Gorge Wildlife Park Any info on the black panthers????

[Ivy]

I just joined so not sure if I’m doing this right but I remember going to gorge around 2011-2012ish and seeing a black panther there just pacing back and forth, and reading about their enclosure that unfortunately makes sense. Anyways, I always thought this was a fake memory I made up until I found out it wasn’t and since then I’ve become very obsessed with finding out everything I possibly can about it. I’ve been doing lots of deep diving, especially on here and apparently there’s been multiple? Does anyone know how many there’s been exactly, where they came from, and if they had names? What I currently know is that one came to gorge in 1994 from Perth I believe who’s name was Simone, there was I think 2 others that came from Melbourne sometime before 2006 who were siblings(?), there might’ve been a cub aswell I’ve heard, but I haven’t found enough information on that really. And the last one passed some time in June 2017 from old age at like 24 and was blind. If anyone has anything about them at all especially the one(s) that were there in the early 2010s that would be super appreciated I would also love to see more pictures of them too I’ve got a little collection going!

 

[Zoofan15]

I just joined so not sure if I’m doing this right but I remember going to gorge around 2011-2012ish and seeing a black panther there just pacing back and forth, and reading about their enclosure that unfortunately makes sense. Anyways, I always thought this was a fake memory I made up until I found out it wasn’t and since then I’ve become very obsessed with finding out everything I possibly can about it. I’ve been doing lots of deep diving, especially on here and apparently there’s been multiple? Does anyone know how many there’s been exactly, where they came from, and if they had names? What I currently know is that one came to gorge in 1994 from Perth I believe who’s name was Simone, there was I think 2 others that came from Melbourne sometime before 2006 who were siblings(?), there might’ve been a cub aswell I’ve heard, but I haven’t found enough information on that really. And the last one passed some time in June 2017 from old age at like 24 and was blind. If anyone has anything about them at all especially the one(s) that were there in the early 2010s that would be super appreciated I would also love to see more pictures of them too I’ve got a little collection going!

Welcome to ZooChat.

Simone was a female black leopard that was born 13/02/1984 at Melbourne Zoo and was transferred to Perth Zoo 14/03/1986. She was then transferred to Whyalla Fauna Park on 31/10/1997. To my knowledge, she died there and never lived at Gorge.

Gorge did receive two black leopards from Melbourne Zoo. They produced a cub at Gorge 1994, that died there in 2017. This was the last black leopard held at Gorge. It’s probable the pair from Melbourne were related to Simone (parents, siblings etc).

Edit: @Chlidonias reported in 2013 that the last black leopard at Gorge was a female named Chelsea; but @Ashanti, upon reporting the death of the last leopard in 2017, said it was a 23 year old male named Bagheera. Either way, it was the cub born there in 1994.

 

[Ivy]

Welcome to ZooChat.

Simone was a female black leopard that was born 13/02/1984 at Melbourne Zoo and was transferred to Perth Zoo 14/03/1986. She was then transferred to Whyalla Fauna Park on 31/10/1997. To my knowledge, she died there and never lived at Gorge.

Gorge did receive two black leopards from Melbourne Zoo. They produced a cub at Gorge 1994, that died there in 2017. This was the last black leopard held at Gorge. It’s probable the pair from Melbourne were related to Simone (parents, siblings etc).

Edit: @Chlidonias reported in 2013 that the last black leopard at Gorge was a female named Chelsea; but @Ashanti, upon reporting the death of the last leopard in 2017, said it was a 23 year old male named Bagheera. Either way, it was the cub born there in 1994.

I’m pretty sure it would’ve been Bagheera that was the cub, I’ve seen a video of him from 2017 (before he passed) and you can tell he’s male. Maybe Chelsea is the mum?

 

[Jambo]

Welcome to ZooChat.

Simone was a female black leopard that was born 13/02/1984 at Melbourne Zoo and was transferred to Perth Zoo 14/03/1986. She was then transferred to Whyalla Fauna Park on 31/10/1997. To my knowledge, she died there and never lived at Gorge.

Gorge did receive two black leopards from Melbourne Zoo. They produced a cub at Gorge 1994, that died there in 2017. This was the last black leopard held at Gorge. It’s probable the pair from Melbourne were related to Simone (parents, siblings etc).

Edit: @Chlidonias reported in 2013 that the last black leopard at Gorge was a female named Chelsea; but @Ashanti, upon reporting the death of the last leopard in 2017, said it was a 23 year old male named Bagheera. Either way, it was the cub born there in 1994.

I’m pretty sure it would’ve been Bagheera that was the cub, I’ve seen a video of him from 2017 (before he passed) and you can tell he’s male. Maybe Chelsea is the mum?

After a quick search, multiple posts from different members on here referred to the last Black Leopard at Gorge as a male. So I think we can reasonably assume it was Bagheera - who was Gorge born.

 

[Zoofan15]

I’m pretty sure it would’ve been Bagheera that was the cub, I’ve seen a video of him from 2017 (before he passed) and you can tell he’s male. Maybe Chelsea is the mum?

After a quick search, multiple posts from different members on here referred to the last Black Leopard at Gorge as a male. So I think we can reasonably assume it was Bagheera - who was Gorge born.

Yes, at least four other users say the last was a male, so that appears to be the case.

These were the two posts I mentioned:

nope. The only leopard left in Australia is at Gorge Wildlife Park (as zooboy said a few posts up). This is a black leopard called Chelsea, and she is also very old so won't be around for a lot longer.

There's also a black leopard at Zion in NZ. These are the only two leopards left in Australasia.

Sad to report that Bagheera, Gorge's black leopard, passed away from old age recently, leaving none of the species left in the country. He was around 23 years old. His enclosure is set to be revamped to house a serval (from Adelaide) in the future.

Chelsea was likely the mother of Bagheera, or could have even been a sibling. The cub born 1994 was the last to live at Gorge; but I’ve found no confirmation he was the only cub born at Gorge. He may have had siblings who died in the 1990’s or 2000’s.

 

[Ivy]

I’ve been drawing up a family tree to try and figure this out. This is what I’ve got so far:

Simone (female) + Unknown male
Born 13/2/1984 Born ????

Created chelsea and her im assuming brother as I haven’t found any evidence of any other male leopards sometime from 1986 to 1992

Bagheera (male)
Born 1994
Gorge wildlife park​

However I don’t think this is very plausible as from what I’ve heard, Simone was moved to Perth in 1986 which would’ve been when she’d reach sexual maturity meaning she would’ve either gotten pregnant and moved to Perth to give birth to her cubs, or she would’ve given birth to them in Melbourne and immediately left them behind after. And we know that Bagheera’s parents came from Melbourne. It’s not impossible, but sounds extremely unethical and cruel. (But this was also the 80’s and I don’t know a whole lot about leopards.) I am also a little confused on the whole choosing siblings for breeding thing if Chelsea and her brother were actually Bagheera’s parents. I heard somewhere that gorge breeds a lot of their animals, so why would they choose to in breed which causes lots of birth defects?? Also, leopards usually have 2-4 cubs per litter so most likely, Bagheera had siblings. Maybe one of them was Chelsea? But for this we are going to say that she’s his mum. As otherwise, I have absolutely no idea who his parents are besides that they came from Melbourne zoo.

(I could be wrong on a lot of this information so feel free to correct me. The only parts I know for sure are that Bagheera is the son, born in 1994, gorge wildlife park who passed in 2017, and his parents came from Melbourne zoo.)

 

[Zoofan15]

I’ve been drawing up a family tree to try and figure this out. This is what I’ve got so far:

Simone (female) + Unknown male
Born 13/2/1984 Born ????

Created chelsea and her im assuming brother as I haven’t found any evidence of any other male leopards sometime from 1986 to 1992

Bagheera (male)
Born 1994
Gorge wildlife park​

However I don’t think this is very plausible as from what I’ve heard, Simone was moved to Perth in 1986 which would’ve been when she’d reach sexual maturity meaning she would’ve either gotten pregnant and moved to Perth to give birth to her cubs, or she would’ve given birth to them in Melbourne and immediately left them behind after. And we know that Bagheera’s parents came from Melbourne. It’s not impossible, but sounds extremely unethical and cruel. (But this was also the 80’s and I don’t know a whole lot about leopards.) I am also a little confused on the whole choosing siblings for breeding thing if Chelsea and her brother were actually Bagheera’s parents. I heard somewhere that gorge breeds a lot of their animals, so why would they choose to in breed which causes lots of birth defects?? Also, leopards usually have 2-4 cubs per litter so most likely, Bagheera had siblings. Maybe one of them was Chelsea? But for this we are going to say that she’s his mum. As otherwise, I have absolutely no idea who his parents are besides that they came from Melbourne zoo.

(I could be wrong on a lot of this information so feel free to correct me. The only parts I know for sure are that Bagheera is the son, born in 1994, gorge wildlife park who passed in 2017, and his parents came from Melbourne zoo.)

I don’t believe Simone ever bred. She was born 1984 at Melbourne Zoo and transferred out in 1986 at what was approximately the dispersal age of her species. She never bred at Perth Zoo.

Auckland Zoo imported black leopard cubs from Chicago Zoo in the 1960’s (presumably littermates) and it would come as no surprise if the entire Australasian population of black leopards (bar the male at Zion/Kamo in New Zealand) descended from them. Inbreeding was regularly undertaken by the region’s main zoos throughout the 20th century and even into the 21st century. Melbourne Zoo’s last litter of African lion cubs was born 2000 and was the result of a father/daughter mating.

There’s endless possibilities of how the Gorge leopards and Simone could have been related; but one I think is likely is that a breeding pair (possibly siblings) produced Simone at Melbourne Zoo in 1984 and then were transferred to Gorge, where they produced a litter in 1994. They would have been getting on in years by then (possibly early teens), which may have favoured chances of a smaller litter (1-2 cubs) and a higher mortality rate (e.g. only one cub surviving). Alternatively, the two that came to Gorge from Melbourne may have been siblings of Simone (either from the same litter or a different litter/s).

 

[Jambo]

There’s endless possibilities of how the Gorge leopards and Simone could have been related; but one I think is likely is that a breeding pair (possibly siblings) produced Simone at Melbourne Zoo in 1984 and then were transferred to Gorge, where they produced a litter in 1994. They would have been getting on in years by then (possibly early teens), which may have favoured chances of a smaller litter (1-2 cubs) and a higher mortality rate (e.g. only one cub surviving). Alternatively, the two that came to Gorge from Melbourne may have been siblings of Simone (either from the same litter or a different litter/s).

I think if we consider the ages involved, there's a good chance that the pair of siblings that came to Gorge were in fact siblings of Simone's.

There's also a good chance that the birth of Bagheera in 1993/1994 was to them, but perhaps accidental. The pair of siblings from Melbourne were apparently hand raised, so it's possible they were only young at the time of their transfer to Gorge (perhaps born early 90's too).

 

[Ivy]

Do we know anything more about Bagheera’s parents? Did they with live him at gorge for the rest of their lives?

 

[Zoofan15]

Do we know anything more about Bagheera’s parents? Did they with live him at gorge for the rest of their lives?

It’s reasonable to assume they died at Gorge. Leopards can live into their early 20’s, so even if they were in their teens when he was born, it’s possible they lived into the 2000’s and indeed, at least one user on here reported the zoo having 3-4 leopards around this time. By the early 2010’s, Bagheera was the only leopard remaining at Gorge.

Australasia has basically followed four trends in regards to leopards:

Phase 1 (early to mid 20th century): Wild leopards (predominantly Indian leopards) were caught and imported by zoos via animal dealers. Sporadic breeding success followed, with a higher mortality rate of cubs.

Phase 2 (mid to late 20th century): Black leopards were imported by Auckland Zoo from Chicago in the 1960’s and became a regional craze due to their novelty. Auckland and Melbourne both bred them.

Phase 3 (late 20th century to early 21st century): Persian leopards became the first subspecies to be managed via a coordinated breeding programme. Imports from Europe were made, with Adelaide and Perth breeding. All had died out by the 2010’s.

Phase 4 (present day): Sri Lankan leopards are the current subspecies held in the region, in conjunction with the EEP. Carefully managed breeding is undertaken.

 

[Ivy]

Quick little update: I contacted gorge asking if they had any further information on Bagheera and this is what they said: “Bagherra was bred here at our park and his parents were originally from Melbourne Zoo. He did leave us for some time and went to a park in Whyalla where he lived with another female. He came back to us when that park closed down and lived his life out here. He passed away in 2017.
I can't give you an exact timeline of these events without looking back through records and we don't have any pictures of his parents here in the office. If the owners come across any photos in their personal collections at some stage, I will email them through.“ Not a whole lot of new information, but does confirm a few things. What I do find really interesting though, is that he was moved at one point to Whyalla and put with a female. And we know that Simone came to Whyalla at some point as-well and is most likely Bagheera’s parent’s sister. I don’t know for sure if this was actually Simone, but it’s still really interesting to think about! I’ve also asked if they happen to know if Bagheera’s parents had names so we can know for sure if Chelsea who has been mentioned a few times is indeed Bagheera’s mum. I will update if I get a response.