Five Sisters Zoo Park Five Sisters news 2012-2013

TeaLovingDave

TeaLovingDave

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15+ year member
Will be visiting here next week, but decided to create this thread a little early as it seems from the Facebook page for Five Sisters that they have now added American Red Squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) to the collection. As far as I know, the only other collection with these is somewhere down in Somerset.
 
Really enjoyed my visit - and i was very pleased to note the collection still has Springhare! They have recently gone out of palm civets, sending them somewhere down south in return for a new breeding pair of geoffroy's marmosets. Quite a few of the species held - for instance red-necked wallaby, raccoon, snowy owl and bat-eared fox - appear to have recently bred.

Considering how close the collection is to Edinburgh, I was very pleasantly surprised at how busy it was despite the foul weather, and the range of species held by the collection. I counted over 100 vertebrate species in the collection, a good proportion of which were life-ticks for myself :)
 
TeaLovingDave said:
They have recently gone out of palm civets, sending them somewhere down south in return for a new breeding pair of geoffroy's marmosets.
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Any idea what they've put in their old enclosure (which I think was between the Raccoon and Wild Cat enclosures)?

I love Five Sisters and for me a visit to Scotland is never complete without a visit there. I'm looking forward to seeing the Bear enclosure in September and reading your review to whet my appetite.
 
Shorts said:
Any idea what they've put in their old enclosure (which I think was between the Raccoon and Wild Cat enclosures)?

I love Five Sisters and for me a visit to Scotland is never complete without a visit there. I'm looking forward to seeing the Bear enclosure in September and reading your review to whet my appetite.
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A pair of ravens.
 
I've just seen a thread on reptile/exotic pets forum I check out every now and again about some major work at a UK zoo and I'm pretty sure its Five Sisters- I've only been here once, but I recognised the reptile/nocturnal house and then later in the thread there are pics of a spring hare and I think this is the only place that has one?

If so they are re-doing all the enclosures in the reptile/nocturnal house and quite a few of the other enclosures (porcupines, prairie dogs, otters) and in my opinion (I didn't like some aspects of this place the first time round personally although other parts were great) from the pictures it looks like it will be an improvement (and a fairly big investment).

They also now have Lynx as well.

I'm not linking to the thread, as the author is trying not to reveal which zoo it is until all the work is done so that feels a bit cheeky but I think anyone interested in seeing the progress will find the forum easily enough.
 
Tunanta said:
I've just seen a thread on reptile/exotic pets forum I check out every now and again about some major work at a UK zoo and I'm pretty sure its Five Sisters- I've only been here once, but I recognised the reptile/nocturnal house and then later in the thread there are pics of a spring hare and I think this is the only place that has one?
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Yep, it will be Five Sisters - it's a shame there's only the one springhare left in the UK, but at least it is at a decent zoo.
 
I absolutely fell in love with the springhare, she was so sweet and was having her cage furniture rearranged when I was there. I would like to see where her enclosure is now, as the old one was a bit small and has clearly been demolished now but I couldn't see anything about where she and the other nocturnal animals had moved to beyond elsewhere in the zoo so if anyone on here happens to visit soon I'm putting in a request for news/pictures of the new nocturnal animal enclosures please.

I will try to go again myself in the spring as its really pretty close to me but no spare time or money for it at the moment so will hold off until after the enclosures are all complete to see if I like the overall standard of the zoo after the changes.
 
When you do visit, a full review of the new nocturnal and reptile enclosures will be rather good, as on my last visit in July 2012 I was informed they have a *lot* of species which they were keeping offshow until they could re-do that part of the zoo - so there may be quite a few new species to report in the fullness of time :)
 
Tunanta said:
I absolutely fell in love with the springhare, she was so sweet and was having her cage furniture rearranged when I was there. I would like to see where her enclosure is now, as the old one was a bit small and has clearly been demolished now but I couldn't see anything about where she and the other nocturnal animals had moved to beyond elsewhere in the zoo so if anyone on here happens to visit soon I'm putting in a request for news/pictures of the new nocturnal animal enclosures please.

I will try to go again myself in the spring as its really pretty close to me but no spare time or money for it at the moment so will hold off until after the enclosures are all complete to see if I like the overall standard of the zoo after the changes.
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Springhaas are wonderful animals but sometimes their cuteness can be deceptive - I have the rather dubious claim of being attacked, on several occasions, by a particularly nasty Springhaa whilst working at a private collection in the UK!
By the way do you know how the three "rescued" Brown Bears are doing ?
 
*newsflash*

50 firefighters have attended a fire at the tropical house which broke out in the early hours of this morning.
 
Clouded Leopard said:
He is re-homed from Gentleshaw and now located in the former Asian Palm Civets' enclosure.

I believe that he has deformed ears from birth defect or a genetic condition.
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He has recently been joined by Chloe - a beautiful European lynx from Dudley Zoo.
 
Clouded Leopard said:
*newsflash*

50 firefighters have attended a fire at the tropical house which broke out in the early hours of this morning.
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Around 50 firefighters have been tackling an early morning blaze at a zoo.

The blaze broke out in the tropical house of the Five Sisters Zoo at Polbeth, West Calder, West Lothian, at around 3.50am, the fire service said.

The fire has been confined to the tropical house, which is understood to have been well alight during the incident.

The zoo is currently preparing an inventory of any animals not accounted for, a Scottish Fire and Rescue Service spokeswoman said.

No people are thought to have been injured in the blaze.

Just a bit more info about that tragic news,news source was yahoo news
 
So sad...the news has been updated...sounds like they have lost most of the reptile collection maybe more

From the BBC news story:

The fire broke out in the tropical house of the Five Sisters Zoo at Polbeth, West Calder, at about 03:50 BST and was understood to be confined to the tropical house.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said they had managed to stop it spreading but a lot of reptiles had died.

They were able to rescue a pair of dwarf crocodiles and an otter

No people are thought to have been injured in the blaze.

The fire service said 11 fire engines and specialist appliances were involved with bringing the blaze under control at its height.

Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote

The Five Sisters Zoo has arranged for a vet to attend to the affected animals”

Fire service spokeswoman
The building involved is single storey and approximately 82ft (25m) by 49ft (15m) in size. The nearby road is currently closed to traffic.

The spokeswoman added: "We're at the scene liaising with police and ambulance.

"The Five Sisters Zoo has arranged for a vet to attend to the affected animals and they are currently producing an inventory of any animals not accounted for."

The privately-owned zoo was established in 2005, according to its website. Its online page describes it as the "top wildlife, animal and exotics attraction in West Lothian".

The zoo, described as a non-profit making organisation, is said to have a collection of more than 130 different species of animals, birds and reptiles from around the world.
 
More detail trickling through..some extra info in the BBC news story..

"Lesley Coupar, from the zoo, told BBC Scotland that the alarm went off and the owners went to see that the reptile house, a corrugated iron building, was ablaze.

She said a "substantial" number of reptiles and insects had died, although the house was partially closed and not all the reptiles were being housed there.

Ms Coupar said: "The reptile house is a shell and I don't think there is anything that has survived the blaze.

"It was obviously extremely ferocious and everything has perished that was in the reptile house.

"Otters and meerkats were housed near to the blaze and the crocodiles. We do know that the crocodiles have survived, they were submerged in water in their pond.

"Unfortunately one otter died but the other one, we hope, will survive. It is under supervision as we speak."

She said there was no indication what caused the fire."

I hope the Springhaas wasn't in there. Well obviously I hope as few animals as possible were in there but she is a particular favourite of mine. This is the tropical house they were just finishing off months of work on, re-doing the whole thing. The guy in charge of the work was due to go to Trinidad shortly to collect new species for the new enclosures (according to the thread about the work on the reptile UK forum).
 
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