BestZoo Best Zoo

sooty mangabey

sooty mangabey

Well-Known Member
I know that this is one of the various Zodiac zoos; does anyone have any further insight into it - the various Dutch contributors have posted some very interesting comments on the smaller Dutch zoos recently. Many thanks.
 
Best zoo hasn't been part of zodiac zoos for long. But they have undergone a lot of changes already since they joined. Lots of enclosures have been changed, enlarged or house different species now so that they are better suitable.

The more "traditional" zodaic zoos (like overloon, wissel and aqua) have parts of their collection that looks very similar with lesser panda, racoon, mongooses etc. Because best is pretty new to that game they are still quite different. It's the only zodiac with large cats (only overloon has cheetas). Best has jaguars, pumas and sri lankan leopards. (the pumas are unique to our country!). They also breed the jaguars and pumas. On top of that they also house lynx, ocelot and junglecats. Probably most interesting for the audience here on this board is that this zoo recently received some crabeating racoons!

Lately they created a new area for a bachelor group of Cervus alfredi. And some domestic breeds of cows have left to make a large area for the bactrian camels.

So it's a very nice little zoo. Don't expect anything great and cool, because at some places it still looks a bit obscure with old cages. But Best is definately going in the right direction. (i'll check later to see if i have any pictures of the park, but i'm afraid i don't have any)
 
You want some pictures?
Picasa Web Albums - Gorilla Gust - Best Zoo (rec...

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Thank you for these interesting photos. The birs in the third picture: is this a caracara? And if so, why is it white?
 
Thanks for the photoes. but I have a quick question:-What other species are held in that aviary at the top? I can see squirrel monkeys and a bird that i can't identify.
 
Yes, it is a White Caracara, following my contact in Best zoo it isn't a Albino, but why it is white? I don't know...

The birdcage above haves agouti's, White-cheeked Turaco, and squirrel monkeys :)
 
Thanks for the nofrmation posted. I took the opportunity to visit Zoo Best whilst in Holland recently, and it's an interesting place. As mentioned above, the collection is unusual in this day and age, with lots of very un-regulation species such as pumas and crab-eating racoons. The older enclosures are pretty grim - the binturongs, c-e racoons and various others are housed in really rather horrible cages, whilst the cats are not too well-off for space. But the new enclosures are excellent - very simple, but really nicely done. No map or leaflet or postcard available, which is a pity, and there is still an air of shabbiness over the place as a whole. Does anyone know of its history pre Zodiac? And when did Zodiac buy it? And why? And what are their plans for the place? Many thanks.
 
Why they bought it? Because they didn't have a zoo in that region i think, and because of the quite good collection there. That the Zoo has still there old (pre zodiac) cages is only for now. The Zoo is going to move ;) :)

It will be called "recreatiepark de Vleut" en move a little, but still there in the region within the Recreactiepark there is now :)

Then it will become a full new "good" zoo :)
 
Gorilla Gust mentioned last year that Zoo Best was gong to move. Any more news on that at all? And any news from the 'current' zoo at all?
 
is that a crab-eating raccoon in the photo? And if so, is that why it looks so odd? -- I've never seen one before, only the regular North American raccoon, and the one in the photo looks like its been shaved! Do they always look like that?
 
Chlidonias said:
is that a crab-eating raccoon in the photo? And if so, is that why it looks so odd? -- I've never seen one before, only the regular North American raccoon, and the one in the photo looks like its been shaved! Do they always look like that?
Click to expand...

Yes, it is. And no, it hasn't been. And yes, they do.

Really wonderful animals, worth a trip to Holland to see them (but maybe not all the way from New Zealand).
 
thanks. The short fur makes it look really civet-y.
Yet another animal I have to see one day :)
 
i'm a very regular visitor of Bestzoo, so if someone is interested i can tell more about it ;)

some interesting species they have:
Crab-eating Raccoons
Tellow-throated Marten
Ocelot
European lynx
Serval
Jungle Cat
Cougar
Jaguar
Sri Lanka Panther
Binturong
Black Howler Monkey
Llama
Alpaca
Bactrian Camel
Black Spider Monkey
Saddle-back Tamarin
White-belted black-and-white ruffed lemur
King Vulture
Black Vulture
Kookaburra
and many others
 
All has been very quiet on the BestZoo front recently. Do any of the Dutch contributors, or michaelfan in particular, have any further news? When Zodiac took over there was a real flurry of development. Has this continued?
 
Zodiac zoos sold after the development was becoming to expansive and would take to long. The town council kept adding costs and restrictions. It is now owned by a privateer again. All plans for expansion are promoted to the waste basket. It's not the first zoo expansion that is killed off because town cuoncils don't want to cooperate.
 
Basically, Zodiac was interested because the city council had plans of developing a plot of land close to Best Zoo. The idea was to move the zoo to the plot of land, together with other tourist attractions and coöperate with an adjacent national park.

In the end, that plan fell through and Best would only be able to stay at it's current location and not expand. Therefore, Zodiac sold the zoo back to a private person and started focussing on other zoos and new prospects.
 
After Zodiac Zoos sold it, many interesting species departedc. Crab-eating Raccoons, Ocelots, Jungle Cats, Llamas... There are, however, also a lot of new species, including Common Raccoons, Coatis (combined with Capuchin Monkeys) and many bird species, including Rhea, Crowned Crane, Ground Hornbill, Guineafowl and both White and Black Stork. However, I haven't visited Bestzoo for a while, so there may be some other new species I don't know about ;)
 
Yeah JWER you are right "de vleut" as the new parc would have been called fell through because of the costs 16 million euro. But I read somewhere Best zoo could still move to a piece of land across the street from where they are now but it would be too expansive. By the way the new owner Jos Nooren plans to improve the zoo at its current location. I've never been there but what i see in pictures it could use improving.
 
This is a real shame.

Having seen the zoo a few years ago, I'm not sure that it has the ability - or the need - to survive as it is, without some really radical overhauling. The new enclosures that Zodiac brought in were pretty decent, but much of the rest of the place was not the finest - and this in a country where zoos are so good, on the whole. It's not as if there aren't a number of excellent places within easy distance.
 
Your right. But the sad thing is there are a few species there that you can hardly find anywhere else in the netherlands. They are the only one with Puma's. Just one of two with Jaguars and Yellow-throated mardens. Artis being the other one in both cases. Luckily they (Artis) are building a new Jaguar exhibits because the housing of big cats overthere is also terrible
 
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