Bredl’s is a small fauna park on the outskirts of Renmark, South Australia. As the Bredl name is well-known in herpetological circles in Australia I assumed it would be a reptile park. While there were a number of reptile exhibits, there were also many non-reptile displays too, hence the "Wildlife' in the Park's name.
The park is not too large, with plenty of open space and lawns between most of the exhibits. The lawns are going to soon be replaced by native gardens because, as the sign says, it’s pointless to continually water the lawns to keep them green, and then mow them regularly.
Just inside the entrance are some primate enclosures, one cage displaying capuchins and the other a ‘castle’ with rhesus macaques. The capuchin cage is an older enclosure (it looks like it was originally a bird aviary) and doesn’t look the best, but is adequate for the occupants. There was substrate of bark chips which the monkeys regularly foraged through, and a bunch of grapes hanging through the wire on the roof that they would periodically climb up and help themselves. And of course, interacting with each other. These animals are tame and are taken out to meet the public for photo opportunities.
http://www.zoochat.com/86/capuchin-enclosure-134487/
Something I found interesting was their watering system. Inside the cage was an open-ended piece of pipe that ran outside the cage to a plastic drinks bottle, inverted, full of water. This supplied them with water in the cage. The benefit of this system means the monkeys use what they need (Renmark is very dry and water is at a premium), and water bottles can be replaced easily without having to go into the cage. Plus, the water supply is out of the monkey’s reach, so they can’t get to the bottle and spill water everywhere. I noticed that lots of other cages had this system too.
http://www.zoochat.com/86/watering-arrangement-134517/
The rhesus macaques were in a replica castle, built inside a large cage. The animals were inside the castle and not too visible, and I didn’t like the look of the castle as there was nothing natural about it (and Rhesus are not known to frequent castles, as far as I know). It looked more like some concrete plaything for children that had been appropriated for the macaque.
There’s a large replica therapod dinosaur not far away, reminiscent of the Dinosaur in the carpark at the old Reptile Park in Gosford (although Gosford’s was a sauropod).
http://www.zoochat.com/86/dinosaur-134496/
Nearby are a number of outdoor pit enclosures for lizards, one pit (Cunningham Skinks and Eastern Water Dragons) with a large tree growing in it. Other pits housed Gidgee Skinks, Perentie, Lace Monitors, Bearded Dragons, Leopard Tortoise and Shinglebacks. The pits are all a decent size with plenty of rocks and/or vegetation, and in the Water Dragons they have the tree plus water pools. Rob Bredl was showing off the Leopard Tortoises (which have bred in the past) when I walked past, and there were lots and lots of shinglebacks, including some young ones. The perentie was not visible because of the weather.
http://www.zoochat.com/86/gidgee-skink-enclosure-134500/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/cunningham-s-skink-enclosure-134492/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/bearded-dragon-enclosure-134486/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/lace-monitor-enclosure-134502/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/leopard-tortoise-enclosure-134505/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/leopard-tortoise-134504/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/leopard-tortoise-134503/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/rob-bredl-leopard-tortoise-134511/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/shingleback-enclosure-134515/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/shingleback-134514/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/shingleback-134513/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/shingleback-134512/
There are two snakehouses, one standard building with a long corridor displaying several tanks along one side, the other a circular building with non-venomous species (the exterior of this building looked like a hill). The usual commonly displayed Australian snakes were kept in both of these buildings, with the inclusion of Reticulated and Burmese Pythons, and Boa Constrictors in the Python Hill, and Mexican Cantils in the Snakehouse.
http://www.zoochat.com/86/snake-cages-snakehouse-134516/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/mexican-cantil-134507/
The only other reptiles were a Common Snapping Turtle (American Snapper, not Aussie) which I didn’t see because he was hiding at the bottom of his pond, and an alligator which has a reasonable-sized exhibit all to itself. The gator was fed a kangaroo head while I was there, which he made short work of.
http://www.zoochat.com/86/alligator-enclosure-134484/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/alligator-134483/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/alligator-feeding-134482/
There was only a few species of birds kept here. The emus had a fairly large enclosure (some were free-ranging), and next door the cassowaries had a smaller enclosure but with a relatively dense thicket of young eucalypts at the back. There was a normal backyard-style aviary with cockatiels, one with peachfaced lovebirds, and one with cockatoos. And a very large aviary with two Wedgetailed Eagles.
http://www.zoochat.com/86/emu-enclosure-134498/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/cassowary-enclosure-134488/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/cassowary-134490/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/cassowary-pair-134489/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/peachfaced-lovebirds-134508/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/cockatoo-galah-aviary-134491/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/wedgetail-eagle-aviary-134519/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/wedgetail-eagle-134518/
Apart from the primates described above, the park has a red fox in what looks like a converted aviary, wombats in an average enclosure (I say ‘average’ because it is rather hard to do wombats justice, as they tend to trash their exhibits at night and sleep all day), dingos in a brand new spacious and hilly exhibit completed the previous week, and Western Grey Kangaroos and Fallow Deer in a very large paddock that was favoured by a large flock of ducks and geese.
http://www.zoochat.com/86/red-fox-enclosure-134509/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/red-fox-134510/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/wombat-enclosure-134522/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/dingo-enclosure-134495/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/dingo-134494/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/dingo-134493/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/deer-kangaroo-enclosure-134501/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/fallow-deer-buck-134499/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/western-grey-kangaroos-134521/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/western-grey-kangaroo-134520/
There is also a wetland area which is frequented by native birds, and Rob said he wanted to get three wetland areas setup in a chain. He already has an ideal picnic spot located under a willow tree that would be between two of the ponds and the alligator.
http://www.zoochat.com/86/wild-little-pied-cormorant-immature-134506/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/wild-apostlebird-134485/
After about an hour I was ready to leave the park and continue on to Murray Bridge. Just as I was leaving I noticed in the front entrance a small tank displaying juvenile Eastern Brown Snakes. Small, but still quite deadly.
http://www.zoochat.com/86/eastern-brown-snake-juvenile-134497/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When you’ve spent most of your time in large government-run and/or well-funded zoos in major cities, you need to assess smaller privately-run fauna parks with a completely different yardstick. Many enclosures may be old and it can take a long time before upgrades can be made due to the lack of funding. When it does happen, obviously you can’t rebuild the zoo overnight, you have to do it in stages as funds become available. Bredl’s has some recently built reptile pits which are as good as you will see in any fauna park. And their new dingo enclosure is very good. I don’t know what they’re planning next – maybe some new aviaries, maybe new monkey cages. It might take a while, but they’re certainly moving in the right direction.
This review is my opinion only, and I encourage anyone travelling through Renmark to visit Bredl’s Wonder World of Wildlife to form their own views of the park.
Hix
The park is not too large, with plenty of open space and lawns between most of the exhibits. The lawns are going to soon be replaced by native gardens because, as the sign says, it’s pointless to continually water the lawns to keep them green, and then mow them regularly.
Just inside the entrance are some primate enclosures, one cage displaying capuchins and the other a ‘castle’ with rhesus macaques. The capuchin cage is an older enclosure (it looks like it was originally a bird aviary) and doesn’t look the best, but is adequate for the occupants. There was substrate of bark chips which the monkeys regularly foraged through, and a bunch of grapes hanging through the wire on the roof that they would periodically climb up and help themselves. And of course, interacting with each other. These animals are tame and are taken out to meet the public for photo opportunities.
http://www.zoochat.com/86/capuchin-enclosure-134487/
Something I found interesting was their watering system. Inside the cage was an open-ended piece of pipe that ran outside the cage to a plastic drinks bottle, inverted, full of water. This supplied them with water in the cage. The benefit of this system means the monkeys use what they need (Renmark is very dry and water is at a premium), and water bottles can be replaced easily without having to go into the cage. Plus, the water supply is out of the monkey’s reach, so they can’t get to the bottle and spill water everywhere. I noticed that lots of other cages had this system too.
http://www.zoochat.com/86/watering-arrangement-134517/
The rhesus macaques were in a replica castle, built inside a large cage. The animals were inside the castle and not too visible, and I didn’t like the look of the castle as there was nothing natural about it (and Rhesus are not known to frequent castles, as far as I know). It looked more like some concrete plaything for children that had been appropriated for the macaque.
There’s a large replica therapod dinosaur not far away, reminiscent of the Dinosaur in the carpark at the old Reptile Park in Gosford (although Gosford’s was a sauropod).
http://www.zoochat.com/86/dinosaur-134496/
Nearby are a number of outdoor pit enclosures for lizards, one pit (Cunningham Skinks and Eastern Water Dragons) with a large tree growing in it. Other pits housed Gidgee Skinks, Perentie, Lace Monitors, Bearded Dragons, Leopard Tortoise and Shinglebacks. The pits are all a decent size with plenty of rocks and/or vegetation, and in the Water Dragons they have the tree plus water pools. Rob Bredl was showing off the Leopard Tortoises (which have bred in the past) when I walked past, and there were lots and lots of shinglebacks, including some young ones. The perentie was not visible because of the weather.
http://www.zoochat.com/86/gidgee-skink-enclosure-134500/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/cunningham-s-skink-enclosure-134492/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/bearded-dragon-enclosure-134486/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/lace-monitor-enclosure-134502/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/leopard-tortoise-enclosure-134505/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/leopard-tortoise-134504/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/leopard-tortoise-134503/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/rob-bredl-leopard-tortoise-134511/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/shingleback-enclosure-134515/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/shingleback-134514/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/shingleback-134513/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/shingleback-134512/
There are two snakehouses, one standard building with a long corridor displaying several tanks along one side, the other a circular building with non-venomous species (the exterior of this building looked like a hill). The usual commonly displayed Australian snakes were kept in both of these buildings, with the inclusion of Reticulated and Burmese Pythons, and Boa Constrictors in the Python Hill, and Mexican Cantils in the Snakehouse.
http://www.zoochat.com/86/snake-cages-snakehouse-134516/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/mexican-cantil-134507/
The only other reptiles were a Common Snapping Turtle (American Snapper, not Aussie) which I didn’t see because he was hiding at the bottom of his pond, and an alligator which has a reasonable-sized exhibit all to itself. The gator was fed a kangaroo head while I was there, which he made short work of.
http://www.zoochat.com/86/alligator-enclosure-134484/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/alligator-134483/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/alligator-feeding-134482/
There was only a few species of birds kept here. The emus had a fairly large enclosure (some were free-ranging), and next door the cassowaries had a smaller enclosure but with a relatively dense thicket of young eucalypts at the back. There was a normal backyard-style aviary with cockatiels, one with peachfaced lovebirds, and one with cockatoos. And a very large aviary with two Wedgetailed Eagles.
http://www.zoochat.com/86/emu-enclosure-134498/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/cassowary-enclosure-134488/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/cassowary-134490/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/cassowary-pair-134489/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/peachfaced-lovebirds-134508/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/cockatoo-galah-aviary-134491/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/wedgetail-eagle-aviary-134519/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/wedgetail-eagle-134518/
Apart from the primates described above, the park has a red fox in what looks like a converted aviary, wombats in an average enclosure (I say ‘average’ because it is rather hard to do wombats justice, as they tend to trash their exhibits at night and sleep all day), dingos in a brand new spacious and hilly exhibit completed the previous week, and Western Grey Kangaroos and Fallow Deer in a very large paddock that was favoured by a large flock of ducks and geese.
http://www.zoochat.com/86/red-fox-enclosure-134509/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/red-fox-134510/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/wombat-enclosure-134522/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/dingo-enclosure-134495/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/dingo-134494/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/dingo-134493/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/deer-kangaroo-enclosure-134501/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/fallow-deer-buck-134499/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/western-grey-kangaroos-134521/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/western-grey-kangaroo-134520/
There is also a wetland area which is frequented by native birds, and Rob said he wanted to get three wetland areas setup in a chain. He already has an ideal picnic spot located under a willow tree that would be between two of the ponds and the alligator.
http://www.zoochat.com/86/wild-little-pied-cormorant-immature-134506/
http://www.zoochat.com/86/wild-apostlebird-134485/
After about an hour I was ready to leave the park and continue on to Murray Bridge. Just as I was leaving I noticed in the front entrance a small tank displaying juvenile Eastern Brown Snakes. Small, but still quite deadly.
http://www.zoochat.com/86/eastern-brown-snake-juvenile-134497/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When you’ve spent most of your time in large government-run and/or well-funded zoos in major cities, you need to assess smaller privately-run fauna parks with a completely different yardstick. Many enclosures may be old and it can take a long time before upgrades can be made due to the lack of funding. When it does happen, obviously you can’t rebuild the zoo overnight, you have to do it in stages as funds become available. Bredl’s has some recently built reptile pits which are as good as you will see in any fauna park. And their new dingo enclosure is very good. I don’t know what they’re planning next – maybe some new aviaries, maybe new monkey cages. It might take a while, but they’re certainly moving in the right direction.
This review is my opinion only, and I encourage anyone travelling through Renmark to visit Bredl’s Wonder World of Wildlife to form their own views of the park.
Hix
