It has been about a decade since I last went to either Bonorong Sanctuary or Zoodoo Zoo, and given that they’re my local zoos, that’s not good enough! So I visited both on Friday 21 February, and thought I’d do a little write up on what’s changed and improved.
Both Zoodoo and Bonorong are located near Hobart, Tasmania.
Zoodoo Zoo review here: Zoodoo Zoo review February 2025 [ZooDoo Wildlife Park]
Bonorong Sanctuary focuses on the conservation and rehabilitation of native species. Since I last visited, they have made improvements and upgrades around the park, and it looked well-maintained. They have added two good sized aviaries for cockatoos and other native bird species, and a Wildlife Hospital is currently under construction. There are windows where you will be able to see the vets at work once it’s up and running.
You can see a map of Bonorong on their website, here: Plan Your Visit — Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary
The signage has all been replaced, and the new(ish) signs are all very informative – I liked how they not only gave the scientific name for each species, but explained the origin of the name. The signs also had a good amount of information on each animal, and showed the distribution of each species – most live in Tasmania and South-east Australia.
Short-beaked Echidna
Among the animal highlights were a leucistic Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo called Tweety, who is all yellow, a pair of very active Echidnas, and over 100 free ranging Kangaroos – Kangaroo food is provided free around the park. The park’s oldest resident is Fred, the sulphur-crested Cockatoo; he is over 100 years old and recived a letter from Buckingham Palace for his 100th birthday!
Tweety, the eucistic Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo
Bonorong do very good keeper talks, where you can learn about the work they do with wildlife. We heard about how orphaned baby wombats are raised and released back into the wild; about how unique monotremes are, and how the park’s echidnas were rescues that couldn’t be released back into the wild – one is blind and the other lost a leg in a dog attack. They seem to be enjoying life at the park though! We were also told about the work that the park is doing with vaccines for Devil facial tumour disease – they will be testing a new vaccine soon.
Free-ranging Kangaroos
(If Someone could add a gallery for Bonorong that would be great - I have uploaded these pics in the Australia - other gallery)
Bonorong Sancturary Species List
Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo
Sulphur-crested Cockatoo
Little Corella
Bronzewing Pigeon
Blue-Tongued Lizard
Tasmanian Devil
Common (or bare-nosed) Wombat
Short Beaked Echidna
Galah
Laughing Kookaburra
Tawny Frogmouth
Eastern Grey Kangaroo
Emu
Tasmanian Pademelon
Tasmanian Bettong
Red-tailed Black Cockatoo
Eastern Quoll
Spotted-tail Quoll
Sugar Glider
Eastern Barred Bandicoot
Common Ringtail Possum
Rainbow Lorikeet
Musk Lorikeet
Tiger Snake
Tasmanian Tree Frog
Mountain Dragon
Cape Barren Goose
Both Zoodoo and Bonorong are located near Hobart, Tasmania.
Zoodoo Zoo review here: Zoodoo Zoo review February 2025 [ZooDoo Wildlife Park]
Bonorong Sanctuary focuses on the conservation and rehabilitation of native species. Since I last visited, they have made improvements and upgrades around the park, and it looked well-maintained. They have added two good sized aviaries for cockatoos and other native bird species, and a Wildlife Hospital is currently under construction. There are windows where you will be able to see the vets at work once it’s up and running.
You can see a map of Bonorong on their website, here: Plan Your Visit — Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary
The signage has all been replaced, and the new(ish) signs are all very informative – I liked how they not only gave the scientific name for each species, but explained the origin of the name. The signs also had a good amount of information on each animal, and showed the distribution of each species – most live in Tasmania and South-east Australia.
Short-beaked Echidna
Among the animal highlights were a leucistic Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo called Tweety, who is all yellow, a pair of very active Echidnas, and over 100 free ranging Kangaroos – Kangaroo food is provided free around the park. The park’s oldest resident is Fred, the sulphur-crested Cockatoo; he is over 100 years old and recived a letter from Buckingham Palace for his 100th birthday!
Tweety, the eucistic Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo
Bonorong do very good keeper talks, where you can learn about the work they do with wildlife. We heard about how orphaned baby wombats are raised and released back into the wild; about how unique monotremes are, and how the park’s echidnas were rescues that couldn’t be released back into the wild – one is blind and the other lost a leg in a dog attack. They seem to be enjoying life at the park though! We were also told about the work that the park is doing with vaccines for Devil facial tumour disease – they will be testing a new vaccine soon.
Free-ranging Kangaroos
(If Someone could add a gallery for Bonorong that would be great - I have uploaded these pics in the Australia - other gallery)
Bonorong Sancturary Species List
Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo
Sulphur-crested Cockatoo
Little Corella
Bronzewing Pigeon
Blue-Tongued Lizard
Tasmanian Devil
Common (or bare-nosed) Wombat
Short Beaked Echidna
Galah
Laughing Kookaburra
Tawny Frogmouth
Eastern Grey Kangaroo
Emu
Tasmanian Pademelon
Tasmanian Bettong
Red-tailed Black Cockatoo
Eastern Quoll
Spotted-tail Quoll
Sugar Glider
Eastern Barred Bandicoot
Common Ringtail Possum
Rainbow Lorikeet
Musk Lorikeet
Tiger Snake
Tasmanian Tree Frog
Mountain Dragon
Cape Barren Goose
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