Bargain exhibits

[foz]

A thead to highlight really good exhibit that have been built relatively cheaply. Blocks of natural woodland could provide a really good exhbit yet remain quite cheap to build. so are there any bargain exhibits out there?...

 

[Zambar]

My best example is the Malayan Tapir Paddock at Port Lymnpe. 12 acres of lush green woodland that looks more like a rainforest than what it really is, and the only additions inside are a few huts.

Along with that, there's Paignton Orangutan Islands that are just enclosed by water with a few ropes but include huge matrure trees for the orangs to climb, and the New Forest Otter, Owl and Wildlife Park's lynx enclosure.

 

[kiang]

I think the best example, will be one we haven't seen yet, the new polar bear enclosure at the HWP, for a final cost of £75'000 or there abouts we are getting a vast track of highland expanse with a pool, a location to die for, all that any polar bear thinking of retiring could wish for.
P.S secret to keeping the costs down, call in the British army, docked £275'000 off the cost price.

 

[James27]

The sloth bear enclosure at Whipsnade is good: Pretty big, lots of hiding places, a few trees, enrichment and a converted stable block all for the bargain price of 80 grand. I'd say the same about most of their exhibits actually.

 

[Arizona Docent]

All of the hoofstock enclosures at Wildlife West in New Mexico (USA). They are in the country outside of Albuquerque and basically just fenced off huge multi-acre plots of land for rescued native wildlife (pronghorn, mule deer, american elk). Some of the biggest and best exhibits for hoofstock, and very little work required, since the animals are all native to the habitat already.

Northwest Trek in Washington did the same thing. Although I haven't been to Canada, it looks like Greater Vancouver is also this way. There is a distinct advantage to displaying only animals native to the location a zoo is located in.

Even for non-native animals, it seems as though some exhibits are way over priced. I mean, $45 million for the elephant exhibits at both Los Angeles and San Diego just seems obscene to me. (How is it that my zoo in the next state is building an elephant exhibit of the same size - 3 acres - for only $8 million?).

 

[foz]

Even for non-native animals, it seems as though some exhibits are way over priced. I mean, $45 million for the elephant exhibits at both Los Angeles and San Diego just seems obscene to me. (How is it that my zoo in the next state is building an elephant exhibit of the same size - 3 acres - for only $8 million?).

I know exactly what you mean (especially when looking on zoolex where the exhibits are often amazing but insanley priced). The european brown bear/syrian brown bear exhibit at dartmoor consists of a natural woodland and couldn't of cost too much.

 

[Pertinax]

The sloth bear enclosure at Whipsnade is good: Pretty big, lots of hiding places, a few trees, enrichment and a converted stable block all for the bargain price of 80 grand. I'd say the same about most of their exhibits actually.

It is far superior in many ways to what they had in London, and they seem much happier in it too.

 

[CGSwans]

I started a thread that asks where the money goes, that sadly didn't get any replies.

I just struggle to understand some of the figures that get bandied around. For the $50m that Great Southern Oceans apparently cost Taronga I could have built an excellent zoo. I don't really see why any zoo exhibit - except perhaps for elephants - should cost more than a couple of million dollars.

 

[Shorts]

I'm sure I heard somewhere that the walk-through Lemur enclosure at Dudley only cost £30,000 which I think is reasonably priced for an effective exhibit (when the Lemurs deign to be active).

Also Trotters in the Lake District is full of cheap but effective enclosures. Unless my memory's playing tricks I'm sure the collection manager told me (3 or 4 years ago) that the basic budget for each enclosure was £4,000 and they'd stretched to £10,000 for the Mandrill enclosure (though I think staff had done most of the building work). Even if those figures are a bit old (or my memory faulty) they still look to be cheap & effective enclosures.

These, and previous enclosures mentioned, just show that with a little imagination good enclosures for animals and visitors needn't cost the earth -my mind boggles at the amounts some of the larger zoos spend (waste?) on the more extravangant exhibits. I could start a rant here, but my lunch hour was over 18 minutres ago.

 

[Cat-Man]

Even for non-native animals, it seems as though some exhibits are way over priced. I mean, $45 million for the elephant exhibits at both Los Angeles and San Diego just seems obscene to me. (How is it that my zoo in the next state is building an elephant exhibit of the same size - 3 acres - for only $8 million?).

i agree, as a 11 year old, i could build a beter ele enclosure wiht my poket money (if somone bought me the land)

 

[Jurek7]

Best exhibits I saw in small native parks in Germany and Switzerland. Many of these parks are free and unknown outside their close neighborhood. Simply chunks of forest fenced, giving perfect exhibits for wolves, lynx, deer, bison etc etc. I guess you could just as easily exhibit many tropical animals - just add spacious heated barn.

Mierlo may be what counts as budget for elephant bull keeping:
http://www.asianelephant.net/mierlo/mierlo.htm

 

[Meaghan Edwards]

Some of the Toronto Zoo enclosures look low budget, in the Canadian Domain. The old wolf, moose and bison/elk exhibits are basically fences around a forest/field. Some exhibits are recycled with little to no renovation (Secretary Bird, many exhibits in the Australasia pavilion for example).