Dartmoor Zoo Dartmoor Zoo News

Whitley were offered first dibs on Dartmoor when it went for sale in 2005... They didn't bite due to the large asking price (they had only built living Coasts and bought Newquay two years prior to this) and the sheer amount of work which needed doing. Their was little point in them taking the risk of a major loan, due to it's proximity to Paignton
 
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From what I had read, Whitley were up to the buying of the park, it would take out any competition from Paignton and also be well used as a second facility not too far away (thinks of London-Whipsnade or even Howletts-Port Lympne relationship). However as Living Coasts had just been built and not succeeding as well as the Bank had wanted them too, they were refused the loan.

A massive shame I think.
 
Jordan-Jaguar97 said:
Think you've got a mix up looking at the link above it states three Sumatran tiger cubs born at Krefeld Zoo (Germany) not a Tapir at Dartmoor. ;)

Nice to hear about the Tapir birth. The first to be born there I believe.
Click to expand...

Apologies... I did the above post in a rush :o that will teach me to read things twice :p
 
That's interesting. I don't really know what to think. Surely someone would have noticed beavers in the area? Maybe they are in cohoots with the big cats.

I'd love to think they are out there thriving and not doing the damage people think they would.
 
I think a vote of thanks should go to both NISHA & KIANG in particular for their dedicated approach to providing news on Zoos around Europe. Much appreciated by many Zoochatters I'm sure, myself included.:)
 
Nice to hear about the Tapir birth. The first to be born there I believe.[/QUOTE]

Just to clarify its not the first tapir birth at the zoo-a male calf 'Ronaldo' was born in the late 90s or 2000.

It is the first for this pair I believe and the first real birth of any significance since the zoo was taken over.
 
I'm guessing that this was the male tapir Ronnie?

I do sometimes try to wonder what they are doing at Dartmoor, I do think if they do get giraffes they have somewhat missed the point. Dartmoor would have been if it was maintained properly a fantastic collection when they bought it, the enclosures especially the tiger ones where definitely surprising to me when I visited, it just needed perfecting. This is something that I don't think the Mee's are doing.

For example the Zoo has done well with wolves, so why not try and get something like Dholes?

The zoo has done very well with it's cats (legal or not!) isn't it time some breeding occured? The Jaguar enclosure is a good step, and with expanding or even a seperate holding, it could be an superb breeding facility.

For example hardly any of the small cats are there anymore, these are not only easy to keep but if the enclosure design is well thought it, can be pretty active (I use the enclosures at Banham Zoo as a good design here)

The Zoo has always done well with deer, it's what it started with, so what about some duiker or such smaller deer species such as these?

These 'woodland' species' work fantastically in the setting of this park, i can't help but think that Meerkats and Zebras and Giraffes aren't what the Park needed. The park did very well surviving forty years or so, even when the collection never had the cats or dogs, and being a slightly cheaper visitor location to Paignton I think it could still survive without these bigger more ABC typical animals.

I wish goodluck to the Mee's and I really do not want to offend them as I think what they have done to the Park is fantastic, as it would be such a shame to loose it, but this is just my pennies worth.
 
I first visited Dartmoor Zoo just after the Mee's took over, i've recently visited for the third time. This is by far, the worst zoo i have visited this year. It has definately got worse since my first visit. Noahs ark comes in for a lot of stick on this site, but having recently visited there for the first time. It makes Dartmoor look like a run down, hole, of a place.
 
Breeding at the zoo for the cats is not an option. Never has been. The Lions are father and daughter. All the tigers are related. As for the Jaguar enclosure are you serious? They do not have the space or money to make the investment needed to make the zoo suitable for breeding such animals. Sovereign is also a grumpy sod, he doesn't get on with other Jag's anymore. One of the main reasons he is now on his own.

All of the Big cat enclosures were there long before the Mee's knew the zoo even existed.

Whilst the zoo improved initially, things seemed to have come to a stand still. I hope they are able to start moving it forward once again. As for Tapir births, the have had more than has been mentioned. There was also one a couple of years ago. I think it sadly died very early on.
 
I am aware that the cats are related, but I do get the feeling, that had Ellis Daw still be in charge, given some help or anything like that, the cat collection would still be flourishing like it once had with the swapping of cats and so on.

Admittedly the way that he bred his cats have been controversial, but he did breed them, something good for the cats, and good for visitors. As far as I know Tazmin is a pure individual being born at Blackpool in 1996, so she was still at breeding age while the takeover began. Building a seperate holding for a jaguar enclosure is not the most expensive thing to build, less expensive than a new enclosure for Japanese Macaques for example. The tiger enclosure holding Tazmin now once held Jaguars, so maybe it's future could be jaguars once again?

Ellis Daw, in my opinion had something right, his enclosure ideas, superb. He achieved success with Jaguars that has never been seen in the UK since or before. He bred tigers that matched to scale would probably come to Aspinall standards, even though his facilities were not built to deal so some say, you cannot deny his achievements with these animals.
 
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