My girlfriend and I made the 270km trip to Halls Gap for a weekend of hiking, bird-spotting and of course the Halls Gap Zoo. I can't recommend the Grampians region enough, honestly. I saw kookaburras, four species of cockatoo, crimson rosellas, rainbow lorikeets, superb fairy-wrens, wood ducks, a blue heron, kangaroos, wallabies, lots of tree skinks and other skink species, a mountain dragon... and all of those were in the two hours before we visited the zoo. Where, in the carpark before opening time, we spotted a (wild) southern brown bandicoot.
As for the zoo itself, seriously, this place is on growth hormones or something. We last visited 3 months ago and in that time, the zoo has added a nice, probably 3-3.5 metre square lizard pit for eastern blue-tongues, shinglebacks, cunningham's skinks and eastern bearded dragons, as well as a very nice, large open-topped elevated outdoor enclosure for red-bellied black snakes. I looked twice for the snakes, but it's such a large enclosure, with so many potential hiding points, that I'm not surprised that I didn't find them.
Also new, and perhaps of most importance, are two enclosures for red pandas. I was, it turns out, there two days early to see the first panda to arrive at the zoo, which is as I type in transit from Taronga Zoo. Next time, I guess. Rather bizarrely, as a condition of the zoo's permit to house red pandas, they are not allowed to do visitor encounters with them. The reason being that the Victorian Department of Primary Industries does not wish the pandas to become too acclimatised to humans. I could understand this pre-condition being in place if the pandas in question were future candidates for release via the project in Darjeeling, but I don't believe there's any indication of this. Ridiculous. Photos of the as-yet empty enclosures will be posted later.
Elsewhere, re-development continues at the usual frenetic pace. The new spider monkey enclosure seems to be held-up for the moment, but work has begun on a new koala enclosure to replace the one inherited from the previous ownership, the framework has begun on a new enclosure for pygmy marmosets, and signs near the current monkey enclosures give notice of future aviaries for kookaburras and cockatoos.
There are still a handful of enclosures from the pre-Culell days that ought to be phased out. They are as follows:
- 3 aviaries, two for corellas and one for galahs. I imagine the new cockatoo aviary mentioned above is intended to address this need. All three enclosures remain structurally sound and perfectly safe for their inhabitants, but are below the quality threshold that the current owners have established with their own constructions.
- The aviary for owls - I saw one barn owl and one southern boobook - is fine for the owls, but sub-par for viewing. Ideally, a new aviary for them and perhaps tawny frogmouths, with one of the zoo's two groups of bush-stone curlews, could be built. This would in turn allow the spot-tailed quoll exhibit which adjoins the owl exhibit to expand into that space.
- The two cages for larger monkeys - black-capped capuchins and black-handed spider monkeys - are probably the next in line for replacement. The new black-handed spider monkey cage is ready to go, and the zoo has signs up saying they need to raise $10,200 to complete the project. They already have some of the materials for the enclosure, so the figure still required must be somewhat less than that. Once this building work is completed, I'd connect the spider monkey cage to the capuchin next to it. Incidentally, one of the zoo's two black-capped capuchins has died since my last visit. Given this, I would probably move the black-capped off display and put the small group of white-fronted capuchins currently living behind the scenes on display instead.
Halls Gap Zoo's signature difference to other zoos in south-eastern Australia is the 'touch, feed, explore' theme. To a greater extent than any other zoo, visitors are encouraged to interact, not just look at, the animals. The list of animals that can be fed with feed bags purchased at the entrance is long - deer, wallabies and kangaroos, wombats, tahrs, barbary sheep, emus, alpacas and camels. It has the pleasing effect of slowing people down at exhibits that they might otherwise breeze past. I hope that as, over coming years, charismatic megafauna like giraffes and big cats arrive, these animals are maintained in the collection and are still encouraging visitors to slow down and interact.
I was thinking on the way home about other points of interest that the zoo could develop, and two stick out in my mind. One is the long-running speculation that there are feral pumas living in the Grampians. A common story anywhere there is mountainous wilderness, I know, but I also know through personal networks that a great many farmers near the Grampians believe they have seen them, but choose not to report sightings for fear of being mocked. I have my doubts, but to me, this seems a great opportunity for the zoo to exhibit pumas and engage with local folklore.
A second idea buzzing away at me is parrots. The zoo already has a decent little collection of Aussie parrots, with about 12 or 13 species. With the Grampians already being a mecca for, amongst the families and "grey nomads", passionate bird-watchers, Halls Gap could do worse than cultivate a reputation for Australia's most complete collection of native parrots on display. Within a year or so, the zoo could have the vast majority of species - with the exception of palm cockatoos and orange-bellied parrots, and probably the really expensive glossy black cockatoo - on display, if they so wished. Most are readily available privately and do not cost a fortune. With the tendency of so many zoos in this country to exhibit a little of this and a little of that, really going all out to display the diversity within a single order of birds would be awesome.
My next visit is likely to be in late February or, more likely, March. No doubt by then there'll be even more news to report.
As for the zoo itself, seriously, this place is on growth hormones or something. We last visited 3 months ago and in that time, the zoo has added a nice, probably 3-3.5 metre square lizard pit for eastern blue-tongues, shinglebacks, cunningham's skinks and eastern bearded dragons, as well as a very nice, large open-topped elevated outdoor enclosure for red-bellied black snakes. I looked twice for the snakes, but it's such a large enclosure, with so many potential hiding points, that I'm not surprised that I didn't find them.
Also new, and perhaps of most importance, are two enclosures for red pandas. I was, it turns out, there two days early to see the first panda to arrive at the zoo, which is as I type in transit from Taronga Zoo. Next time, I guess. Rather bizarrely, as a condition of the zoo's permit to house red pandas, they are not allowed to do visitor encounters with them. The reason being that the Victorian Department of Primary Industries does not wish the pandas to become too acclimatised to humans. I could understand this pre-condition being in place if the pandas in question were future candidates for release via the project in Darjeeling, but I don't believe there's any indication of this. Ridiculous. Photos of the as-yet empty enclosures will be posted later.
Elsewhere, re-development continues at the usual frenetic pace. The new spider monkey enclosure seems to be held-up for the moment, but work has begun on a new koala enclosure to replace the one inherited from the previous ownership, the framework has begun on a new enclosure for pygmy marmosets, and signs near the current monkey enclosures give notice of future aviaries for kookaburras and cockatoos.
There are still a handful of enclosures from the pre-Culell days that ought to be phased out. They are as follows:
- 3 aviaries, two for corellas and one for galahs. I imagine the new cockatoo aviary mentioned above is intended to address this need. All three enclosures remain structurally sound and perfectly safe for their inhabitants, but are below the quality threshold that the current owners have established with their own constructions.
- The aviary for owls - I saw one barn owl and one southern boobook - is fine for the owls, but sub-par for viewing. Ideally, a new aviary for them and perhaps tawny frogmouths, with one of the zoo's two groups of bush-stone curlews, could be built. This would in turn allow the spot-tailed quoll exhibit which adjoins the owl exhibit to expand into that space.
- The two cages for larger monkeys - black-capped capuchins and black-handed spider monkeys - are probably the next in line for replacement. The new black-handed spider monkey cage is ready to go, and the zoo has signs up saying they need to raise $10,200 to complete the project. They already have some of the materials for the enclosure, so the figure still required must be somewhat less than that. Once this building work is completed, I'd connect the spider monkey cage to the capuchin next to it. Incidentally, one of the zoo's two black-capped capuchins has died since my last visit. Given this, I would probably move the black-capped off display and put the small group of white-fronted capuchins currently living behind the scenes on display instead.
Halls Gap Zoo's signature difference to other zoos in south-eastern Australia is the 'touch, feed, explore' theme. To a greater extent than any other zoo, visitors are encouraged to interact, not just look at, the animals. The list of animals that can be fed with feed bags purchased at the entrance is long - deer, wallabies and kangaroos, wombats, tahrs, barbary sheep, emus, alpacas and camels. It has the pleasing effect of slowing people down at exhibits that they might otherwise breeze past. I hope that as, over coming years, charismatic megafauna like giraffes and big cats arrive, these animals are maintained in the collection and are still encouraging visitors to slow down and interact.
I was thinking on the way home about other points of interest that the zoo could develop, and two stick out in my mind. One is the long-running speculation that there are feral pumas living in the Grampians. A common story anywhere there is mountainous wilderness, I know, but I also know through personal networks that a great many farmers near the Grampians believe they have seen them, but choose not to report sightings for fear of being mocked. I have my doubts, but to me, this seems a great opportunity for the zoo to exhibit pumas and engage with local folklore.
A second idea buzzing away at me is parrots. The zoo already has a decent little collection of Aussie parrots, with about 12 or 13 species. With the Grampians already being a mecca for, amongst the families and "grey nomads", passionate bird-watchers, Halls Gap could do worse than cultivate a reputation for Australia's most complete collection of native parrots on display. Within a year or so, the zoo could have the vast majority of species - with the exception of palm cockatoos and orange-bellied parrots, and probably the really expensive glossy black cockatoo - on display, if they so wished. Most are readily available privately and do not cost a fortune. With the tendency of so many zoos in this country to exhibit a little of this and a little of that, really going all out to display the diversity within a single order of birds would be awesome.
My next visit is likely to be in late February or, more likely, March. No doubt by then there'll be even more news to report.