Manor House Wildlife Park Anna Ryder-Richardson - TV Program Sun 30th Nov

Whilst the subject of interbred lemurs has been brought up. Does anyone know what happened to the Interbred Lemurs Monkeyworld had back in 1995?
 
in the program it was mentioned at the end about getting rhino's, and she wants a island enclosure for steve
 
Johnny Morris. said:
I've just watched the programme, they have clearly taken this Zoo on as a buisness venture. If they wanted to make money they should have gone elsewhere...
.... But i honestly think they are in the wrong place, for this venture (which i think it is,) to be a success.
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I'm sure they will discover that rundown zoos are a bottomless pit where using money is concerned.

I know where this place is, its a pretty remote location to expect high attendance outside of the high summer season. Dartmoor is slightly better placed as it has a large city- Plymouth, closeby.
 
Sand Cat said:
I'm shocked that the response to that show on here is as positive as it is. I don't know anything about animal management, but I was absolutely appalled by it! I know Ben at Dartmoor isn't the most knowledgable person, but he has a real passion which is something money can't buy, and he was quick to hire people who knew exactly what they were doing! This programme seemed to be about a silly woman who didn't know what to do with her life, so she bought a zoo for a bit of a laugh and her husband went along with it.

A few of the main things that I didn't like:

*The reference to a 'tamarind monkey' - oh dear!!!
*Anna's reaction to the reptiles was pathetic, you don't buy a zoo if you're scared of some of the animals!
*I assume the black & white/red ruffed lemurs were mixed? If so, can we look forward to some baby hybrid lemurs?
*All of the arguing, swearing etc. didn't exactly make them look good. I think marriage counselling would have been a better move than buying a zoo!
*Anna admitting she bought the place because of a mid-life crisis and 'it would be somewhere nice to bring up the children' - a very poor justification IMO.

I could go on but... Ben's Zoo, great series and a top guy. Anna, no thanks!!!
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I agree, I thought it was terrible, like a bad version of Bens zoo, and I definately had my critisism about Dartmoor but she didnt have a clue, they admitted they had never kept animals, she worried too much about what the place looked like when the number one priority should of been checking the animals were healthy the things they couldnt do anything about sadly were the lack of records by the previous keepers which would of helped with no end of problems. As for the zoo, I think the animals that are there are not particularly crowd pullers they need more exciting animals to get joe public in.
 
siuk said:
I agree, I thought it was terrible, like a bad version of Bens zoo. I think the animals that are there are not particularly crowd pullers they need more exciting animals to get joe public in.
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Of course situations are beefed up and made more 'zany' for television purposes but the basic problems are there no doubt. I'm amazed totally inexperienced people are still able to buy into zoos.

Will getting in some more impressive species change anything? It is the location which is poor(nice but remote) and they can't change that. Look at Port Lympne- it has a world class collection of the most impressive species you could wish to see yet it struggles because of where it is.
 
Johnny Morris. said:
I have to say that i was impressed with the Lemur enclosure, but like another poster was concerned about inter breeding. (Will this still occur if the Lemurs have their own kind to breed with? Does it happen in the Wild? Do they even meet in the wild?) All in all if they can carry on what they have started with the Lemur enclosure, it could become a very good Zoo. But i honestly think they are in the wrong place, for this venture (which i think it is,) to be a success.
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In the wild red ruffed lemurs are resricted to the Masoala Peninsula and areas West up to the Antainabalama river which may be their Western limit. The three subspecies of black-and-white ruffeds occur variously down the Eastern side of the island. It is likely that the two species overlap and hybridise where the Antainbalama meets another river (I forget which one exactly) though studies have so far proved inconclusive.
 
I hope they are not planning to put the rhinos in with the bison without developing some decent housing and yards which will cost a bit .

I totally agree that it Manor House will only attract any number of visitors in the short summer season , it has always closed from the end of September until Easter . The timing of the TV programme will not help them very much unless people have a long memory .

With all the recent negative publicity about swearing on TV I thought it was a shame that it was deliberately included here , I am sure it could easily have been edited out .

Will be interesting to see where the gibbon island is sited . The current island in a pond housed a squirrel monkey and common marmosets in September . I would think surrounding some trees by a hot-wired fence would be easier .
 
This was only one program in which several months of footage was cut and edited together, Bens zoo was on for several weeks and due to this people were able to get into it more.

Would the reviews of bens zoo have been as favourbale if it had been

1 bought a zoo

2 jaguar got out, sacked a keeper

3 shot a tiger

4 wolf got out

5 almost ran out of money

6 got a loan

The end!!!

I totally agree with the posts about its location, its in the middle of no where and folly farm is thriving and only a couple of miles up the road.

Yes the place has potential, oodles of it and I wish them success with it, I don't think there in it to make money, any more so then any other zoo, making a profit to return to the zoo should be the primary concern but they have invested a lot of money into it which they will obviously want to recoup over time.

Personally I think they paid far to much for it, ok its got lots of land and a listed mansion but because of the amount of investment needed £ 1 000,000 was way to much!!
 
Bele said:
With all the recent negative publicity about swearing on TV I thought it was a shame that it was deliberately included here , I am sure it could easily have been edited out .
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This vogue for swearing on TV really winds me up. It is totally unnecessary and done deliberately in certain situations to try and 'identify' with certain people/audiences. Jamie Oliver in the 'Rotherham(?) series was 'f' ing and blinding every other word, but in the cosy 'Jamie's Kitchen' series- which is aimed at a totally different audience obviously, there's wasn't a swear word in sight...

I would immediately have lost any sympathy with the Tenby people if I'd seen this!!
 
Can I ask the history of the zoo? It mentioned in the prog that the previous owner had died and the keepers had been keeping it running till a new owner was found.

Does anyone know how long it had been closed for etc it did seem terribly run down without the state of the cages/living conditions?

I think it was a very brave (and probably stupid thing) they did buying the zoo but at least they seem to have a decent amount of money to start the renovations.
At the end of the day although as owners they are solely responsible for the animals welfare they were getting advice re the new enclosures, employing new keepers etc, moving on animals they cant look after in the conditions they need and not attempting all that themselves.

If that was my local zoo I think I would be happy that someone was coming in and improving the conditions and keeping it open obviously as long as the animals came first. I am rather cynical of tv progs and wonder whether they were as bad 1st time unexperienced owners as shown? No mention of licences or inspections it all made it look like it was bodged together then just opened the next day!
 
From Colchester zoo website

Last month, our two male Damara zebras were transferred to Manor House Zoo in Wales. At the end of October, another Damara male called Troy; also from Manor House, arrived at Colchester Zoo to hopefully form a breeding herd with our three females, Dot, Dash and K’tusha.
Troy was kept in a holding pen for a few days to allow him to get used to his new surroundings, but he has now been successfully introduced to the herd, and is getting along very well with the giraffes, rhinos and Shadow the zeedonk; as well as the other zebras!
The Damara Zebra population is stable in the wild but they do suffer from habitat loss and hunting for their skin. They also face problems of competition for food, as farmers graze their livestock throughout the grasslands.
 
easytigger said:
This was only one program in which several months of footage was cut and edited together, Bens zoo was on for several weeks and due to this people were able to get into it more.
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However, Bens zoo was set over a year or more, where as Manor house was only over a couple of months, so you can't compare them like this.
 
taun said:
However, Bens zoo was set over a year or more, where as Manor house was only over a couple of months, so you can't compare them like this.
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My point is still valid, its down to editing!! I get that your picking a part my list of events that happened but that was purely an example.

As for events at manor house unfolding over a couple of months, well it was actaully considerably more then that, and I'm gauging that from date applying for a job to interview and the developments that happened afetr that, I would say it was 4-5 months so I still say that it was not an accurate portrayal of events
 
Actually, good on them. They may not know anything about animals but they are less anthropomorphic than Lady Fischer at Kilverstone or Molly Badham. I know it's a different era, but their lack of knowledge may actually create some better enclosures, in that her slightly anthropomorphic concern for their welfare might lead to some over the top enclosures in terms of space and her need to see primates in trees etc. I think directors with more experience may have created a smaller lemur compound for less money, the fact that she created the largest in europe is impressive. I'm sure the ruffed lemurs won't be mixed, or there will be some contraception.

I'm slightly impressed that they did it, and I think they can definitely carve out a niche especially if they build up their hoofstock collection with proper facilities. Financially, they are at a massive advantage due to the earning potential of the owners, so if it gets really bad, she can always return to her former career to prop up the zoo. Howletts and Port Lympne only exist because of a string of (slightly dodgy) casinos.
 
There were a pair of zebras in September , the quite impressive sign on the paddock noted that they , with those at Colchester , were the only ones in the UK . At least one foal has been born at Manor House and for some years a trio shared the big paddock with the bison and emus .

In the past Damara zebra were bred at Bristol and also , I think , Blackpool . I wonder if this was the origin of these animals . I wonder if they still have the female , a group of 2.1 could be difficult .

I have some old guide books in a box and will dig them out and post a bit about the history of the Park later .
 
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