Best UK Giant Otter enclosure

Best UK Giant Otter enclosure?

  • Total voters
    55
  • Poll closed .
B

britishzoofan

Well-Known Member
5+ year member
This is just a bit of fun to judge the general consensus on the best enclosure for Giant Otters in the UK. I have added a few photos from the gallery to make it easier for members to compare the different exhibits. If anyone wants to make an argument for a particular enclosure, please feel free to do so. Also, I would encourage people to perhaps list the enclosures in order of what they determine to be the best.

YWP

full

full


Chester

full

full


South Lakes

full


New Forest WP

full


Longleat

full

full



 
If anyone votes for New Forest WP... :D

Anyway, the three 'contenders' are YWP, South Lakes and Chester. YWP has a shallower pool than the other two, with no underwater viewing and the wrong climate, so I think it is between South Lakes and Chester. I like the look of the South Lakes exhibit but Chester's area is just simply bigger. Chester also does a lot for the otters bts and the indoor enclosure is quite nice as well, so, while South Lakes was a pleasant surprise, I reckon Chester wins.
 
Pity this wasn't a few years ago when The Chestnut Centre was still open as Chester would have some competition,but I am sure Longleat will get atleast one vote by their one person fan club.As for South Lakes the indoor housing is by far the worst I have seen,but thankfully these days its board up and cannot be seen,so out of sight out of mind which helps improve things for South Lakes,not a fan of YWP housing or enclosure but I know some people are,thats there choice its wrong but its there choice to be wrong
 
zoogiraffe said:
Pity this wasn't a few years ago when The Chestnut Centre was still open as Chester would have some competition,but I am sure Longleat will get atleast one vote by their one person fan club.As for South Lakes the indoor housing is by far the worst I have seen,but thankfully these days its board up and cannot be seen,so out of sight out of mind which helps improve things for South Lakes,not a fan of YWP housing or enclosure but I know some people are,thats there choice its wrong but its there choice to be wrong
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I thought the same regarding the Chestnut Centre exhibit, I don't think there would have been much between that and Chester's. I'm just glad I managed to get there once to see it the year before it closed down.
 
This is another one of those votes when Chester is almost guaranteed a victory.17 votes in just over an hour!As a Giant Otter lover I respect the New Forest WP because it was the first place I saw Giant Otters but it is the worst of their 5(or is it 6)otter enclosures and too simple.

I like Chester’s reusing if the old Sea Lion habitat as the Giant Otter enclosure. Longleat reusing the penguin enclosure for Giant Otters is nowhere near as efficient.I do love the Longleat exhibit though.

South Lakes has a much better Giant Otter exhibit than I expected as opposed to YWP which have a much worse exhibit than I expected.
 
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Whilst the YWP exhibit wouldn't win, the photo provided does not give a true representation of the exhibit currently. It is now far more vegetated, and looks 10 times better.

That said, the toss up is between South Lakes and Chester, with Chester's indoor accommodation giving it the win.
 
The Longleat exhibit cannot be fully judged from the photo either.It is now more vegetated and there is some good viewing areas which are not shown.Between the indoor and outdoor areas there is a private area and much immersion is created indoors by sound effects, but you cannot hear pictures.

However, similar to YWP it will not beat Chester or South Lakes.It is of similar quality to YWP.
 
The_melford_manatee said:
As a Giant Otter lover I respect the New Forest WP because it was the first place I saw Giant Otters but it is the worst of their 5(or is it 6)otter enclosures and too simple.
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It was the first place I saw Giant Otter too- a well-overdue species for me. The enclosure may have been for other species previously before they got the original two male Giant Otters? Chester's is the best I've seen, but have only seen those two in the UK.
 
Pertinax said:
It was the first place I saw Giant Otter too- a well-overdue species for me. The enclosure may have been for other species previously before they got the original two male Giant Otters? Chester's is the best I've seen, but have only seen those two in the UK.
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I believe it was once home to Smooth-coated Otters but the enclosure was not good enough even for them.Before that it was connected to the adjacent deer walkthrough.I think it was best of as a part of the deer habitat while the otters(both species)are kept behind the scenes(now only the Smooth-coateds are behind the scenes).
 
I’ve never quite understood the reasoning behind Longleat getting Giant otter. Isn’t the enclosure on the old footprint of the penguin area? Surely that’s far too small! They’d have been better off sectioning off a part of the lake to make a large exhibit.
 
Panthera1981 said:
I’ve never quite understood the reasoning behind Longleat getting Giant otter. Isn’t the enclosure on the old footprint of the penguin area? Surely that’s far too small! They’d have been better off sectioning off a part of the lake to make a large exhibit.
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Yes but the penguin enclosure was a great part of the zoo and had to be re-used for something.You are correct though,Giant Otters were a bad choice.I think they would be better of using it for the Cuban Crocodiles.
 
zoogiraffe said:
Pity this wasn't a few years ago when The Chestnut Centre was still open as Chester would have some competition,but I am sure Longleat will get atleast one vote by their one person fan club.As for South Lakes the indoor housing is by far the worst I have seen,but thankfully these days its board up and cannot be seen,so out of sight out of mind which helps improve things for South Lakes,not a fan of YWP housing or enclosure but I know some people are,thats there choice its wrong but its there choice to be wrong
Click to expand...

Absolutely. I saw the Giant Otters at Chestnut Centre many years ago and both the species and the enclosure took my breath away - I'd have voted for that in a heartbeat. That place was an otter paradise, such a shame it closed.
 
Sand Cat said:
Absolutely. I saw the Giant Otters at Chestnut Centre many years ago and both the species and the enclosure took my breath away - I'd have voted for that in a heartbeat. That place was an otter paradise, such a shame it closed.
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Have you got any photos of the exhibit?
 
Sand Cat said:
Absolutely. I saw the Giant Otters at Chestnut Centre many years ago and both the species and the enclosure took my breath away - I'd have voted for that in a heartbeat. That place was an otter paradise, such a shame it closed.
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It was indeed great - had it still been around, things would have been a lot trickier for Chester, although I would have still given it the win based on indoor housing and quality of the outdoor land area.
 
Does Longleat's outdoor area not have a pool/lake/pond/whatever the correct term would be here?

Anyway, an easy vote for Chester which is way above its competition there.
 
Mattaki said:
Does Longleat's outdoor area not have a pool/lake/pond/whatever the correct term would be here?

Anyway, an easy vote for Chester which is way above its competition there.
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Longleat do have an outdoor pool it just isn't visible in the photo. I actually think Longleat's Giant Otter exhibit is very strong, however it just isn't as good as Chester's.
 
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TeaLovingDave said:
It was indeed great - had it still been around, things would have been a lot trickier for Chester, although I would have still given it the win based on indoor housing and quality of the outdoor land area.
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You are of course correct it would be trickier for Chester, but completely wrong in giving it to Chester if chestnut was still open, but as a moderator you are allowed to be both right and wrong at the same time.
 
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