Highland Wildlife Park Hwp 2009

The Himalayan tahr are shown as being in the main reserve just as you pass the wolves,i never saw anything in this area when i drove round in the car but from the hilltop view point in the walk round section i saw animals in the fenced off area as you enter the main reserve past the takin.They were too far away for me to see clearly but its possible it could have been the himalayan tahr and the afghan urials.

Auchingarrich Wildlife Centre is the only place i could think the elk had gone too Kiang,i see from their website they are under new management so maybe they have grand plans for the place.
 
There is a rumour that edinburgh zoo might be getting giant pandas. If this is so do we know if any animals are going to be transfered to HWP to make room for the arrivals of pandas I heard the polar bear is on its way up..is this true?
 
Yes Edinburgh zoo have been in talks to get giant pandas but as far as im aware the animals that are going up to the HWP are going anyway whether the pandas come or not.

The bactrian camels are moving up to the HWP sometime in May and Mercedes the polar bear will hopefully be up there around July.They are trying at present to raise money to build an enclosure for the Amur leopards so they can move up there too but i have no idea when that might be happening.
 
solari27 said:
Auchingarrich Wildlife Centre is the only place i could think the elk had gone too Kiang,i see from their website they are under new management so maybe they have grand plans for the place.
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Seems an odd decision to get rid of the HWP Elk. A great shame too- perhaps they want the space for all these new Himalayan type species they are adding but I think it is regrettable.

Does anyone know how many Elk there are in Scottish private collections, is it 4 or 6( 2 or 4 at the above mentioned place, 2 at Allandale) or are there any more?
 
Having already lost one of the original two, it is possible that another was lost after the two new ones were acquired. I can see how they might want to minimise any further losses if they feel that they are not the most suitable environment for this species.
 
1.3 Bactrian camels have arrived at the park from Edinburgh zoo, they are currently off-show for 6 weeks preparing the reserve for their arrival.
 
To clarify the Mercedes move. U s volunteers have been told that Mercedes will move late summer, there is no fixed date yet but she is being introduced to her transportation crate in the hope that she will walk into it voluntarily and therefore no need for any sedation.
The wolf enclosure is being prepared for the top 3 males leaving the omega male at HWP to be joined by one or two females.
When I was at HWP last September the wolf enclosure was split into two parts. The smaller part had no den and was used for seperating individuals off when required to be given vet treatment. The Omega male was the only one who would willingly go into it as the others, particularly the alpha male was wise to this and even with bribary would send the omega male in. Also, if introducing new wolves it's better to introduce to a lower ranking individual than the alpha.
This smaller part of the enclosure is to be developed to become he wolf enclosure whilst, with help from the army, the larger part of the enclosure is to be extended and developed into Mercedes new enclosure with the intention of becoming a more permanent polar bear enclosure in the future. At 4 acres Mercedes is going to have a bit of a palace!
It seems that the RZSS intention is in the future the animals will have way better enclosures than absolutely necessary to encourage truly natural behaviour.
 
When was the troupe set up? Seems like they should have had more births as macaques seem to breed like rabbits.
 
A European elk has been born to the female Lisa, but the elk are not on show at the moment.
Sasha the female Amur tiger is pregnant and due around June time.
The new wolf enclosure is in the stage of being enlarged to accomodate the new pair of European wolf.
The main reserve is currently being treated for ragwort, and therefore some of the animals have been moved around to facilitate this project, therefore the park is reducing the entrance fee by £2.00 as a form of compensation to visitors who may not see all species.
 
Wow ... thats great that Sasha is pregnant.... i always assumed that she was either too old to breed again or that her gene were well represented and therefore it was not encouraged... thats great news tho.... makes a trip up there in July sometimes looking more and more exciting
 
They planned to breed her so she isn't well represented. Both her parents were wild caught too.
 
Their breeding was suspended for a while as their genetic material was well represented within the conservation breeding programme.

They have previously reared two litters of triplets at Edinburgh zoo in 2000 and 2003.
 
Amur tiger cubs have been born at the park, number not known yet, the house and path leading to the house have been sealed off, the cubs should be on show from about mid June.
 
According to ISIS there are 1.1.1 European elk at HWP including 1 birth . Can anyone confirm if this is correct ?
 
i found this picture on flickr of part of the new European wolf enclosure, obviously a lot smaller than the original, with what looks like an observation area too.

[ame="http://www.flickr.com/photos/caitmiller/3707069332/"]Highland Wildlife Park wolves on Flickr - Photo Sharing![/ame]
 
Whilst it's exciting to Mercedes move to the HWP, I can't help missing the wolves in their old enclosure, they certainly had an impressive influence in it.
 
kiang said:
Great news from the park, visitor numbers are up 113% on this time last year reaching 80'000, as many visitors as the whole of last year.
An overflow car park has been built, along with new toilet facilities, along with a new catering kiosk to be installed in time for the arrival of Mercedes from Edinburgh.
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I saw this for myself when I visited at the end of last month - it was far busier than at the same time last year. This is very good news, but the extra facilities are certainly needed and if this trend continues there will need to be consideration of upgrading paths and walkways and improving (possibly re-routing) the roadways in the drive-through sections. More visitors will also expect more to see, so it would be nice if they could sort the aviaries out.

Alan
 
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