Dudley Zoological Gardens Dudley Zoo Chimpanzees.

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Pertinax

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
Does anyone have any information on the Chimpanzee situation at Dudley?

Some years ago they built new accomodation including a large outdoor area, and obtained a group of 7/8 females from London Zoo, adding their own male 'Pepe' as a male for the group. The plan was to allow them to become a large 'natural' group(up to 30 chimps) similar to Chester's.

Instead, a couple of years back the only male 'Pepe' died, without having started any breeding. Has the idea to create a large group been dropped? Is it deliberate policy to just keep the females because they're not West African chimps -so not required to breed- or is it just 'zoo inertia'?
 
They are planning on keeping the Chimps but they will have to move them as their enclosure is on part of the land,that has been sold for redevelopment,the plan is to build a new house and enclosure for them on the site of the present Tiger enclosure.so would think they would keep the group as it is for the time been.
 
I thought the current enclosure was quite new, and advertised as one of the best in the country?
 
Hadley said:
I thought the current enclosure was quite new, and advertised as one of the best in the country?
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It is quite new and yes it is one of the best in the country but it`s still going along with the new Monkeytails exhibit (the old Geochrom building) in fact all the land at the bottom is going as far as the fun fair i believe.
 
I guess the decision to sell the land was quite recent then, given that two of the newest exhibits are to close. The tiger enclosure doesn't seem as large, but I guess they'll come up with something satisfactory. Aren't the tiger/bear enclosures listed as are the other tecton developments?
 
Thats the land that they have always been going to sell if the local Council would agree now they have,yes they are and that has been another problem in getting round the listed building status but they think they are their now!!!!!!!
 
zoogiraffe said:
They are planning on keeping the Chimps but they will have to move them as their enclosure is on part of the land,that has been sold for redevelopment,the plan is to build a new house and enclosure for them on the site of the present Tiger enclosure.so would think they would keep the group as it is for the time been.
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okay, thanks for that update. I guess they won't add any males for the time being then. Where is 'the present Tiger enclosure' incidentally?- I haven't been for a while...
 
Pertinax said:
okay, thanks for that update. I guess they won't add any males for the time being then. Where is 'the present Tiger enclosure' incidentally?- I haven't been for a while...
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Its the to the left of the old Polar Bear enclosure as you walk up that damn hill they built the zoo on.
 
zoogiraffe said:
Its the to the left of the old Polar Bear enclosure as you walk up that damn hill they built the zoo on.
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oh, you mean the hillside enclosure which the tigers have always been kept in? I suppose it could be converted for chimpanzees okay, but they'll have to build yet another indoor exhibit.

What's in the Polar Bear enclosure nowadays. Anything?
 
zoogiraffe said:
It`s empty for the time been will become part of the new Orang house when they start working on it.
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Are they allowed to change/alter it, since I believe it would have a preservation order on it? That means the Orangutans and chimpanzees would be back as neighbours again?

And do you have any details of the proposed Orangutan(or chimpanzee) houses- what it might be like, time scale etc?. In fact any info would be welcome.
 
They have come up with a roof design that looks temporary but is in fact permanent,and English Heritage and all the rest now seem happy with the design.
 
While its bound to be better than the current 'giants unrinal' they are kept in, I can't help but think that roofing over the polar bear pit might not be as great a home for the orangs as a purpose-built house.....
 
Hadley said:
I can't help but think that roofing over the polar bear pit might not be as great a home for the orangs as a purpose-built house.....
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Too ***** right!

I had presumed they were going to finally build a decent purpose-built house for the Orangutans, not another 'fudge'. I suppose this will give them some valuable additional height but its still a concrete enclosure with a distinctive design. And what about the pool area- can that be filled in?

And will that enclosure be the outdoor or indoor area or both?:confused:.
 
Pertinax said:
Too ***** right!

I had presumed they were going to finally build a decent purpose-built house for the Orangutans, not another 'fudge'. I suppose this will give them some valuable additional height but its still a concrete enclosure with a distinctive design. And what about the pool area- can that be filled in?

And will that enclosure be the outdoor or indoor area or both?:confused:.
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Yes it will be indoor and outdoor the indoor been theold Polar Bear enclosure and the outdoor been the present Bear enclosure.
 
zoogiraffe said:
Yes it will be indoor and outdoor the indoor been theold Polar Bear enclosure and the outdoor been the present Bear enclosure.
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Okay, I can see how that might work okay, though I'd still prefer a purpose built house.... I thought they had a huge amount of cash to spend now?

I suppose they will be allowed to redocorate the 'indoors'-Polar Bear enclosure to make it more suitable, and add climbing equipment etc. I can see how it could be made quite acceptable. Maybe the 'pool' area could be filled in with woodchip flooring etc? The outdoor would be easy to landscape etc. Lets hope they do a good job on it.
 
I still think a sunken, concrete pit will be expensive to heat, and not nearly as suitable as a purpose-built house. The orangs at dudley kind of really deserve better having languished for so long in the current monstrosity....and the chimpanzees may get housing inferior to the current enclosure unless the zoo is actually going to be allowed to knock through and alter some of the existing tecton buildings and walls....the current tiger enclosure really doens't seem like the most obvious option. If the bear/tiger paddocks are themselves roofed giving tall cage-like structures it would be promising, but I'm assuming the outside ape enclosures will be open air?

If the plan all along was to sell that part of the zoo off as housing, why on earth are two very recent exhibits on the land there?
 
Does anyone have any pictures of the current ape developments or old pictures of the mentioned exhibits (polar bear, tiger)?
 
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