I went to Brisbane's Alma Park Zoo the other week. I'd read the thread on here from about three years ago http://www.zoobeat.com/24/alma-park-zoo-132/ and wondered how or if it had changed since then. Their website and pamphlets obviously give the impression they are a fantastic place ("Brisbane's best value family day out: A great wildlife experience with exotic animals in a lush tropical environment" says one pamphlet), so I thought I'd give it a go.
On first arrival my immediate thoughts went along the lines of "wow, this place is awesome!". The setting is really quite fantastic, the grounds being planted out as a rainforest with palms and Moreton Bay figs and stranglers, and with climbers and creepers all over the place. There are wild brush-turkeys everywhere and lots of little birds all through the trees. The first few enclosures for native animals I came across also seemed fine, not large but not small either; however the further I went the worse things seemed to get.
The paths are mostly covered in gravel chips but in many places these have been worn or washed away leaving large stretches of mud (to be honest however, Brisbane had just had four days of almost monsoon-style rains); and a great number of the animal enclosures and paddocks were extremely muddy. The red deer, donkey, fallow deer, and camel paddocks were all mud and little else (and calling the camel pen a "paddock" is being far too generous I may add). Almost all the cages were very dark and gloomy due to the canopy of trees, and there seemed a strange prediliction for very low roofs (the old parma wallaby pen --under renovation at the time -- was capped by a netting roof less than five feet off the ground, and the dingo enclosure couldn't have been much more than six feet high. Whoever looked after the animals must have spent a good portion of their time bent double whilst cleaning and performing other chores!).
The enclosure for the lone sun bear was very small (one of the smallest I have seen for a sun bear in any zoo) although it was planted and on the earlier thread it is stated it is an elderly bear so maybe it wouldn't utilise a larger one. The fruit bat cage was far too small, with certainly no room for flight of any kind, and the marmoset cages were also small (but the six or so common marmosets in one of the cages were the most active marmosets I have ever seen, which has to be a good thing). A group of cockatoo "aviaries" were absolutely horrible, being small, low and dark. However the worst cages there were for the monkeys. Simply shockingly disgusting things, they looked like something from the 19th century. There were spider monkeys, rhesus macaques and hamadryas baboons imprisoned in there (and I'm certainly not the sort of person who usually uses the word "imprisoned" in connection with zoo animals). Those monkeys should be given new housing as soon as possible, or alternatively sent to another establishment which can provide them with proper enclosures.
On the good side of things, some of the enclosures were perfectly acceptable. The ring-tailed lemur island was nice (still a bit small, but nice). There was a small room for "creepy crawlies" with olive and carpet pythons, blue-tongues, thick-tailed geckos, dainty tree frogs, giant burrowing cockroaches, land snails and giant millipedes. The Himalayan tahr all seemed content in their (mostly non-muddy) paddock. The staff were all very nice and friendly, which is always a bonus. The talk at the squirrel monkey feeding was good and basically informative.
Of course everything written here is my own personal opinion of the zoo and may well be coloured by the atrocious weather conditions Brisbane had been experiencing in the previous few days, but all up the zoo has a wonderful setting and it could be an amazing place. It could have a lot of potential but it doesn't appear to be taking advantage of it. There are certainly much worse zoos around, but this one could really be so SO much better than it currently is. It gives the air of a somewhat-ramshackle private collection opened to the public to help out with costs. Most of the cages and enclosures are just "all right" (not too large but not tiny), however some are truly awful and a few are downright worthy of demolition. Many of the paddocks were nothing but mud (I will graciously attribute this to the recent rains and not to a normal state of affairs). The entry fee of $28 is probably too high although this feeling is anticipated on the zoo map where it says "Admission charges: the cost of caring for our animals and improving their conditions is enormous. We receive no government subsidy and prices are set as low as possible". My personal feeling is that almost all Australian zoos are priced too high, much more so than NZ zoos even when of similar size (the much larger Orana Park, for instance, is NZ$21, and has to feed lots of lions and tigers). The cafe is also overpriced, but I think this is probably a normal thing for zoo cafes.
Full animal list (as far as I could ascertain) is as follows:
Mammals: short-beaked echidna; eastern grey kangaroo; red kangaroo; swamp wallaby; brush-tailed possum; koala; common wombat; water buffalo; red deer; fallow deer; donkey; Himalayan tahr; dromedary; alpaca; sheep; cow; dingo; agouti; black and spectacled flying foxes; ring-tailed lemur; common marmoset; cotton-top tamarin; squirrel monkey; spider monkey; rhesus macaque; hamadryas baboon; sun bear
Birds: ostrich; emu; southern cassowary; silver pheasant; blue peafowl; bush stone-curlew; alexandrine; greater sulphur-crested cockatoo; galah; common bronzewing; Torres Strait pigeon; tawny frogmouth; barn owl
Reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates as listed for the "creepy crawly" house in the review above. There were also baby crocodiles in a tank in the cafe (I assume freshwater crocs rather than salties), and two outdoor enclosures for lace monitors and carpet python.
there are photos in the Other Australian Zoos section of the gallery (more will be added when I have time)
On first arrival my immediate thoughts went along the lines of "wow, this place is awesome!". The setting is really quite fantastic, the grounds being planted out as a rainforest with palms and Moreton Bay figs and stranglers, and with climbers and creepers all over the place. There are wild brush-turkeys everywhere and lots of little birds all through the trees. The first few enclosures for native animals I came across also seemed fine, not large but not small either; however the further I went the worse things seemed to get.
The paths are mostly covered in gravel chips but in many places these have been worn or washed away leaving large stretches of mud (to be honest however, Brisbane had just had four days of almost monsoon-style rains); and a great number of the animal enclosures and paddocks were extremely muddy. The red deer, donkey, fallow deer, and camel paddocks were all mud and little else (and calling the camel pen a "paddock" is being far too generous I may add). Almost all the cages were very dark and gloomy due to the canopy of trees, and there seemed a strange prediliction for very low roofs (the old parma wallaby pen --under renovation at the time -- was capped by a netting roof less than five feet off the ground, and the dingo enclosure couldn't have been much more than six feet high. Whoever looked after the animals must have spent a good portion of their time bent double whilst cleaning and performing other chores!).
The enclosure for the lone sun bear was very small (one of the smallest I have seen for a sun bear in any zoo) although it was planted and on the earlier thread it is stated it is an elderly bear so maybe it wouldn't utilise a larger one. The fruit bat cage was far too small, with certainly no room for flight of any kind, and the marmoset cages were also small (but the six or so common marmosets in one of the cages were the most active marmosets I have ever seen, which has to be a good thing). A group of cockatoo "aviaries" were absolutely horrible, being small, low and dark. However the worst cages there were for the monkeys. Simply shockingly disgusting things, they looked like something from the 19th century. There were spider monkeys, rhesus macaques and hamadryas baboons imprisoned in there (and I'm certainly not the sort of person who usually uses the word "imprisoned" in connection with zoo animals). Those monkeys should be given new housing as soon as possible, or alternatively sent to another establishment which can provide them with proper enclosures.
On the good side of things, some of the enclosures were perfectly acceptable. The ring-tailed lemur island was nice (still a bit small, but nice). There was a small room for "creepy crawlies" with olive and carpet pythons, blue-tongues, thick-tailed geckos, dainty tree frogs, giant burrowing cockroaches, land snails and giant millipedes. The Himalayan tahr all seemed content in their (mostly non-muddy) paddock. The staff were all very nice and friendly, which is always a bonus. The talk at the squirrel monkey feeding was good and basically informative.
Of course everything written here is my own personal opinion of the zoo and may well be coloured by the atrocious weather conditions Brisbane had been experiencing in the previous few days, but all up the zoo has a wonderful setting and it could be an amazing place. It could have a lot of potential but it doesn't appear to be taking advantage of it. There are certainly much worse zoos around, but this one could really be so SO much better than it currently is. It gives the air of a somewhat-ramshackle private collection opened to the public to help out with costs. Most of the cages and enclosures are just "all right" (not too large but not tiny), however some are truly awful and a few are downright worthy of demolition. Many of the paddocks were nothing but mud (I will graciously attribute this to the recent rains and not to a normal state of affairs). The entry fee of $28 is probably too high although this feeling is anticipated on the zoo map where it says "Admission charges: the cost of caring for our animals and improving their conditions is enormous. We receive no government subsidy and prices are set as low as possible". My personal feeling is that almost all Australian zoos are priced too high, much more so than NZ zoos even when of similar size (the much larger Orana Park, for instance, is NZ$21, and has to feed lots of lions and tigers). The cafe is also overpriced, but I think this is probably a normal thing for zoo cafes.
Full animal list (as far as I could ascertain) is as follows:
Mammals: short-beaked echidna; eastern grey kangaroo; red kangaroo; swamp wallaby; brush-tailed possum; koala; common wombat; water buffalo; red deer; fallow deer; donkey; Himalayan tahr; dromedary; alpaca; sheep; cow; dingo; agouti; black and spectacled flying foxes; ring-tailed lemur; common marmoset; cotton-top tamarin; squirrel monkey; spider monkey; rhesus macaque; hamadryas baboon; sun bear
Birds: ostrich; emu; southern cassowary; silver pheasant; blue peafowl; bush stone-curlew; alexandrine; greater sulphur-crested cockatoo; galah; common bronzewing; Torres Strait pigeon; tawny frogmouth; barn owl
Reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates as listed for the "creepy crawly" house in the review above. There were also baby crocodiles in a tank in the cafe (I assume freshwater crocs rather than salties), and two outdoor enclosures for lace monitors and carpet python.
there are photos in the Other Australian Zoos section of the gallery (more will be added when I have time)
