Halls Gap Zoo Halls Gap Zoo

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LOU

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Has anyone visited this place recently?

I haven't since mid 2007 but having viewed their re-vamped website it appears a lot has changed. In December 2007, new owners bought the park who have taken the zoo several steps in the right direction.

New species include Black-capped Capuchins, Himalayan Tahr, Blackbuck, Rock Wallabys, Cassowary, Quolls, Tasmanian Devils, Gliders and in the coming months they plan to aquire Meerkats, Alligators, Cotton-top Tamarins, Bilbies and Zebra.

They have also converted the Reptile House into a Nocturnal House and are about to commence the construction of a new entrance building. When this is complete, the old entrance building will become a Reptile House.

Below is a species list of the zoo:

1. Feather Glider
2. Red-tailed Phascogale
3. Central Netted Dragon
4. Crested Dragon
5. Spencer’s Monitor
6. Red-necked Wallaby
7. Agile Wallaby
8. Brush-tailed Rock Wallaby
9. Eastern Quoll
10. Dromedary Camel
11. American Alligator (coming soon)
12. Meerkat (coming soon)
13. Zebra (coming in soon)
14. Black-headed Python
15. Carpet Python
16. Himalayan Tahr
17. Scottish Highland Cattle
18. Ostrich
19. Cassowary
20. Barbary Sheep
21. Ring-tailed Possum
22. Long-nosed Potoroo
23. Northern Quoll
24. Squirrel Glider
25. Yellow-footed Rock Wallaby
26. Brushtail Bettong
27. Spinifex Hopping Mouse
28. Fat-tailed Dunnart
29. Death Adder
30. Bilby (coming soon)
31. Fallow Deer
32. Tasmanian Devil
33. Koala
34. Dingo
35. Blackbuck
36. Cotton-top Tamarin (coming soon)
37. Parma Wallaby
38. Black-capped Capuchin
39. Tammar Wallaby
40. Blue-tongue Lizard
41. Northern Blunt-spined Monitor
42. Lace Monitor
43. Brush-tailed Possum
44. Swamp Wallaby
45. Western Grey Kangaroo
46. Eastern Grey Kangaroo
47. Red Kangaroo
48. Kangaroo Island Kangaroo
49. Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat
50. Common Wombat
51. Common Marmoset
52. Elk


If i have left anything out please notify me. :)
 
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Where did you find the list...I've never been but it is on my list and thank-you for the species list.

P.S. what does the # next to cassowary and ostrich mean?
 
Visit

I visited HGZ on Friday....
And wow, how it's changed! The new owners have made this formally rundown park neat and quite frankly, beautiful. They've utilised the stunning surroundings they are gifted with and have given new exhibits to a majority of the animals as well as dramatically increasing the zoo's animal collection.

Here is a more updated mammalia list at the zoo (haven't got round to doing reptilia, aves and amphibia). It doesn't include domesticated species:

1. Feathertail Glider 3.7
2. Squirrel Glider 1.1
3. Red-necked Wallaby 5.5
4. Parma Wallaby 1.2
5. Tammar Wallaby 1.4
6. Tammar Wallaby (SA) 1.6
7. Agile Wallaby 6.4
8. Swamp Wallaby 3.5
9. Yellow-footed Rock Wallaby 1.2
10. Eastern Grey Kangaroo 2.5
11. Red Kangaroo 1.1
12. Kangaroo Island Kangaroo 1.2
13. *Eastern Quoll 1.1
14. Northern Quoll 1.2
15. Spotted-tail Quoll 1.0
16. Red-tailed Phascogale 3.7
17. Ring-tailed Possum 1.1
18. Brush-tailed Possum 2.3
19. Long-nosed Potoroo 2.2
20. Brush-tailed Bettong 2.2
21. Spinifex Hopping Mouse 0.0.10
22. Mitchell’s Hopping Mouse 3.2
23. Fat-tailed Dunnart 7.3
24. Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat 0.1
25. Common Wombat 0.1
26. Greater Bilby (NT) 1.0
27. Tasmanian Devil 1.1
28. *Koala 0.1
29. Dingo 3.3
30. Black-capped Capuchin 1.1
31. Common Marmoset 1.1
32. Black-handed Spider Monkey 3.1
33. Cotton-top Tamarin 2.0
34. Elk 2.0
35. Fallow Deer 4.9
36. Blackbuck 3.5.1
37. Water Buffalo 2.0
38. Barbary Sheep 3.1
39. Himalayan Tahr 2.0
40. Arabian Camel 1.1
41. Red-bellied Pademelon
42. Southern Brown Bandicoot
43. Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby
* = Species off display

In the next couple of weeks, 2 White-fronted Capuchins will be picked up from Perth Zoo and in the next few months they'll acquire Meerkats from Werribee and Adelaide, a female Cotton-top Tamarin from Perth and a male from Melbourne, Pygmy Marmosets imported from Peru, a Zebra from Werribee and a Preswalski's Horse from Monarto (although complications have arisen in regards to it's transfer).

Also, new exhibits will be completed for Black-handed Spider-monkey, Koalas and a Reptile House will be built.

I cannot speak highly enough of Hall's Gap Zoo and for those who haven't visited recently, you must put it on the list.

:)
 
sounds great lou.

the native collection seems quite impressive and in the exotic department obviously primates and ungulates seem to be their thing.
 
Just looking on their new website and found some interesting news.
New animals since february include:-
-Green Iguana
-Golden Pheasant
-Red-necked Wallaby
-Tasmanian Devil (from Healesville)
-Eastern Quolls
-Przewalski’s Horses
-Spotted-tailed Quoll
-Red-tailed Phascogales
-Wapiti
-Ostrich
-Western Grey Kangaroos
-Meerkats
-Bison
-Barbary Sheep
and coming soon are red pandas and tree kangaroos.
 
I was actually looking at going there tomorrow. :)

Not sure if I still am now, as I'm hosting an afternoon tea in the afternoon - might be cutting it a bit fine. Might have to wait until next week or the one after instaid.

The Green Iguana is "Shrek" who was at Australia Zoo while I was working there.

They're also getting 2 male Tahr from Taronga to add to their herd apparently - until they're needed later in the year at Taronga for breeding.

They must be getting the Red Panda's very shortly, as they're also asking for people who have Bamboo plants to join a list if they will allow them from time to time to come steal some of their plants, as theirs aren't fully grown as yet.

I must say though, I think the new website looks AWESOME! Definitely an improvement!
 
Am going to make my maiden visit to Halls Gap on Monday morning. What news and reviews are we after?
 
CGSwans said:
Am going to make my maiden visit to Halls Gap on Monday morning. What news and reviews are we after?
Click to expand...

I do like photos that show most of the enclosure and seeing as I haven't been I'd like to see some of these. :)
 
UrMumzAGoat said:
The usual, rants/long reviews and details on the animal exhibits ;)
Click to expand...

I'm not really the type to do the minute-detail reviews, so I'm afraid you'll be disappointed in that respect. I was more asking if there were specific questions people had if I happened to talk to someone.
 
Every time I see the title of this thread I think "Who in their right mind would build a zoo there?"

And then I remember - it's Hall's Gap, not Hall's Creek!

:p

Hix
 
Hix said:
Every time I see the title of this thread I think "Who in their right mind would build a zoo there?"

And then I remember - it's Hall's Gap, not Hall's Creek
Click to expand...

the golf course is nearly as big as the town itself!
 
CGSwans said:
Am going to make my maiden visit to Halls Gap on Monday morning. What news and reviews are we after?
Click to expand...

Could you try and find out about the pygmy marmosets they're supposed to be importing and find out how the reptile house construction is going?

And please take plenty of pics.

Thanks in advance.

:)
 
A few random observations/comments on a fantastic three and a bit hour visit to Halls Gap earlier today:
- First, Lou - apparently the pygmy marmoset importation is still going ahead. They appear to have an enclosure near the entrance set aside for another group of callitrichids, presumably them.
- Greg, Yvonne and the staff there are all wonderful hosts. I had good chats with both the owners and keepers about the animals and visions for the zoo. Someone must have dobbed me in that I was on the way as I was greeted with a "Mr CGSwans" from one of the team. :p
- My girlfriend and I, being regular visitors of Werribee and Melbourne Zoos, really enjoyed the more hands-on approach that is taken with many of the animals at Halls Gap. Having a small herd of free-range deer throughout the property turns a "filler species" into a highlight. And yes, I should have known better, but one of the does successfully grabbed a bag of feed out of my pocket. Oops.
- The range of native species for a small, growing zoo is phenomenal. They have as many species of native mammals as Healesville Sanctuary, if not more. Highlights were the best quoll exhibit I've seen, yellow-footed rock wallabies and a very nice little nocturnal house with, amongst others, a golden-phase brushtail possum.
- We went for the $25 meerkat experience which is great value for money. One thing I really liked was that they took our emails to send photos - which were waiting for us when we got home. Many other zoos slug you an extra $5-10 for a print. So the Halls Gap approach is thoughtful and gives great value for money.
- I'm a sucker for bird aviaries and went back to the bank of parrot aviaries for a second look (in no particular order princess, superb, regent and king parrots, crimson and eastern rosellas, rainbow lorikeets, corellas, yellow-tailed black cockatoo, sulphur-crested cockatoos as well as a number of ducks, barbary doves, ring-necked pheasants and (I think) a couple of finches). I'd be tempted to try removing the dividers amongst the aviaries and seeing how the 40-odd birds went in a single large flight aviary, but that's just me.
- The zoo is small, sure, but we very easily spent 3 hours there. Being able to feed and engage with many of the animals does slow you down so you end up spending quite a bit of time at many of the enclosures. It's easy to see the zoo becoming an all-day visit within a few years.
- Old enclosures from before the Culells' time are all in need of replacement or at least refurbishment over time, but there are probably only three or four left. The spider monkey enclosure is next cab off the rank. There's a galah aviary that I'd probably turn into a planted aviary for finches and softbills - it's in need of a little work but would serve well, perhaps with a focus on Grampians species.

We enjoyed ourselves enough to upgrade from a day ticket to a membership, despite living 250km away. We'll definitely be back - Halls Gap is growing pretty rapidly as a zoo, and I'm looking forward to watching it grow.
 
CGSwans said:
A few random observations/comments on a fantastic three and a bit hour visit to Halls Gap earlier today:
- First, Lou - apparently the pygmy marmoset importation is still going ahead. They appear to have an enclosure near the entrance set aside for another group of callitrichids, presumably them.
Click to expand...

Thankyou for the update.

And glad to hear you enjoyed the visit.

:)
 
I had a look at the gallery and there is a pic of a sign of the zoo's future plans, I am just wondering whether people think that they will be able to accquire the planned animals which include orangutans, gorillas, african wild dogs, zebras and several others??

I personally hope they get at least half of these species it certainly looks like a great future zoo
 
There's no plans for gorillas. Probably the last species on the list they will acquire will be the orangs (they aim to re-house one of the hybrid groups when those spaces at breeding zoos are required for pure Sumatrans).

I see no reason to suppose that any of their ASMP target species are unobtainable in due course. Personally I'd love to see tigers, snow leopards and sun bears added to the plans.
 
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