It is perfectly okay to discuss zoo owners on ZooChat, as many famous directors have been mentioned here countless times. Everything that is said online is public information, but sticking to the facts works like a charm and here are some that are easy to find with a few searches. Here are my thoughts, and if you are going to disagree then please be civil and thus we'll have a wonderful exchange of ideas.
John Aspinall was at one time a chronic gambler, and he dabbled in all sorts of illegal betting at a variety of venues. He was uneducated and never received a degree, let alone one remotely associated with zoology. However, due to his vast gambling fortune he was able to own a large number of exotic animals. He was a man who wanted to overthrow the British Parliament, and at the same time he loved animals and used his fortune to create two zoos. His love of wildlife allowed him to have the money to build wire, wood and metal cages that are constructed primarily for the animals and not for human visitors, and he also ran for a political position in the late 1990's where he failed to achieve victory. With his extreme right-wing beliefs and the occasional rolling around with exotic animals, Aspinall was a controversial and somewhat eccentric figure. Animals will breed in any enclosures, regardless of whether they are adequate or not, and due to the massive number of animals that Aspinall purchased he was able to eventually breed an enormous amount of endangered creatures.
Contrary to what many people on ZooChat might think, I actually have some fondness for Aspinall. There are countless other zoo owners all over the world who keep their animals in terrible enclosures. There are also innumerable millionaires who squander their money on objects that are not as vitally important or memorable as zoos.
Aspinall truly loved animals, and his eccentric and quaint demeanour added to the aura that he helped create within the zoo industry. I also love Gerald Durrell and his amazing ethos of conservation, and I have probably read all of his books. What tainted his legacy, unfortunately, is that he was of an era where he would raid the wild for his animals. Oh, how times have changed.
My major complaint on the Howletts threads, and this applies to hundreds of zoos that I've commented on in the ZooChat gallery, are the standards for the enclosures. Conservation, preservation and education are three pillars of the zoo world that really need to be explored further, and spacious, naturalistic exhibits are the wave of the future. In the last 30 years many major zoos have either demolished or renovated old concrete bear pits, furnished enclosures with natural substrate, and torn down bars and metal posts in favour of open-air islands, moats, or glass windows. If one argues that Howletts was never intended to be a major zoological institution like many other public ventures then fair enough, and the cages can remain there while every other great zoo on the planet (except for maybe Chessington) can explore their own natural urges.
The gorillas at Howletts, with their children's slides, soccer balls, metal bars and other hamster toys would have the exact same amount of enrichment and the exact same breeding record if all 50 of them were transported into modern, spacious, naturalistic, well-designed exhibits. The only reason why people on this site get all excited when comments like that are made is because there are so many Brits here that are passionate about the lovely Aspinall parks. There are many of you in Europe that every once in a while privately message me, and so you know that I'm a reasonable man who consistently hammers home the fact that I believe that zoos should really be working towards naturalistic habitats for their animals. It's not just coming from me, as take a look around at all of the best zoos in just about every single nation on every single continent. Green, lush, enrichment-packed, realistic animal enclosures have been popping up every week for decades. I have personally visited zoos where I couldn't spot a metal bar or rusty cage on the entire park grounds, and practically every day on ZooChat I read about some zoo that has decided to tear down another outdated exhibit or renovate some archaic cement pit. Hurray!
It is a fact that from a study done at the Melbourne Zoo before and after their excellent gorilla habitat opened (first study was 1988), that visitors had radically different thoughts on gorillas. In the original concrete pit people chose negative words such as "vicious, ugly, boring, stupid", and then 2 years later "after the gorillas had been relocated to a large, new naturalistic exhibition habitat that replicated the African rain forest, visitors had completely opposite responses, selecting adjectives such as fascinating, peaceful, fantastic and powerful". (Hancocks, "A Different Nature", pages 144-45). Sure enough all of the world's best zoos are building naturalistic environments for their animals. This has nothing to do with any vague notion of ethnocentrism, as in my beloved Canada there are only 2 major zoos and for the world's second largest country that is rather sad.
Habitat destruction is the # 1 biggest killer of wildlife, and by replicating wild areas in captivity it has been proven that money can be raised to fund in-situ projects. The Bronx Zoo's $10 million raised in just 10 years from Congo Gorilla Forest proves that point.
John Aspinall was at one time a chronic gambler, and he dabbled in all sorts of illegal betting at a variety of venues. He was uneducated and never received a degree, let alone one remotely associated with zoology. However, due to his vast gambling fortune he was able to own a large number of exotic animals. He was a man who wanted to overthrow the British Parliament, and at the same time he loved animals and used his fortune to create two zoos. His love of wildlife allowed him to have the money to build wire, wood and metal cages that are constructed primarily for the animals and not for human visitors, and he also ran for a political position in the late 1990's where he failed to achieve victory. With his extreme right-wing beliefs and the occasional rolling around with exotic animals, Aspinall was a controversial and somewhat eccentric figure. Animals will breed in any enclosures, regardless of whether they are adequate or not, and due to the massive number of animals that Aspinall purchased he was able to eventually breed an enormous amount of endangered creatures.
Contrary to what many people on ZooChat might think, I actually have some fondness for Aspinall. There are countless other zoo owners all over the world who keep their animals in terrible enclosures. There are also innumerable millionaires who squander their money on objects that are not as vitally important or memorable as zoos.
Aspinall truly loved animals, and his eccentric and quaint demeanour added to the aura that he helped create within the zoo industry. I also love Gerald Durrell and his amazing ethos of conservation, and I have probably read all of his books. What tainted his legacy, unfortunately, is that he was of an era where he would raid the wild for his animals. Oh, how times have changed.My major complaint on the Howletts threads, and this applies to hundreds of zoos that I've commented on in the ZooChat gallery, are the standards for the enclosures. Conservation, preservation and education are three pillars of the zoo world that really need to be explored further, and spacious, naturalistic exhibits are the wave of the future. In the last 30 years many major zoos have either demolished or renovated old concrete bear pits, furnished enclosures with natural substrate, and torn down bars and metal posts in favour of open-air islands, moats, or glass windows. If one argues that Howletts was never intended to be a major zoological institution like many other public ventures then fair enough, and the cages can remain there while every other great zoo on the planet (except for maybe Chessington) can explore their own natural urges.
The gorillas at Howletts, with their children's slides, soccer balls, metal bars and other hamster toys would have the exact same amount of enrichment and the exact same breeding record if all 50 of them were transported into modern, spacious, naturalistic, well-designed exhibits. The only reason why people on this site get all excited when comments like that are made is because there are so many Brits here that are passionate about the lovely Aspinall parks. There are many of you in Europe that every once in a while privately message me, and so you know that I'm a reasonable man who consistently hammers home the fact that I believe that zoos should really be working towards naturalistic habitats for their animals. It's not just coming from me, as take a look around at all of the best zoos in just about every single nation on every single continent. Green, lush, enrichment-packed, realistic animal enclosures have been popping up every week for decades. I have personally visited zoos where I couldn't spot a metal bar or rusty cage on the entire park grounds, and practically every day on ZooChat I read about some zoo that has decided to tear down another outdated exhibit or renovate some archaic cement pit. Hurray!
It is a fact that from a study done at the Melbourne Zoo before and after their excellent gorilla habitat opened (first study was 1988), that visitors had radically different thoughts on gorillas. In the original concrete pit people chose negative words such as "vicious, ugly, boring, stupid", and then 2 years later "after the gorillas had been relocated to a large, new naturalistic exhibition habitat that replicated the African rain forest, visitors had completely opposite responses, selecting adjectives such as fascinating, peaceful, fantastic and powerful". (Hancocks, "A Different Nature", pages 144-45). Sure enough all of the world's best zoos are building naturalistic environments for their animals. This has nothing to do with any vague notion of ethnocentrism, as in my beloved Canada there are only 2 major zoos and for the world's second largest country that is rather sad.
Habitat destruction is the # 1 biggest killer of wildlife, and by replicating wild areas in captivity it has been proven that money can be raised to fund in-situ projects. The Bronx Zoo's $10 million raised in just 10 years from Congo Gorilla Forest proves that point.
actually its not just British people who are passionate about the Aspinall parks i love the parks and i am Mexican 
