Hoo Farm Hoo Farm zoo news

Brum said:
I'll hopefully be visiting here soon (possibly along with WILD and the Exotic Zoo) and wondered if anyone had any tips on seeing the Arctic foxes, genets, zorillas and civets? And is there anything in particular that I'm missing that's quite special? Same goes for the other two collections as well. Thanks in advance. :)
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Arctic Fox- Only one individual left when I visited in June, should be mixed with the 'Silver' foxes
Genets- Have been active on all of my visits, so shouldn't be too hard to spot
Zorilla- They are fed towards the end of the day so it is worth asking a keeper to what time they are likely to be fed, but I have seen one in the nest box also
Civets- Should have no trouble spotting them, as they have viewing in both the indoors and outdoors
 
The tentrecs are (well were when we last visited) in the indoor barn type area which is on the left as you walk in. Brushtail posum is also in this area. Like @MagpieGoose we've never had an issue seeing the genets, civets or virginia opossum being active - and the Zorilla were very active in late afternoon.
 
After visiting today I can honestly say this place is a joy to visit, staff are friendly, enclosures are large and well furnished, and the species held are great... :)

And in answer to @Pertinax (as yet unasked) question, we saw three blackbuck, 1.2. ;)
 
Brum said:
After visiting today I can honestly say this place is a joy to visit, staff are friendly, enclosures are large and well furnished, and the species held are great... :)

And in answer to @Pertinax (as yet unasked) question, we saw three blackbuck, 1.2. ;)
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Thankyou...:)
 
Brum said:
After visiting today I can honestly say this place is a joy to visit, staff are friendly, enclosures are large and well furnished, and the species held are great... :)
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Virginia opossum died last year, but has been replaced by brush-tailed possum.

I have to say, I didn't think most of the enclosures were very large at all. Most aviaries are smallish, and most carnivores are held in closed-top wood and wire exhibits. What is pretty standard for binturong feels fairly cramped for serval...
(and the zorilla cage is really very small indeed)
 
FunkyGibbon said:
Virginia opossum died last year, but has been replaced by brush-tailed possum.

I have to say, I didn't think most of the enclosures were very large at all. Most aviaries are smallish, and most carnivores are held in closed-top wood and wire exhibits. What is pretty standard for binturong feels fairly cramped for serval...
(and the zorilla cage is really very small indeed)
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I'd agree that the "one size fits all" approach doesn't work for the servals, or the caracals either, but where they work then they work well. I had bigger objections to certain animals sleeping quarters being predominantly on-show, possibly fishing cats and binturongs maybe?
The zorilla cage reminded me of a ferrret cage, replete with plastic pipes and sawdust on the floor. I haven't seen a zorilla in person as yet, so don't feel comfortable commenting on the size but aesthetically speaking...

Any ideas where the wolves will be going when they go on-show at all?
 
Brum said:
I'd agree that the "one size fits all" approach doesn't work for the servals, or the caracals either, but where they work then they work well. I had bigger objections to certain animals sleeping quarters being predominantly on-show, possibly fishing cats and binturongs maybe?
The zorilla cage reminded me of a ferrret cage, replete with plastic pipes and sawdust on the floor. I haven't seen a zorilla in person as yet, so don't feel comfortable commenting on the size but aesthetically speaking...

Any ideas where the wolves will be going when they go on-show at all?
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They are up by the wallabies, the exhibit looks finished but the path is still closed.

Oh, and jungle cat and bobcat are supposed to be arriving.
 
FunkyGibbon said:
They are up by the wallabies, the exhibit looks finished but the path is still closed.
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That was closed when I was there due to the deer rutting, be interesting to see the hybrid to compare to the ones at Gentleshaw.
FunkyGibbon said:
Oh, and jungle cat and bobcat are supposed to be arriving.
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And you skip that to tell us about a dead Virginia opossum... Sheesh!
 
Chlidonias said:
I'm imagining a local Pet Emporium selling Jungle Cats, Bobcats, Zorillas, and Virginia Opossums. That's a thing in the UK right?
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Not far off :P there's a particular private keeper who Hoo Farm have purchased a LOT of their past and present stock from, and they happen to be one of the only UK private collections with those two cat species.
 
I picked up the newest leaflet for Hoo Farm earlier and it mentions that Jungle Cat are also now at the collection besides the Bobcat and Wolves. I must say I am glad to see that this collection has recently added a few larger carnivores to its collection. :)
 
littleRedPanda said:
Nice visit today, with a few arrivals since my previous visit, but mentioned above

2 Bobcats next to Caracals
2 Jungle cats (1 melanistic) corner of lemur walkthrough, by capybabra
1 Grey wolf + 1 wolfdog
1 Leopard cat in the little yard bit to the right as you are walking in.
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Thanks for the update - did you see all of the new cats?
 
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