be getting any Sumatrans and there aren't many hybrids left outside Dreamworld and Australia Zoo; I reckon they would need to import these as well
*Orangutans - maybe they could take the hybrids, otherwise no
*Asiatic Elephants - I really think would need an import

"African Highlands"
*Chimpanzee - probably no
*Lowland Gorilla - no
*Arboreal Primates - the only African monkeys left in Australia outside baboons and Mandrills are a few pensioner De Brazza's Monkeys, one troop of Vervets, and scattered Black and White Colobus; so, no
*Hamadryas Baboon - shouldn't be difficult to get a few animals

Other animals:
*Water Buffalo (replacements for Hippo) - easy
*Siamang (on the designs) - probably no
 
soona said:
Apparently it is 'Australia's Most Advanced Zoo', I wonder by what measure they make that judgement. Judging by the images provided, most of the enclosures are plain lawns, and for apes in particular it doesn't look great to be honest. I'm looking forward to seeing what actually gets created.
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the graphics are in two lots (all on that same page). The first lot are basic computer cut-out shapes so everything is depicted as flat and green. The second lot are more realised. Compare the Australian walk-through, for example, between the basic cut-out look and the realistic look. Same enclosure, completely different appearance.

I think what they mean by "most advanced" is in a similar vein to where they say it won't be like "traditional zoos". They are going the route of "no cages" equals "better than a normal zoo".
 
CGSwans said:
The silhouettes on page seven of the prospectus - http://www.thezoo.sydney/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/SydneyZoo-Prospectus-Sept16-1.pdf - appear to include a bird-of-paradise and a hornbill. This makes me wonder just how much research they've done into the logistics of obtaining exotic species in Australia.
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I don't think those need to be worried about; like the Sphensicus penguin photo in that same document, or the Cape Buffalo herd depicted in one of their exhibit designs on the website, they are the faults of the artists.

But I do still wonder as you about how much research they did beforehand (or even still?), because of their seeming lack of awareness of how or from where they are getting their proposed animals. The hippos on their list was a prime example. It's especially weird because the guy behind it is from the zoo world (admittedly not "proper" zoos but still he should know what's what).


Chlidonias said:
*Arboreal Primates - the only African monkeys left in Australia outside baboons and Mandrills are a few pensioner De Brazza's Monkeys, one troop of Vervets, and scattered Black and White Colobus; so, no
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I had some more thought on this - I expect they will just go with capuchins.
 
I am still most concerned about how they are going to be able to open an entire zoo from scratch on a $36 million budget. :eek: (I'm aware this has been discussed thoroughly earlier in this thread) And such a small time frame as well... does anyone know if any major construction work has started yet? I also noticed Chlidonias that the artist has depicted a herd of Cape buffalo on one of the designs :rolleyes: which to me is slightly concerning, because although I think it's great that people want to create another world-class zoo in Sydney and they have good intentions, I am worried about the lack of animal knowledge; for starters which species actually have available stock in Australasia and which species will have to be imported from overseas... and then there is the whole timeframe and budget constraints... :o
 
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