Australia Zoo Australia Zoo in Trouble

Bindi

Zooboy, While I do appreciate that Steve has educated a younger generation I find much more interest in David Attenborough docos. They are much better put together and far less focused on ego and more on the nature side of things.

I find John Stainton produced programming to be cheap crap, but maybe because I am soooo old.
 
Yeah I agree, I compared the two and the information and I got a lot more info in the David Attenborough docos and all that was in the Steve Irwin ones was all about himself, his family, his zoo or how he handles them with a bit of info on animals. But the ones he made about his zoo were good. Plus the Attenborough ones were better put together and well sorted in a sense.
 
I want to but the Life of Mammals set but it's too expensive. I'll wait 'til they're on again and tape it.
 
Yeah they are very expensive so my parents bought the book then a group of people got me the DVDs. I reckon that people would get scared of bindi and Australia zoo if she becomes a sex-symbol hahaha.
 
Australia Zoos new advertising campaign.

"Come to Australia Zoo; Bindi's waiting for you."
 
I think most people would be threatened by Bindi - she has access to deadly animals and knows how to use them! :D
 
haha sim, they will come in handy when she get's into the dating scence lol

Ptig, i 100% agree with you, i myslef love david docos, and find them more appealing and educational, but when we talk about a young generation, fast movement, fast talkers is what kids are interested in, they just want to see animals. They would look at david and say old and boring. Hopefully, these kids say at 10 years old, can watch the irwin crew, see animals, learn to appreciate animals, and eventually move onto a much more well produced and education documentary series such as davids.

We need to first capture the mind, to really eduacate it, and then untilise the education to conserve.
 
If this thread has become a comparison between David vs. Steve, well that is not a comparison at all...
 
MARK said:
Lets try and stay on track here guys
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True. You guys all seem to be falling over each other over my remarks aka Bindi. That is just one part of it, I was just merely illustrating the over-commercial approach and the personality cult (to me it comes off as a form of child exploitation) that blurs any conservation ethic at Australia Zoo.

I WANT Australia Zoo to be a good zoo which is serious about zoo animal management and ex and in situ wildlife conservation. They have so much to offer both landwise and cashwise, that I JUST WISH they would make better use of their resources. They would certainly be taken more seriously in the zoo and wildlife quarters if they would.

So, please guys try focus more and explore the real argument with me .. which is more on Australia zoo as an institution, its role in education and conservation and less so on the Irwins' personality cult. For ;) sake it is not a religious sect, it is a zoo full of wild animals. If they bring in gorillas, rhinos, orangs and tigers it will mean zilch if they do not built state of the art facilities and exhibits and are seen to tie in their commitment in mega fauna with financial support to in situ conservation projects. :cool:

F.i. they brought in Sumatran tigers from Taman Safari in Indonesia. Fine ....., but what will they do for Taman Safari and the PKBSI tiger breeding project or Indonesia's wildlife conservation programmes?

To give you a perspective on things: the European EEP has worked tirelessly with the US SSP for years to support the Sumatran tiger programmes in Indonesia, both by supporting financially Taman Safari in Bogor, Java, Indonesia to set up a PKBSI captive-breeding programme for Sumatran tigers in the local Indonesian zoos, improving keeping standards and having some of the eventual unrelated offspring relocated to EEP and SSP collections to improve their gene pools and by ALSO supporting financially and with technical expertise the anti-poaching teams in the protected areas where it matters (e.g. Kerinci Seblat and Aceh), tiger research and monitoring, protected area patrolling and improvement as well as rapid wildlife assessments in southern and eastern Sumatra for tigers, elephants and other wildlife (sun bears, Malayan tapirs, orangs, gibbons, langurs).

What will Australia Zoo put back in?
 
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jelle said:
What will Australia Zoo put back in?
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A smattering over a quarter of a million dollars into several in situ tiger projects in Indoensia last year alone, and they are already well on their way to that figure again this year.

The expense of acquiring and importing the most genetically valuable tigers in captivity outside of Indonesia, and making these available to the regional (and therefore EEP) captive program.

Want me to go on?
 
Aus Zoo conservation spend

I would be interested to know where the 250K has been spent. It will be interesting to see the progress of the new cubs in the program. Will they follow recommendations?
 
ZooPro said:
A smattering over a quarter of a million dollars into several in situ tiger projects in Indoensia last year alone, and they are already well on their way to that figure again this year.

The expense of acquiring and importing the most genetically valuable tigers in captivity outside of Indonesia, and making these available to the regional (and therefore EEP) captive program.

Want me to go on?
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Yup, puleaseee ..... Zoopro!!!!! :p

Let's be constructive and get beyond the media hype! Just what I do not understand is ... why does only the Disney feel like stuff gets into the media? Journalists with instant hit and run messages or could communication be better exploited?

Can you provide a link to Australia Zoo's contributions to the Sumatra tiger programme? And of course any other projects they are involved in? Being a little media hungry here .... :rolleyes:
 
I don't work for them, so I can't send you all their media releases, but you could start here: Australia Zoo - Conservation - Projects

It's a sad state of affairs, but it's reality, that cute, cuddly and quirky gets into the media far more easily than being involved in in situ conservation projects. Put a gorilla or a chimp in a nappy, stick a red nose on a koala for red nose day, have a monkey eating an ice cream during a heat wave, or show Bindi's latest fashions (to tie the discussion into this thread), and you can be sure the media will lap it up. Tell them that you've just spent a couple of hundred thousand dollars to help save tigers in Indonesia, and unless it's associated with some other major event (like the tsunami last year), then it won't get a bite.

Part of this problem is that the zoos don't feed the right types of stories to the media (in my opinion), and part of it is that the media only want cute or controversial. Part of it also, is that the masses out there seem to be happy with cute and cuddly, and don't really give a toss about conservation.

That's what media hype is about, unfortunately :( so, when Bindi has a new DVD on sale, or Australia Zoo suggests something a bit out of the ordinary, it makes the papers. It's still good PR for the zoo, but it might not be what you or I would prefer.
 
I WANT Australia Zoo to be a good zoo which is serious about zoo animal management and ex and in situ wildlife conservation. They have so much to offer both landwise and cashwise, that I JUST WISH they would make better use of their resources. They would certainly be taken more seriously in the zoo and wildlife quarters if they would.

quote from Jelle ( I think )

This is very much my own opinion also .
I am not anti Bindi -- she is a 9 year old kid that has alot more interaction with wildlife than most other 9 year olds .
I am not suggesting in any way that the zoo cuts out all of the Irwin influence as it is because of the work that was started by Bob Irwin , and greatly taken on board by Steve , and now passed on to his predeccesors .
But I will be saddened if the zoo becomes more of an "Irwin land " ( for lack of better term ) than a zoo , even if they rename it Steve Irwin Memorial Zoo ,
Just look on the "zoos" website and it will tell you more information about Irwins than about animals .Its like they are blowing their own trumpet more than blowing a trumpet for the zoo . I wish that the zoo management would work towards the animal/conservation side of things , otherwise the place will just become a generic Sunshine Coast tourist trap , based on reptiles and a few animals , just like back in the early days .

It has done well with improving its facilities and enclosures , and introducing a wider range of animals . It should keep up the same if it is serious to stay as its name suggests --- Australia ZOO .
If they cant be a zoo , perhaps they should put in all their money for a conservation research centre ( like Mt Bruce )
It is a pretty good zoo for QLD . I hope to visit the zoo again some day -- but to visit the zoo there . Not to see Bindi or another Irwin .
 
Nigel, maybe you missed the point Patrick was making in regards to funding, the Irwins must make money to keep the zoo running and to expand and as Patrick said there is NO Goverment injection of cash keeping this zoo running, if it means putting on a "show" so to speak then so be it, zoos need money its thats simple.

As for the convervation side of things look what Zoopro has said about the amount of cash Aust zoo have given towards Tiger conservation, and the new tigers imported into Aust by them for breeding in our region.

There is large amounts of land bought by them for wildlife reserves for conservation of wildlife, give them a few more years and see how important their input will be as part of our regions main zoos and also with conservation, I say it will be a big part.
 
I was pretty impressed with their conservation interpt, some of the best I have seen. In an ideal world there would be no need to raise money to keep worthy projects going, but the reality is they need to generate funds to keep going and keep getting the message out there.
 
MARK said:
Nigel, maybe you missed the point Patrick was making in regards to funding, the Irwins must make money to keep the zoo running and to expand and as Patrick said there is NO Goverment injection of cash keeping this zoo running, if it means putting on a "show" so to speak then so be it, zoos need money its thats simple.

As for the convervation side of things look what Zoopro has said about the amount of cash Aust zoo have given towards Tiger conservation, and the new tigers imported into Aust by them for breeding in our region.

There is large amounts of land bought by them for wildlife reserves for conservation of wildlife, give them a few more years and see how important their input will be as part of our regions main zoos and also with conservation, I say it will be a big part.
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Hi Mark,

Will continue posting on this as I feel very strongly on the subject. I agree that zoos need to make their cash books count, I just know that you can do that without making it a personal thing. Just look at how Chester Zoo has come away from the dark days of the early 1980's .. and developped into a BIG zoo with recreation, commercial success, unusual animal presentation (exhibits), lots of endangered species breeding programmes, a significant and active education section and a huge conservation outreach programme with substantial funding for in situ conservation! Positive news all around!

What I mean with the power to dream ... (Dreamtime) is that Australia Zoo could become a world class zoo facility with large conservation outreach. They just have to publicise that side better to the media (who only seem to be interested in Bindi, luvey dovey and cuddly toys). We need to change the media landscape here (just look at what happened with the Thai elephant saga, the sad female Indian rhino's demise and stuff). The media and PETA just seem convinced this negative styled reporting in Oz is called for ... yet the zoo community is just left out of the equation. We need to engage the media and instill into them what zoos in Australia are really doing.

I have yet to read all the conservation stuff on Australia Zoo (I just waded through the tiger bit .. but could not easily find any news on the recent import of the Taman twin tigers on the website .. same for an annual report with financial accounts), so before I go into that ... I will leave you all to breathe for another day! ;)

Have a nice weekend all! :cool:

Jelle
 
Jelle I agree with what you have said but remember Chester zoo has been around for a long time and had a good head start so to speak, Aust zoo was a small reptile park up untill 1980 or so and has come a long way since then, I feel in time Aust zoo will become an important part of our zoo network here in Aust, as they say "Rome was not built in a day", In the next ten years or so big things could happen there and I feel they will, new exhibits are planned and new animals will join the zoo and become part of our regional plan.

As more animals are bought into the zoo more focus should shift towards the animals and the conservation work they do, its up to our zoos to push the right message across to the media for all the good and positive work they do.
 
I have nothing against a good animal show that people can learn something useful about the animal , how to relate to them if they come across them in the wild , conservation issues etc .
Currimbin does an excellent snake show , complete with what to do if you encounter a death adder in the bush ( leave it alone ) as well as first aid for snake bite ..... it also does excellent shows with their parrots , raptors and several other animals . And because the shows are well done , nobody gets bored with dry facts , or "Crikeyhype"
I have seen several reptile shows in my life , and Currimbin has the best ( so far )
Wellington Zoo does a tiger conservation talk every morning which actually teaches people a few issues which they wouldnt have otherwise picked up

Unless there has been a major turnaround in policy , the Australia Zoo reptile shows were very much on the thrill of the keeper almost being eaten by a huge saltie -- Crikey !! That was real close !! That nipper nearly got me !!
ad nauseum .

Big deal !!
so what did one learn from this ?

If Currimbin , Wellington Zoo , Orana Park and many other places can produce shows that are both entertaining AND EDUCATIONAL , as well as giving the public the opportunity of a good camera shot , why cant Australia Zoo do the same thing , with less of the hype and bravado that Steve could do so well .
Steve has sadly passed on , hopefully the zoo can do shows that have more useful conservation messages so it can
(1) stay alive
(2) educate the public about the need for conservation

as well as being a great days excursion

I have heard that Australia Zoo has bought large tracts of land to use as zoo expansion and/or wildlife reserve . I have no issue with this , and I commend them on this .
 
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