Dartmoor Zoo Dartmoor Zoo News
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Jordan-Jaguar97
Well-Known Member
Anyone know Vlad and his sisters exactly born and who's their father?
(Sorry to bring an old thread up, doing a big cat database).
(Sorry to bring an old thread up, doing a big cat database).
Anyone know Vlad and his sisters exactly born and who's their father?
(Sorry to bring an old thread up, doing a big cat database).
That's not really news (per the thread name) is it?
Instead of hijacking an old thread(s) wouldn't it be quicker to start off a new "Jordan's give me big cat information thread" rather than spraying loads of very similar posts all over ZooChat?
Jordan-Jaguar97
Well-Known Member
Sorry Shorts, I thought it would be better posting here than creating a new thread but I will do that now.
It says on their website that they will be getting Japanese Macaques in the near future hopefully.
Macaque Enclosure Build
Macaque Enclosure Build
Dartmoor and Five Sisters are appealing for building new animal enclosures, such a big difference between £10,000 and £80,000. I feel Five Sisters asked for too much, while they started building the bear enclosure now. Furthermore, both collections are neither registered charities though.
There is a new map too What's Here. It's a bird's eye view which is nice, you get a better sense of what the zoo is like.
Giraffes coming to Dartmoor?
According to the information given about the real zoo in the closing credits of 'We Bought a Zoo', they are expecting giraffes 'next year'. Given that the film was released in 2011 in the States it could mean this year.
Does anyone have any more information about this? I know it was one of Ben Mee's big ambitions for the park.
According to the information given about the real zoo in the closing credits of 'We Bought a Zoo', they are expecting giraffes 'next year'. Given that the film was released in 2011 in the States it could mean this year.
Does anyone have any more information about this? I know it was one of Ben Mee's big ambitions for the park.
zoogiraffe
Well-Known Member
I've not heard of any plans for any collection to send them any Giraffes,more to the point I've not heard of any plans for a Giraffe House,been submitted for planning consent to the local council either.So I would say at the moment it is still very much a pipe dream!
Ellis Bell
Member
I heard Ben Mee on the radio yesterday saying they are getting zebra this year and cotton topped tamarins very soon, guess he'd have mentioned giraffe if they were imminent.
They are getting far to big for their boots. They don't even bother to respond to customer enquiries regarding membership anymore.
I have seriously gone off this place.
I have tried three times to find out about renewing our joint membership and not a single response. Their prices are astronomical for what it is.
I have seriously gone off this place.
I have tried three times to find out about renewing our joint membership and not a single response. Their prices are astronomical for what it is.
I think Dartmoor is loosing what they were originally good at, large herds of deer and carnivores, something that makes good use of the woodland and the landscape.
Having read a bit of the book by previous owner Ellis Daw, I personally think the best option for the park would have been what Ellis Daw had as his preferred option - being bought by the Whitley Wildlife Trust (Paignton Zoo). I think this would have been a much better move, and I think they would have utilized the space a lot better and kept some of the better things going, and not trying to expand into anything that they can.
I did visit the zoo in 2006, and I was very impressed then again not much had changed since before the take-over apart from a fair bit of sprucing up, but nothing dramatically had changed, I just find it a shame that they are changing it so much, when it did work, it just needed more looking after.
Having read a bit of the book by previous owner Ellis Daw, I personally think the best option for the park would have been what Ellis Daw had as his preferred option - being bought by the Whitley Wildlife Trust (Paignton Zoo). I think this would have been a much better move, and I think they would have utilized the space a lot better and kept some of the better things going, and not trying to expand into anything that they can.
I did visit the zoo in 2006, and I was very impressed then again not much had changed since before the take-over apart from a fair bit of sprucing up, but nothing dramatically had changed, I just find it a shame that they are changing it so much, when it did work, it just needed more looking after.
Have they really ever had, "large herds of deer"?
I agree it might be a good idea to specialise in carnivores, they're relatively cheap to house (compared with, say, apes or pinnipeds) and it might help the place to differentiate itself from the many other zoos in the surrounding area.
jacks zoo
Well-Known Member
They did (at one time) have large herds of mainly native deer species including Red Deer, Fallow, Japanese Sika, Chinese Water Deer and Muntjac. The only remaining deer afaik are the Sika although only a very small herd on my last visit.
The former red deer field bellow the otters has been empty for some time now
The former red deer field bellow the otters has been empty for some time now
johnstoni.
Well-Known Member
To the best of my knowledge, these were never particularly large herds. I agree with other comments that the former owner may have been better off continuing to develop the site for temperate species, given the intensity of the landscape in which the park is set. I think a real mistake was to promise the 'Zoo 2000' series of enclosures, as there clearly weren't funds to roll this out quite as intended, so there was no modernisation effect across the park given how long it took to create all the 'moated' carnivore exhibits, compounded with the long-proposed cheetah exhibit as part of 'Zoo 2000', where the cheetahs never materialised until the current owners took over.
I followed the initial documentaries with some interest and, as soon as I saw the construction of a cage for the two macaws at the top of the hill, looking more like some kind of quarantine unit IMO, I knew this would be very much a personal and fairly whimsical approach to running a wildlife park by owners who clearly had no mission beyond running a zoo. Obviously that has its benefits: animals are viewed as individuals, which the owners feel they need to do right by (the vervet group being a good example - it would have been much easier to have sent these away), and it does leave a vacuum, for BIAZA to direct the collection planning somewhat. But, though a park with vision I don't think it will be, I don't think that matters as the standard of welfare is clearly far, far superior to what came before IMO.
I followed the initial documentaries with some interest and, as soon as I saw the construction of a cage for the two macaws at the top of the hill, looking more like some kind of quarantine unit IMO, I knew this would be very much a personal and fairly whimsical approach to running a wildlife park by owners who clearly had no mission beyond running a zoo. Obviously that has its benefits: animals are viewed as individuals, which the owners feel they need to do right by (the vervet group being a good example - it would have been much easier to have sent these away), and it does leave a vacuum, for BIAZA to direct the collection planning somewhat. But, though a park with vision I don't think it will be, I don't think that matters as the standard of welfare is clearly far, far superior to what came before IMO.
They had some lovely white deer in both herds at one point. Sadly these were no longer visible on our last visit. The Sika deer were still at the bottom of the hill by the entrance.
To be fair, when Mee took over the zoo he did say the primates are his main love and overtime that is the direction he would like to take the zoo. As he reiterated recently his big aim is to get Orangs at the zoo.
In my opinion they need to slow down in terms of growing, there are thinking they are a major attraction like Chester, when in reality they are still a small park down a narrow country lane.
Although with recent news that mining is to be restarted at nearby the road infrastructure will get a huge amount of investment and will have a knock on benefit to the zoo.
To be fair, when Mee took over the zoo he did say the primates are his main love and overtime that is the direction he would like to take the zoo. As he reiterated recently his big aim is to get Orangs at the zoo.
In my opinion they need to slow down in terms of growing, there are thinking they are a major attraction like Chester, when in reality they are still a small park down a narrow country lane.
Although with recent news that mining is to be restarted at nearby the road infrastructure will get a huge amount of investment and will have a knock on benefit to the zoo.
I really do get that feeling, that Dartmoor are getting too big for their boots as such. There is nothing wrong with being as you say "a small park down a narrow country lane". Dartmoor has done very well in the past, despite its criticism. I think it should have focused on what it had and do it as good as it can, not keep adding newer species in moderate enclosures.
I do hope they aren't going to ruin the overall feel of the park, having visited in 2006 (as close as it could get to the old park under the new management) I thought the park was really good, just quite a nice place to visit, which I hope is not ruined.
I do hope they aren't going to ruin the overall feel of the park, having visited in 2006 (as close as it could get to the old park under the new management) I thought the park was really good, just quite a nice place to visit, which I hope is not ruined.
That seems to conflict with other statements I've heard recently that they don't intend to compete with nearby Paignton, which has a large collection of Primates, by going in that direction.
Wholeheartedly agree with these comments. I feel that Ben Mee's biggest achievements so far beyond owning the zoo, is to get the book published and resulting movie. Admittedly the park was a complete shambles before he took over, and has done a reasonable job of sorting out some of the immediate problems. However one of the biggest problems will always be the close proximity of the far-superior, more popular and wealthier Paignton. For that reason Dartmoor will always struggle.