Chester Zoo Chester Zoo Discussion, Speculation & Questions 2019

Daubentoniidae said:
What species are currently offshow at Chester?
Click to expand...
I believe that they have:
(Temporarily)the former inhabitants of monsoon forest
Naked mole rats
Some breeding pairs of round eared sengi
Grandidier’s mongoose
Narrow striped boky
Lowland streaked tenrec?
White tailed antsangy

I’m definitely sure that there is more but these were just the ones I could think of.
 
Embu said:
There should be 11 altogether. 6:5 according to Rhinos of the World unless someone has moved and it's not been updated
Bulls

Kifaru
Magadi
Embu
Gabe
Ike
Jumanne

Females

Kitani
Ema Elsa
Malindi
Zuri
Hazina
Click to expand...

Interesting that you assume it has to be moved....... @Nisha is correct, there are 5.5 at present.
 
Zia said:
Why is that interesting?
Click to expand...

Because, I dunno, it could also be an animal died.....?

For the record, since I’m fairly certain Zia’s next comment will be the classic “why are you being cloak and dagger about this, just say what’s going on”, I believe Kifaru died late last year/earlier this year. So it is indeed 5.5 now; Magadi, Embu, Gabe, Ema-Elsa, Kitani and Hazina, Zuri and Ike, and Malindi and Jumaane.

At least he managed to have some offspring before he passed....he must have been one of the oldest bulls in the world when he died.
 
katinakalinakaterina said:
Any idea when Kifaru died? I don't remember the zoo announcing anything? I'm sure they covered him on SLOTZ, so people would know about him and they would have announced it.
Click to expand...

Chester like every zoo doesn't announce deaths unless they have to,if they did announce every death it wouldn't be good pr,because I very much doubt a week goes by when something doesn't die,If they announced every death of a star on SLOTZ some species they would be announcing the death before the episode had even screened,and it wouldn't belong before people started saying it was a bad zoo because everything dies!!!

I for one don't feel a need to know when every animal dies because that would mean seeing an awful lot of stick insect deaths being reported,and like I said before that wouldn't make good pr for them.
 
zoogiraffe said:
Chester like every zoo doesn't announce deaths unless they have to,if they did announce every death it wouldn't be good pr,because I very much doubt a week goes by when something doesn't die,If they announced every death of a star on SLOTZ some species they would be announcing the death before the episode had even screened,and it wouldn't belong before people started saying it was a bad zoo because everything dies!!!

I for one don't feel a need to know when every animal dies because that would mean seeing an awful lot of stick insect deaths being reported,and like I said before that wouldn't make good pr for them.
Click to expand...

Of course, they don't have to report EVERY SINGLE death of an animal but it's good to report that at least about the biggest "stars" visitor-wise, because sooner or later somebody asks about that and its much worse PR if somebody finds out that their favourite animal died and zoo didn't even bother to report that.

When it comes to old animals people are usally understandable enough to not make an uprorar about it.
 
HOMIN96 said:
It's good to report that at least about the biggest "stars" visitor-wise, because sooner or later somebody asks about that and its much worse PR if somebody finds out that their favourite animal died and zoo didn't even bother to report that.
Click to expand...

Given that most significant deaths are shown months later on SLOTZ, it surely wouldn't do any harm to mention them in the news section of the website or in Z Magazine. The Zoo has been transparent about some major deaths when they have happened (e.g. elephants, orangutans) and this has been received sympathetically, so it would be nice (especially for members and adopters) to be kept in the loop more.
 
HOMIN96 said:
Of course, they don't have to report EVERY SINGLE death of an animal but it's good to report that at least about the biggest "stars" visitor-wise, because sooner or later somebody asks about that and its much worse PR if somebody finds out that their favourite animal died and zoo didn't even bother to report that.
Click to expand...
I don't claim to be good at recognising the rhinos but I was under the impression that Kifaru was usually kept in one of the paddocks that can only be viewed from the car park, moreover I don't believe that the average visitor would know the name of any of the rhinos. So I think calling him a star is an exaggeration.
 
gentle lemur said:
I don't claim to be good at recognising the rhinos but I was under the impression that Kifaru was usually kept in one of the paddocks that can only be viewed from the car park, moreover I don't believe that the average visitor would know the name of any of the rhinos. So I think calling him a star is an exaggeration.
Click to expand...

I was talking more about the "saying bad news" in general rather than this specific case I do not know much about as I don't follow Chester that closely.
 
Nisha said:
October 2018
Click to expand...
Thanks, it's just a personal interest. I like to keep up to date with rhinos, giraffes and elephants.

Wonder if they didn't make an announcement (as they usually do with the big/popular species) due to it being around the time of Aayu and Nandita's deaths. Not that they are obligated to let people know but they often do i.e. elephants, rhino calf fara and even a cursory post on the website about Dagmars calf
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I think in most cases zoos simply weight up each individual situation- do we need to announce this death? In Kifaru's case, the answer was- no, and proximity to the two elephant calf deaths may have emphasised that decision. As GL says, the individual rhinos' names aren't that familar to the general zoo-going public and its them news announcements are directed at, not the smaller band of zoo ethusiasts who know the animals a lot better.
 
Last edited:
I do wish zoos would announce deaths a bit more, although I can understand why they might not. Certainly it could have a brief mention in Z magazine, as that is for people who support the zoo and therefore in theory should be a bit more understanding about these things than your average member of the public. Its tricky to determine which species get mentioned - but I'd think that your big charismatic species like elephants, rhinos, giraffes, great apes and big cats, all warrant a mention.

As an aside, I like Z magazine very much but I do wish it had more actual zoo news in it!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top