Yes there are meerkats back in the indoor part of the old enclosure (they were mostly hidden in the tunnel, we saw one which came out for a live feed) & you are quite right, they are building a proper house for the meerkats with indoor viewing at the new enclosure, although it didn't look like much was happening yet.
Edinburgh Zoo Edinburgh Zoo News 2014
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- 2014 edinburgh zoo zoo news
They put the golden cats onto the surplus list some time ago; so far 1,1 have moved to Exmoor and the remaining 1,0 is liable to leave any time now. Where, I do not know - though I hope it is not the Cat Survival Trust as the bloke running that place does not believe the studbook or anyone else who is familiar with the golden cat population in Europe knows what they are talking about regarding subspecific splits..... probably will be him though.
A rather long-winded article which masks what they are doing- following the continuing trend at many larger Zoos- bigger, better enclosures but for less species....you can't have both it seems.
Of course, size was never the issue with these enclosures - merely their appearance and the fact keeper entry had to be from the front. They would have been perfectly fine remaining as a place to house smaller carnivores.
i must remain anonymous for my own protection but we do need help at the zoo. Chris West comes in with all these fancy ideas, which usually involve getting rid of the most popular animals, all to financially support the pandas. Worth noting he did the exact same thing in Adelaide zoo, and left the place with well over $1.2 Million in debt. edinburgh will go the same way if things don't change. haunting comments on an adelaide paper, where the visitor who was commenting stated that since Chris West had been CEO, during his tenure at Adelaide, they had lost a lot of animals, gained next to nothing in, and focussed almost entirely on the pandas. i am so scared that this is what will happen to our beloved edinburgh zoo, especially since the big cats are generally a highlight. also, whilst it is being demolished, the path will be blocked off so visitors will have to go all the way around the hill just to get to the tigers, and then all the way back which is not at all convenient for a lot of people, especially with them retiring the safari bus for financial reasons despite there being people willing to financially back it. i ask please that i can remain anonymous but i feel i do need to blow the whistle - at a recent volunteers evening Chris West patronised all the volunteers who raised concerns about the impact it would have on visitors if we got rid of big cats, by saying that we just had to grow up and deal with it. indeed he stated that he was jetlagged from a trip on saturday and had no idea that there would be a "civil war" with his announcements. he's also planning to get rid of the Macaques and a few other monkeys and if he continues unchecked we will be left with hardly anything
Animal Friendly
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Very interesting, just what I have suspected for some time and have voiced my opinion on here, I cannot understand why the land train has been withdrawn, if it is the case that there were offers to financially support it, so what is Edinburgh Zoo going to be in the future, a giant panda, penguin and chimp show with nothing else?, very worrying!
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there were also plenty of people who had suggested fundraising (and people who would do it) as an option to keep the cats whilst redeveloping it but were emphatically told no. despite there being plenty of empty enclosures that they could now be put into, someone had given around £250,000 with the implication of them being that it was for Edinburgh Zoo but it was instead put to HWP
Animal Friendly
Well-Known Member
Well I think I would have been asking for my money back if I was in the fortunate position to donate that sort of money to a zoo for a specific purpose and later realising that it had been spent elsewhere, not very grateful were they?
quite so. ultimately, i have been coming to the zoo all my life and volunteering for an undisclosed amount of time and just despair when i see the way the zoo is going under chris west's leadership. many found it suspect that his son managed to get a job without any trouble with the zoo. also as part of this whistleblow, many staff have walked out under his leadership, morale is down and generally, people are not being consulted. we all know (looking back in the thread) about the Rhea Chicks and cassowary eggs - what many don't know is that whilst chris west published them on his blog, he had not told the bird keepers about this, who themselves had wanted them to remain secret until the survival was assured - which would have been great as the cassowary eggs were not successful, and yet they were put into an awkward position by chris publishing it. ultimately, he does not consult with staff, and from my long term perspective as a member then volunteer, i really, really get upset when i look at his history, and unless an EGM is called, i can't help but see the zoo going into financial ruin within the next three years
@Pipaluk: Dare I suggest that the developments at Edinburgh Zoo put your usual complaints and concerns about the direction Marwell is heading into some perspective? 
although Marwell *has* lost a fair few species of late it still has a lot more of the species for which it is loved when compared to Edinburgh, and has gained far more species!
Merely off the top of my head, and including species we know to be leaving soon, Edinburgh has lost the following since Chris West arrived:
Alaotran bamboo lemur
Von der Decken's hornbill
Luzon bleeding-heart
Hamlyn's monkey
Eurasian otter
Eurasian beaver
Common Raven
European wolverine
Eurasian wolf
European Souslik
Greater kudu
Guinea baboon
Heck cattle
Laughing Kookaburra
Major Mitchell's cockatoo
South American sea lion
Maned wolf
Moholi bushbaby
Northern Luzon giant cloud rat
Eastern bongo
Eastern aardwolf
Blue crane
Andean cock-of-the-rock
Red titi
Taiga musk deer
Southern Luzon giant cloud rat
Southern Lowland Wetzone Purple-faced Langur
Syrian marbled polecat
White-lipped deer
Amur Leopard
Indochinese clouded leopard
Jaguar
Tibetan golden cat
Sclater's black lemur
Conversely, the only species which have arrived in the past few years which have not since joined the above list of departures are:
Meerkat
Banteng
Ring-tailed Lemur
Giant Panda
The list is even worse when you consider meerkats and ring-tailed lemurs were species which had recently been moved out of the zoo to make room for rarer species - only for these rarer species to be moved out in turn by West to make room for the species they had originally replaced!
although Marwell *has* lost a fair few species of late it still has a lot more of the species for which it is loved when compared to Edinburgh, and has gained far more species!Merely off the top of my head, and including species we know to be leaving soon, Edinburgh has lost the following since Chris West arrived:
Alaotran bamboo lemur
Von der Decken's hornbill
Luzon bleeding-heart
Hamlyn's monkey
Eurasian otter
Eurasian beaver
Common Raven
European wolverine
Eurasian wolf
European Souslik
Greater kudu
Guinea baboon
Heck cattle
Laughing Kookaburra
Major Mitchell's cockatoo
South American sea lion
Maned wolf
Moholi bushbaby
Northern Luzon giant cloud rat
Eastern bongo
Eastern aardwolf
Blue crane
Andean cock-of-the-rock
Red titi
Taiga musk deer
Southern Luzon giant cloud rat
Southern Lowland Wetzone Purple-faced Langur
Syrian marbled polecat
White-lipped deer
Amur Leopard
Indochinese clouded leopard
Jaguar
Tibetan golden cat
Sclater's black lemur
Conversely, the only species which have arrived in the past few years which have not since joined the above list of departures are:
Meerkat
Banteng
Ring-tailed Lemur
Giant Panda
The list is even worse when you consider meerkats and ring-tailed lemurs were species which had recently been moved out of the zoo to make room for rarer species - only for these rarer species to be moved out in turn by West to make room for the species they had originally replaced!
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This tallies 100% with everything I have heard on the grapevine, sad to say.
@Pipaluk: Dare I suggest that the developments at Edinburgh Zoo put your usual complaints and concerns about the direction Marwell is heading into some perspective?
Merely off the top of my head, and including species we know to be leaving soon, Edinburgh has lost the following since Chris West arrived:
Alaotran bamboo lemur
Von der Decken's hornbill
Luzon bleeding-heart
Hamlyn's monkey
Eurasian otter
Eurasian beaver
Common Raven
European wolverine
Eurasian wolf
European Souslik
Greater kudu
Guinea baboon
Heck cattle
Laughing Kookaburra
Major Mitchell's cockatoo
South American sea lion
Maned wolf
Moholi bushbaby
Northern Luzon giant cloud rat
Eastern bongo
Eastern aardwolf
Blue crane
Andean cock-of-the-rock
Red titi
Taiga musk deer
Southern Luzon giant cloud rat
Southern Lowland Wetzone Purple-faced Langur
Syrian marbled polecat
White-lipped deer
Amur Leopard
Indochinese clouded leopard
Jaguar
Tibetan golden cat
Sclater's black lemur
Conversely, the only species which have arrived in the past few years which have not since joined the above list of departures are:
Meerkat
Banteng
Ring-tailed Lemur
Giant Panda
The list is even worse when you consider meerkats and ring-tailed lemurs were species which had recently been moved out of the zoo to make room for rarer species - only for these rarer species to be moved out in turn by West to make room for the species they had originally replaced!
indeed from my discussions with anonymous staff members, they reckon that under chris's leadership, in terms of net loss/gain, we have lost far more than under any CEO in the past. people are also irked by Meerkat Plaza, by it being developed in stages rather than being done all at once so right now until april, we have a big empty enclosure and whilst the meerkats at back at their ring next to hippos, it still does not inspire confidence or give a good message across to visitors
So where will the Lions and Tigers live in the future?
The lions and tigers do not live in the Carnivore Row - as such their enclosures will be remaining as-is.
I have sent you a private message regarding a detail best kept off-forum incidentally, RicaFan
Some interesting revelations on this thread all of a sudden.
Its worth noting that a couple of the 'departures' may not have actually been deliberate losses- e.g. The white-lipped Deer were probably only being quarantined there ( for HWP?)- as I think were the Persian Fallow similarly, for West Midlands. Also the Hamlyn's monkeys had reduced to such an extent it was probably for the benefit of the species that the last ones left for other pairings in Europe. There could be a few others in that category, but of course they are all losses of more species, nonetheless. The list is a pretty long one....Where do they live currently? Last time I went- some years back now, they were in the carnivore row if my memory is correct, certainly Tigers still were.
tigers are where they have been for a while - right at the top right of carnivore row, whilst the asiatic lions are up the hill if you went to the left, next to the Gelada Baboons, and if you go up further you get to the Giant Anteater if that helps place it for you?
Have the Pelicans gone? (That was a bit of a failed experiment!)
To your original list you can add Bushdog, Great Grey Owl and Ocelated Turkey. I think they had Northern Luzon Cloud rats at one point as well, and possibly another Lemur species?
One of the issues at RZSS is it's very difficult for the members to take any action - there is no forum for like-minded members to discuss anything, and the corporate governance is structured in such as way that there is no 'voice' for ordinary members in the governance structure.
Also the Hamlyn's monkeys had reduced to such an extent it was probably for the benefit of the species that the last ones left for other pairings in Europe. There could be a few others in that category, but of course they are all losses of more species, nonetheless. The list is a pretty long one....
The Hamlyn's were a pair comprised of an Edinburgh female and a male from Twycross, who eventually went to Poland (I think?) whilst remaining together. So they moved location but the pairing remained the same.
The tigers are currently in the big enclosure at the top of the hill - as such they are in the same general area, but not in the "Carnivore Row" itself.
The Bushdogs died off a while before Chris West came to Edinburgh, hence the omission, and I was unaware the Grey Grey Owl and Ocelated Turkey were now gone - this must have occurred recently I assume, as both are still listed as current holdings on ZTL.
The Northern Luzon Cloudrats are already in the list I gave
Animal Friendly
Well-Known Member
Meanwhile there is £12,000 per week rent for the giant pandas plus £2000 per week to feed them, the novelty would now appear to be wearing off with the visitors which will reflect in lower takings at the pay box, and now the promise of even less animals at a zoo whose collection does not really satisfy the Joe Public visitors, they could now very easily end up "in a worse state than China", no pun intended. I find it interesting that this C.E.O.'s attitude is very similar to an ex C.E.O. at another well known collection, riding rough shod, just doing as they want and having very little regard for anyone else or their opinion resulting in an exodus of loyal, hard working staff, steadily directing the zoo into a disaster, at least the zoo I am referring to did have the sense to solve the problem before it did become too late, I suggest Edinburgh should do likewise.
Was it? I thought it was fairly recently, all these years blend into one after a while!!
Owls went to HWP, not sure what happened to the Turkeys (They may even just be off show)
Dave, I agree with you that the losses at Edinburgh are awful, probably worse than Marwell over the last 5 year's. However, I really don't see this somehow excuses what has happened to Marwell, over 30 mammal species lost & even fewer New ones brought in than Edinburgh! Like Edinburgh, New species are in most cases merely a 'lost' one returning after a gap of a few months or so.TeaLovingDave said:@Pipaluk: Dare I suggest that the developments at Edinburgh Zoo put your usual complaints and concerns about the direction Marwell is heading into some perspective?
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we could call an egm but that would involve getting a certain (not sure how much) amount of members to write in and call for it, although I reckon if it did happen there would easily be a vote of no confidence. certainly a lot of visitors have been put off by the hill now especially with the lack of mass transport to the top - mobility vehicle just for disabilities but not for small kids with the attitude being by corporate that kids can learn to walk. couple that with the decreasing amount of exhibits and everything being geared towards pandas and i do believe you are right, he really is running roughshod and the place will be run to the ground soon