Bristol Zoo (Closed) Big animals

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Dartboy

Active Member
Hi
i know bristol used to have lots of big animals and got rid of most of the big animals apart from Lions, gorillas and okapis But they need to up the profile by getting some bigger animals. I no they are a small city zoo but they do have a lot of free space with all their lawns and big amounts of space taken up with small animals. i just want to no wether they are planning on getting some more big animals.
Im local to the zoo and cant be bothered to pay a tenner to see lions gorrilas okapis a load of fish some monkeys and a big house dedicated to bugs!
 
Well it's not all about the big animals, it's about how they keep the animals they have and what they're doing in the field. I agree it could maybe do them good to get more high profile species, but they already have lions, gorillas, lemurs, sea lions, pygmy hippo and penguins; most people want to see these.
And no, they don't plan on getting any bigger animals, they just don't have the room, even the lawns aren't that big really.
 
i think the zoo is fine as it is. it is highly rgarded amongst zoo visitrs (as can be shown by its high attendance compared to other zoos with perhaps larger animals). the quality of exhibits at bristol are generally very good. Animal conservation can not be focussed on the large charismatic animals like elephants or rhinos, as there are more smaller overlooked animals in much more need. :)

Of course vistor attendance can't show everything abotu a zoo as its urban location means it would naturally fare better than a rural zoo
 
Dartboy said:
Hi
i know bristol used to have lots of big animals and got rid of most of the big animals apart from Lions, gorillas and okapis But they need to up the profile by getting some bigger animals. I no they are a small city zoo but they do have a lot of free space with all their lawns and big amounts of space taken up with small animals. i just want to no wether they are planning on getting some more big animals.
Im local to the zoo and cant be bothered to pay a tenner to see lions gorrilas okapis a load of fish some monkeys and a big house dedicated to bugs!
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Don't worry, you'll have the NWCP in a few years (if the credit crunch doesn't get in the way).

Actually, I applaud Bristol, instead of trying to cram in enclosures for the large animals, it is a very pleasant zoo to visit and lots to see (more so then if you had twenty species of large animals filling the sight.) I'd much rather have the new developments (SAPC and the Monkey Forest) rather then a 0.5 acre giraffe enclosure and no gardens.

Plus, as foz says, their attendance says otherwise. I think Bristol was something like the third most visited zoo last year.
 
yes, the NWCP would be good, as the space would allow them to kepp animals that they would want to keep if they had a bigger site, ie elephants and giraffe (im not saying that they will have these at the NWCP)
 
Though I've not been to Bristol, I gather that it's a relatively small city zoo, in which case I don't think it should have many big animals like rhinos and elephants. They simply wouldn't have the space to roam like they do in places like Longleat and Woburn. It's better for somewhere to Bristol to focus on the littler critters. Plus, you've got a bigger variety of primates, small felines, reptiles, etc to look at, rather than just one sort of cramped elephant :)
 
Dartboy said:
Hi
i know bristol used to have lots of big animals and got rid of most of the big animals apart from Lions, gorillas and okapis But they need to up the profile by getting some bigger animals. I no they are a small city zoo but they do have a lot of free space with all their lawns and big amounts of space taken up with small animals. i just want to no wether they are planning on getting some more big animals.
Im local to the zoo and cant be bothered to pay a tenner to see lions gorrilas okapis a load of fish some monkeys and a big house dedicated to bugs!
Click to expand...

Bristol is a fantastic inner city zoo, worth the 5 hours trip to see it. The gardens are wonderfully and should be kept that way it really makes this Zoo stand out and the first that I have vissted that rivals Chester zoos own gardens.

As many other people have said a big new developement outside the city is planned and therefore no need to change such a wonderfully little zoo.
 
Like all long-established zoos, Bristol has its share of out-moded enclosures. I would like to list a number of possibilities for demolition and redevelopment, but I don't think there's much point. Bristol has done a lot to modernise its buildings over the years, but the focus must now be on Hollywood Towers. At the moment the zoo must generate cash to make the planned developments happen.

Alan
 
i just hope the developments outside the city wont detract from the zoo, like putting all their energy into that rather than the zoo. also in many years time they might adandon the zoo all together for the new site. i hope this doesn't become true and it's just me being pessimistic
 
I agree with all the comments above but if it was done right they could still have a decent Giraffe exhibit within the Zoo,if they used the right area to do it.As for not wanting to pay the money togo round Bristol because it has so few BIG ANIMALS is to me just plain STUPID its got a great collection of small mammals many of which are not that common in zoo`s,also at least all its enclosures are built to a high standard unlike somewhere near by which has BIG ANIMALS.
 
I agree; the only large drawcards Bristol would possibly be able to have would be giraffes and maybe sun bears or leopards in the space between Twilight World and the Reptile House. To be honest, I find the fact the Nocturnal House is very near the entrance proves a clever tactic; there are some fascinating small animals in there like the aye-ayes and hairy armadillos, and makes visitors realise how small critters can be just as fascinating.
 
I always thought the lion enclosure would be pretty good for Sun bears, maybe the roof's a bit low though.
 
I am sorry if in my thred it seemed like i was saying that bristol was rubbish, witch i dont think so. And they do have some great small animals like the aye aye, i just think the lawns could be put to better use maybe a leopard enclosureor something like that. But whats the point of me saying that now when there the new zoo just up the road opening soon........ hopefully
 
Dartboy said:
I am sorry if in my thred it seemed like i was saying that bristol was rubbish, witch i dont think so. And they do have some great small animals like the aye aye, i just think the lawns could be put to better use maybe a leopard enclosureor something like that. But whats the point of me saying that now when there the new zoo just up the road opening soon........ hopefully
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Aren't you as excited as me at the development of the new maze?:rolleyes:
 
I found bristol interesting and different i went for a job interview not long back. The fur seal and penguin enclosures where impressive but found the okapi enclosure was a bit small and they showed beahavioural problems of chewing the bars, also it got quite noisy in the okapi/gorilla house. My friends where not that impressed though but they are not animal people lol, they did not like the fact the lions paced alot .
 
i thought that if the lions are too old to breed, possibly send a spair pair of tiger from west mids (even if they are white, and prefebly brothers or sister or a brother and a sister) and split the enclosure,a crowd pullar that could be done, and will spair more room for breeding tigers, i think the eclosure is big enough to be able to do that
 
Cat-Man said:
i thought that if the lions are too old to breed, possibly send a spair pair of tiger from west mids (even if they are white, and prefebly brothers or sister or a brother and a sister) and split the enclosure,a crowd pullar that could be done, and will spair more room for breeding tigers, i think the eclosure is big enough to be able to do that
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Why would a zoo like Bristol want to bred HYBRID Tigers from West Mids,sorry but that idea has to be one of the daftest you`ve ever come up with.
 
Wouldn't it just make sense to keep the lions? Yes, the female is too old too breed at thirteen, but at that age she *may* not live that much longer anyway (apologies if that sounds harsh).

However, the male is young; by the time Moti does die, he will be well settled in and it wouldn't really be right to move him. The zoo could set about trying to find a young female to whom he is not too closely related to in order to replace Moti, although I understand that may be quite a Herculean task.
 
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