Cassiobury Farm & Fishery Cassiobury Farm & Fishery

N

nedpepper

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
If there is already a thread for this I apologise in advance!

Tomorrow I will be visiting this privately owned exotic farm in Watford for a surprise my girlfriend got me. They only have open days a few times a year and I believe to visit there more often you need a membership.

I just checked the ticket and it describes the following: Dingo’s, “Madagascan Fossa”, Civets and Genets. There are more species mentioned but they are a lot more common place.

Has anyone visited here before? If it is true that they have Dingo and Fossa I will be shocked! The fact they refer to them as “Madagascan Fossa” makes me doubtful, I suppose maybe they just word it that way to put it in layman’s terms for the general public…

They aren’t on Zootierliste and I see no mention of them on here either. Mysterious!
 
Just looking at their Facebook page, it seems that they took on quite a lot of the stock from Ventura Wildlife Park when it closed which does seem to include fossa - there is a photograph of one on there.
 
That would make sense actually wouldn’t it. I forgot Ventura used to have Fossa.

Well I will be sure to take some photos and report back tomorrow anyway.
 
DesertRhino150 said:
Just looking at their Facebook page, it seems that they took on quite a lot of the stock from Ventura Wildlife Park when it closed which does seem to include fossa - there is a photograph of one on there.
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I was just going to post the same thing.

On Tripadvisor there's a photo of a Palm Civet as well.
 
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attra...nd_Fishery-Watford_Hertfordshire_England.html and https://www.facebook.com/cassioburyfarmandfishery/photos include the following animals: white rhinoceros, fossa, binturong, skunk, plains zebra, cracid, axis deer and another species, skink, spider, millipede, scorpion, turtle, snake, sheep, prairie dog, three-banded armadillo and another species, red kangaroo, wallaby, wolf, red-handed, white-lipped and cotton-top tamarins, genet, turkey, cusimanse, genet, hawk, agama, hissing cockroach, praying mantis, giant snail, hedgehog, kookaburra, Arctic fox, tortoises, rhea, South American coati, crowned crane, meerkat, capybara, alpaca, Asiatic civet, mute and black swans, flamingos, peafowl, pelicans, crested porcupine, squirrel monkey, raccoon, polecat, agouti, marmosets, red squirrel, reindeer, ostrich, emu, ring-tailed and mongoose lemurs, owls, blue-and-yellow macaw, cockatiel and other parrots, pheasants. I'm dubious about whether some of them are kept, especially the rhinoceros. There are models of prehistoric animals. There are other photos on Exotic Wildlife
 
Dassie rat said:
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attra...nd_Fishery-Watford_Hertfordshire_England.html and https://www.facebook.com/cassioburyfarmandfishery/photos include the following animals: white rhinoceros, fossa, binturong, skunk, plains zebra, cracid, axis deer and another species, skink, spider, millipede, scorpion, turtle, snake, sheep, prairie dog, three-banded armadillo and another species, red kangaroo, wallaby, wolf, red-handed, white-lipped and cotton-top tamarins, genet, turkey, cusimanse, genet, hawk, agama, hissing cockroach, praying mantis, giant snail, hedgehog, kookaburra, Arctic fox, tortoises, rhea, South American coati, crowned crane, meerkat, capybara, alpaca, Asiatic civet, mute and black swans, flamingos, peafowl, pelicans, crested porcupine, squirrel monkey, raccoon, polecat, agouti, marmosets, red squirrel, reindeer, ostrich, emu, ring-tailed and mongoose lemurs, owls, blue-and-yellow macaw, cockatiel and other parrots, pheasants. I'm dubious about whether some of them are kept, especially the rhinoceros. There are models of prehistoric animals. There are other photos on Exotic Wildlife
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I have just read this morning that they have been donating food to a white rhino sanctuary somewhere in Africa so if they do own one I am sure it must be based there.
 
AthleticBinturong said:
Is there much truth in the species list? The rhinos seem a bit sus
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I think where he got rhinos from is on Facebook there is something about a South African rhino nursery - seeing the chicken-wire-and-wood nature of the place in photographs, I am very doubtful as to the place having rhinos in life...
 
The opening dates for 2024 have been announced:

Sunday 31st March
Monday 1st April
Sunday 28th July
Sunday 11th August
Monday 26th August
Sunday 27th October

They don't have a rhino there, but most of the list looks broadly correct (it does change over time though). They definitely had kangaroos, wallabies, binturong, flamingoes and zebra last time we went (and more). The wolves are actually wolf dog crosses.

I am going on Monday so I will update with any changes to the species present after that.
 
I visited here yesterday. It is small compared to many of the zoos frequently discussed on here, but still maintains an interesting selection of animals with a mixture of exotics and more common place. A lot of work has gone into improving the enclosures in the last couple of years. When they took on the Ventura animals a couple of years ago they weren't really set up for it so a lot of animals were in substandard enclosures until they managed to build better ones. I can really tell the difference between my visits, but there is definitely still more work that could be done to improve things. The wolf-dog enclosure for example needs work - the ground is a basically a bog for 6 months of the year and the wolf-dogs spend most of their time on raised platforms to avoid it.

They have had breeding success recently for the squirrel monkeys, cotton top tamarin and African crested porcupine.

Here is a list of the animals they currently have (based on my visit). I don't know genders I am afraid as the signs are quite generic for the species rather than listing individual animals.

Mammals:
Red kangaroo: 2
Bennett's Wallaby
Parma wallaby
Binturong : 3
Fossa : 2
Wolf dogs : 5
Large spotted genets: 2
African palm civet: 1
Racoon dogs: 2
Corsac foxes : 3
Racoon : 1
Dingoes: 2
Alpaca
Llama
Grants Zebra: 2
Banded Mongoose
Dwarf mongoose
Meerkats
Squirrel monkeys
Agouti
Cuban Hutia
Ring tailed lemur
Mongoose lemur
Reindeer
American Bison
Anglo- nubian goats
Pygmy goats
Guinea pigs
Giant rabbits
3 banded armadillo
Miniature donkeys
Miniature horses
Gloucester old spot pigs
Soay sheep
Hungarian Steppe cattle
Javan porcupine
African crested porcupine
Coatimundi
Cotton-top tamarin
Red handed tamarin

Birds:
Burrowing owls : 3
Eurasian eagle owl : 2
Snowy owl : 2
Ostrich : 1
Emu: 3
Laughing kookaburra
Love birds
Crowned cranes
African Spoonbill
Straw Ibis
King parrot
Superb parrot
Macaw
Pelicans
Carribbean flamingos
White cheeked turaco
Superb Starling
Bruce's Pigeon
African red billed hornbill

Reptiles
African dwarf crocodile : 2
Leopard tortoise: 3
Sulcata tortoise
Galapagos tortoise
Aldabra giant tortoise
 
Thanks for the list, really helpful. Not great reading about the wolfdogs but good to hear improvements are being made.

Just want to check one entry though as "African Palm Civet" would be quite a rarity... possibly this could have been an African Civet or mislabelled?
(Though I have seen images on this site of them in the private trade so not impossible)

Did you manage to see the Porcupine or Hutia, or just their signage? As this could persuade me to drop in on another open day?
 
Sorry it should be Asian palm civet rather than African. I took photos of the signs but then mis-typed.

The javan porcupine was out and about, but the other porcupine was hidden in a tunnel and I could only see some spines through a gap. The Hutia were visible.
 
Linc1068 said:
Sorry it should be Asian palm civet rather than African. I took photos of the signs but then mis-typed.

The javan porcupine was out and about, but the other porcupine was hidden in a tunnel and I could only see some spines through a gap. The Hutia were visible.
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That makes more sense, thank you for clarifying.

Will look into their upcoming open days and hope they are as showy for me!
 
Cassiobury farm and fishery have announced the arrival of some capybara and a pair of Asian short-clawed otters.
 
Cassiobury farm and fishery have announced the arrival of two Lowland Tapir from South Lakes Safari Zoo. They will be joining the Mara and Capybara in a mixed enclosure.

The 2025 open days have also been announced. They are:
Sunday 20th April
Monday 21st April
Sunday 27th July
Sunday 10th August
Monday 25th August
Sunday 26th October

I will probably go to one of the Easter ones and will then update on any other changes.
 
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