Darling Downs Zoo Darling Downs

Our annual attendance is just over 500,000. We've always been a seasonal zoo, although in the past several years we've been opening a week earlier and closing a week later. The vast majority of our exhibits are outdoors only with separate indoor holding. We are not a tax-supported zoo and rely on the money coming in over the summer to tide us over throughout the winter. We do have a number of school groups that visit during the winter for various programs, along with some off-site programs, all of which generate some revenue. We visit every 3rd grade classroom in a 5 county area with a conservation message, all at no charge. The program for the outlying counties is funded by a grant.
 
Back to australia (sorry yankies), Thanks steve for your comments, and i feel for you and your situation. I'm glad you have tried for arazpa, and hope you get in! What are your expansion plans?
 
Darling Downs Zoo

Thanks Zoo_Boy.

The ARAZPA accreditation/application process was massive and, unfortunately for some of us, changed after we had lodged our applications. [Some other zoos have been affected as well]. Now the process is mega-massive and we are working our way through it in our "spare" time. However, at the end of the process we will have scrutinised ourselves like never before and that alone won't be a bad thing. I'm not at all sure that we will be accepted but we are giving it our best shot. It's the only way to go.

Major plans for 2008 include lots of landscaping now that we've finally had [a bit of] rain, a lot of work in our South American precinct including new aviaries for Amazon parrot species and Scarlet Macaws, outdoor areas for Green Iguana and American Alligator, facilities for a second Common Marmoset colony to split off from our existing group, trying to get grass to grow in our two African Lion compounds, some environmental enrichment additions to the two Macaque species enclosures, new aviaries for our Red-tail Black Cockatoo breeders etc, etc, etc! We are also investigating what contribution we can make to amphibian conservation but I guess this won't get any real traction without ARAZPA membership. In 2009 we plan to heavily augment our Australasian precinct and so I guess we'll just keep going until they cart me out of here in a box - or somebody younger takes over [wishfull thinking!].
 
I saw some photos of teh Darling Downs Zoos Macaw flights on another forum WHOA! they are massive,
 
Macaw flights

ZooYouthBen said:
I saw some photos of teh Darling Downs Zoos Macaw flights on another forum WHOA! they are massive,
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WHOA Ben!!!! They are OK but they're not THAT massive!

Mind you, the birds seem to like them - six chicks so far this season and a hen working the nest again now.:D
 
Hi steve,

earlier on in this thread i made the following statement;

patrick said:
if the darling downs zoo is not on a tourist route and having trouble staying open 5 days a year, then i ask, why on earth did they build it there?
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now, of course this was before you joined the forum and explained first hand the process and that indeed you negotiated the conditions that allowed you to be open only on weekend with the government before you even bought the property.

but that still leaves me curious. why did you decide to invest in a location that was so, as you put it "rural"? and how isolated exactly is darling downs?
do you hope that once your zoo builds a name for itself it will be able to revaluate the opening hours?
 
DDZ Location......and why!

Patrick, your question may end being answered with a long story - but thanks for asking.

We did a lot of research when looking for a location for the new zoo. Eventually we narrowed the possibilities down to [1] the Hunter Valley region of NSW and [2] the Darling Downs region of South-eastern Queensland. Why? Well we wanted a rural area in which to keep and breed our animals and also in which to live ourselves. After spending a lifetime on the road with the circus [much of it in country areas] the urbanised areas have no appeal for us. But we also needed a population base within driving distance to provide visitation to support the zoo. Hunter Valley = close to Newcastle, Central Coast and even Sydney. Darling Downs = close to Toowoomba, Lockyer Valley and even Brisbane.

We looked at buying the Hunter Valley Zoo but felt that turning it around from it's run down state [at the time] would be beyond our capabilities. Also, within an hour's drive of HVZ was the Australian Reptile Park and several indigenous fauna parks as competition while a couple of hours up the highway the Billabong Sanctuary was branching into exotics under the very capable ownership of Mark Stone and family.

The Darling Downs was looking good! About 250,000 people within an hour's drive, lots of schools [including major boarding schools in Toowoomba], two universities within 45 minute's drive [lots of overseas students], a booming economy, far enough away from the big boys on the Coast [we thought] and the right demographic - families!!!! Lots of little rug rats but no tourists. And that was the only bit of a drawback - during the week families go to work or school or the shops but they don't go to the zoo as a family. They do that at weekends and during school holidays and on public holidays. So we dotted all the i's and crossed all the t's with all the various regulators and set to work. The zoo has now been open to the public for over two and a half years and is enjoying wonderful public support. As a matter of fact, the outpouring of support that we have been getting during this current fiasco has been very humbling.

As for the future? Well we are in one of the fastest growing regions of Australia and although there is no current demand for us to open for 5 days a week or more that day will surely come. We might not be real bright but we are not totally stupid. We do have a business to run and we do have some pretty wonderful plans for this zoo. We need money to run our business and bring our plans to fruition and the only place we can get money from is through the front entrance. So when the day comes that it is viable for us to do so - we will open 5, 6 or 7 days a week. Not before.

Thanks for asking!
 
thanks for the response steve, and good luck to you.

i think its safe to say building a zoo is probably the thing a lot of forum members dream about here before they go to sleep. there are even a few who still maintain they will do such and no doubt there is much to learn from your stories.

does the circus still operate as a "human act only" circus or did you close it down?

what made you decide to drop the circus and switch to the zoo?

i would love to hear more. think of yourself as a schoolteacher with whole carpet of little zoobeaters staring at you with undivided attentions....
 
patrick said:
thanks for the response steve, and good luck to you.

i think its safe to say building a zoo is probably the thing a lot of forum members dream about here before they go to sleep.

The correct terminology is not "dream" but "NIGHTMARE".

does the circus still operate as a "human act only" circus or did you close it down?

I engaged in a form of child abuse - I gave it to my son. Fortunately he has more brains than his father - he cut the size of the outfit down from 20 vehicles to 2, gave up town showing and only works for fixed contracts. He also is acutely aware of his limitations. He is a wonderful highwire walker, balancer, trick cyclist, rigger, electrician, driver etc, etc but he is not an animal man and has the good sense to realise that. For some reason animal savvy has skipped his generation but his son [our 6 year old grandson] has inherited the feel for them. Unfortunately, 6 year olds have to go to school so it will be some time before this particular circus features the results of his training endeavours!

what made you decide to drop the circus and switch to the zoo?

My aching bones told me to! Seriously - the zoo was always the ultimate ambition. When I was a young bloke I did not have the backing to establish a zoo. Our family farm sold hay to circus people for their stock and elephants. So, as I grew up, I knew a number of circus families. When I left school it was almost a natural progression to go and work for one of them - much to my family's disgust. I was lucky enough to learn from some of the last of the old time REAL animal people - people who could barely read and write in some cases but who knew much more about what makes animals tick than some better educated people do today. [I was probably born a generation too late - I missed some of the real legends]. With all the arrogance of youth I eventually realised that I was much better than some of my employers and so I determined to start my own circus - that way I would quickly earn my fortune and could finance my own zoo. And so it transpired - except that my overnight fame and fortune [and zoo] took about 30 years to achieve!

i would love to hear more. think of yourself as a schoolteacher with whole carpet of little zoobeaters staring at you with undivided attentions....
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Better canvass some of those "little zoobeaters" for their opinions first. Stories from geriatric trailertrash may not be universally popular or accepted!:rolleyes:
 
I read this thread with GREAT interest .
If I was going to locate a zoo somewhere in rural QLD , I would have chosen somewhere just out of Toowoomba ( possibly somewhere between Toowoomba and Ipswich ) and I appreciate your views on why you decided against Hunter Valley .
It is good to hear about lesser known zoos .
I am happy to hear more about Darling Downs Zoo
 
I am keen to visit when I get back up that way as well.
 
So am I correct in surmising that while Sth-east Queensland seems to be "knee-deep" in tigers (Australia Zoo; Dreamworld; even the casino for a while), Darling Downs is the only place to see lions?
 
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