felis silvestris
Well-Known Member
Heard yesterday outside the entrance there was an animal rights protest 
Edinburgh Zoo Edinburgh Zoo News 2021
- Thread starter Quincey
- Start date
Strix
Well-Known Member
Problem is, having the only pandas in the UK is a big selling point for them as well, so without them they will lose visitors. Even if they get rid of the pandas, they might not financially recover.
After the first two years the presence of the pandas actually hasn't come alongside additional footfall - quite the reverse in fact! Somewhere in my post history there's a comprehensive breakdown of the annual visitor numbers since 2009 - I shall see if I can locate it.
Heard yesterday outside the entrance there was an animal rights protest
Why, might I ask?
If I had to guess, the giraffes? There’s been a stink made up recently about their mere presence in Edinburgh
Animal rights protesters are opportunistic and will use literally anything they can to excuse a protest, usually either a new enclosure(like Edinburgh's giraffes) or something like an animal escape.
Found the information in question:
2009: 606,900 visitors - I've found mention online that this figure was a significant drop on the previous year's visitor numbers due to the then-current recession.
2010: 546,900 visitors - this further drop was also attributed to the aftershocks of the recession.
2011: 536,000 visitors
2012: 811,000 visitors - this is the first full year the giant pandas were present.
2013: 760,897 visitors
2014: 671,942 visitors
2015: 633,000 visitors
2016: 574,000 visitors
2017: 520,000 visitors
2018: 510,000 visitors
2019: 529,000 visitors - the slight bump in visitor numbers was attributed by the zoo to the opening of the "new" giant panda exhibit.
So, not only has footfall been dropping drastically since the initial "panda hype" faded, but in recent years it dropped significantly below pre-panda figures even before the pandemic.
There's still a lot of assumed cause and effect on this topic.
Firstly, I question whether a list that starts from the first fairly normal post-recession year at 546,900 and ends at 529,000 nine years later represents a 'significant' drop...! It's about a 3% fall between those dates.
Then there's cause and effect, or otherwise. The peak in 2012 that tails off up to about 2016 can be safely ascribed to the pandas I think. But even so, this same list could be read as:
- the recession knocked some people out of the habit, or the ability, to visit the zoo
- the pandas provided a significant extra boost in visitors
- the figures then re-normalised broadly to the post-recession, pre-panda level, with a slight tail off as time goes on
BUT as part of that, what we can't say from these numbers is what proportion of the current numbers are the pre-recession visitor base and which are specific panda tourists - i.e. have those initial 300,000 'panda people' stopped coming, pandas safely seen and ticked off the list, or has the decreasing trend in 'non-panda-specific' visitors starting from 2008 continued but is being partly compensated for by some or all of those panda people still coming?
300,000 or so extra people seem to have come to see the pandas in the first full year. If even half of that total are still coming in a year today but wouldn't come without pandas then from the last 529,000 figure you're down to less than 400,000 if the pandas go
If there are still the full 300,000 panda people in a year (which I would seriously doubt, but it's possible), then numbers could tank by more than half if they lose them. If there's only 20,000 still coming just because they have pandas and there are 500,000 who'll come anyway then that's a very different balance of risk and it would seem fairly logical to look at giving them up.
This is why I think they're in Catch-22 now - they could drop the pandas and find there's little effect on numbers, or they could lose a massive proportion of their remaining visitors - unless they've got very good customer research on reasons for visit it would be hard to know what would happen.
In other words - for me, these numbers don't say whether the pandas are causing the apparent cost-cutting elsewhere, or are the only thing that has kept it from being much, much worse...
I'd still probably err on the side of the former, if I were a betting man, but I really don't think cutting the losses on the pandas is the automatic win it's often assumed to be - particularly given how the 2020 and 2021 figures are going to look.
felis silvestris
Well-Known Member
Born free complained about it too as usual
Onychorhynchus coronatus
Well-Known Member
I'm surprised that the royal zoological society of Scotland or indeed any academic institution didn't jump at the chance at doing some kind of quantitative survey specifically about whether panda presence increased footfall.
A Northern Luzon giant cloud rat at the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland’s Edinburgh Zoo has been named Thistle by the public.
Followers of the zoo’s social media platforms were invited to suggest names for the youngster, born in April to mum Taba and dad Toby.
Keepers at the wildlife conservation charity chose the name Thistle for the female pup, in a tribute to Scotland’s national flower:
Cloud rat pup at Edinburgh Zoo named by public | Edinburgh Zoo
Followers of the zoo’s social media platforms were invited to suggest names for the youngster, born in April to mum Taba and dad Toby.
Keepers at the wildlife conservation charity chose the name Thistle for the female pup, in a tribute to Scotland’s national flower:
Cloud rat pup at Edinburgh Zoo named by public | Edinburgh Zoo
felis silvestris
Well-Known Member
Love the name :3
Visited the zoo on Thursday and there’s a few of things I want to mention. I spoke to a member of staff who told me about that they still have the three drills and all are well. All of the yellow breasted capuchins have been separated into pairs (4 individuals at the monkey house and 2 individuals in an offshow enclosure near the lions).
A small group of chimpanzees have been separated in order to protect the baby, they are being rotated between the bedrooms and the third indoor enclosure with the ‘new’ male who is still living by himself. The chimps in the main group were particularly vocal, I heard screaming and howling on three or four occasions and witnessed a physical fight between a couple of individuals.
Zebras have moved to a paddock near the vicuna this leaving the large African enclosure empty and closed off.
There was a lot of much needed paint work that had already taken place around the gibbon enclosure and the fence by the cassowary enclosure was being painted while I was there. I visited last October and the whole place feels a lot fresher and more optimistic.
I can also confirm that series 2 of “inside the zoo” is currently being filmed.
A small group of chimpanzees have been separated in order to protect the baby, they are being rotated between the bedrooms and the third indoor enclosure with the ‘new’ male who is still living by himself. The chimps in the main group were particularly vocal, I heard screaming and howling on three or four occasions and witnessed a physical fight between a couple of individuals.
Zebras have moved to a paddock near the vicuna this leaving the large African enclosure empty and closed off.
There was a lot of much needed paint work that had already taken place around the gibbon enclosure and the fence by the cassowary enclosure was being painted while I was there. I visited last October and the whole place feels a lot fresher and more optimistic.
I can also confirm that series 2 of “inside the zoo” is currently being filmed.
Martii
Well-Known Member
Glad they still have the drills I could be wrong I am sure they were in the horrible enclosure out side the monkey house that once held parrotsVisited the zoo on Thursday and there’s a few of things I want to mention. I spoke to a member of staff who told me about that they still have the three drills and all are well. All of the yellow breasted capuchins have been separated into pairs (4 individuals at the monkey house and 2 individuals in an offshow enclosure near the lions).
A small group of chimpanzees have been separated in order to protect the baby, they are being rotated between the bedrooms and the third indoor enclosure with the ‘new’ male who is still living by himself. The chimps in the main group were particularly vocal, I heard screaming and howling on three or four occasions and witnessed a physical fight between a couple of individuals.
Zebras have moved to a paddock near the vicuna this leaving the large African enclosure empty and closed off.
There was a lot of much needed paint work that had already taken place around the gibbon enclosure and the fence by the cassowary enclosure was being painted while I was there. I visited last October and the whole place feels a lot fresher and more optimistic.
I can also confirm that series 2 of “inside the zoo” is currently being filmed.
I believe that enclosure was demolished, however they are in the identical one on the other side of the building. The keeper I spoke to cited COVID as the reason for the house being closed, which would lead me to believe that when restrictions are lifted, we might be able to see the drills (inside atleast) again.
Martii
Well-Known Member
Apologies for the mistakeI believe that enclosure was demolished, however they are in the identical one on the other side of the building. The keeper I spoke to cited COVID as the reason for the house being closed, which would lead me to believe that when restrictions are lifted, we might be able to see the drills (inside atleast) again.
No worries, you were right in saying “they were” as that’s where they were before they were moved offshow.
I’d have thought it’ll probably reopen when the monkey house does.
Jambi
Well-Known Member
Which I'm guessing won't be for a while? What a shame, one of my favourite things to see at Edinburgh Zoo is that coral reef tank in Wee Beasties. I may hold off until late next year if that's the case.