Go to Whipsnade! Though even there they aren't as numerous as they should be.
ZSL London Zoo London Zoo discussion thread
- Thread starter Fallax
- Start date
Go to Whipsnade! Though even there they aren't as numerous as they should be.
Suggestion - could there be two forum threads one this one London Zoo News 2023 to focus on News/ current holdings /visits made in the current year and a second London Zoo Discussion, History , Speculation.
All the points made here are valid but I do feel that it is currently a difficult thread to follow.
All the points made here are valid but I do feel that it is currently a difficult thread to follow.
I agree. I think there should be a second thread split off, specifically about the direction of the zoo. This is a discussion worth having on the forum, just not here. Sorry if I caused this.
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Tetradactyla
Active Member
In July 2013 several big news outlets (including The Guardian and The Daily Mail) ran a story which criticised the late night openings, which included references to an incident in which a visitor allegedly “poured beer over a tiger”.
(I was skeptical of this at the time: I remember a group of us trying to figure out how a visitor to Tiger Territory - which had opened a few months before - could get close enough to interact with a tiger without jumping the stand-away barrier.)
There were other, frankly more believable incidents reported, such as a man drunkenly stripping off with the intention of jumping into the penguin pool, but it was the “poured beer over a tiger” story which really seemed to stick. “Zoo Lates” was changed to a family-friendly “Sunset Safaris” event in 2015, and the rebranded over-18s “Zoo Nights” were proposed a few years after that. The press promptly reported that the “adults-only parties” at the zoo were returning, and the “poured beer over a tiger” story got another outing!
EDIT: Just saw the calls for this discussion to be split in order to make the news thread easier to follow, my apologies for contributing to that with my response - just wanted to answer Cat-Man’s question, I’ll stop being rowdy now!
Quite cheap and easily-findable on Amazon - and very much to be recommended.
Reptile House
Well-Known Member
Just going back on space utilisation. London Zoo has a large public car park, which could be used instead as more exhibit space for animals. ZSL being an environmental charity, it just doesn't seem progressive that it should be encouraging people to drive!! Especially as it is served reasonable well by public transport. I can understand other zoos such as Whipsinade having car parking that is not served well be public transport, but London Zoo is.
McKenna and chums had a great deal of influence in Fleet Street at the time, and papers across the political spectrum ran a series of anti-zoo campaigns. Those campaigns are the reason why there are now no cetaceans in British zoos, why Polar Bears disppeared from British zoos for a couple of decades (Edinburgh excepted), and part of the reason why London Zoo nearly went bust.
It is a bit of a joke London Zoo has a car park, although given the land is leased from the city I assume the car park is earmarked for, well, parking, and it may be difficult to develop. That being said. Khan is pretty anti-car atm (rightly, imo) so might be as good time as ever to try.
I believe the carpark was subject to compulsory purchase for use by HS2 construction vehicles, but nothing seems to be happening there at the moment.
Given the state of British Polar Bear and Dolphin enclosures at the time, it is difficult to bring myself to feel frustrated by this..
Yeah... I've got to express the same sentiment. The anti-zoo movement has mostly died out in the UK - partly because those things in the 90's made us get our sh*t together.
I wouldn't go that far, certainly not as strong as it used to be but the focus nowadays seems to have shifted, mostly to elephants.
The main car park (rather than the smaller one by the entrance) is regularly used by the Royal Parks and police throughout the year, sometimes taking up to 50%+ of the space. I don't see them giving that up plus its not connected to the Zoo in any way which would allow visitor flow. The better options would be to look at repurposing the space taken by the ZSL office buildings but there are other plans for them.
Exactly. Fleet street were cynical, I doubt they cared that much about welfare as much as they did about scandal, but I won't mourn the loss of Clacton Pier Dolphinarium, or the Polar Bear pit at Bristol.
Would I like to see more Polar Bears in British zoos? Yes. Would I like to see a Dolphin lagoon like the one in Harderwijk? Absolutely! But if the deal was those old places had to go, but those animals would never be seen in our institutions again I would have taken it everyday of the week, and twice on a Sunday.
Of course the organisations are - sadly - still going strong, but the movement seems to enjoy less public support than it used to. The public have moved on, for the most part.
I have a deep mistrust of institutions that keep cetaceans - something I got from my mother (long story). Their being gone from the UK is something I am not sad about.
Okay but I WAS asking if you thought another collection was better. I don't disagree about how good the collection was, more wondering what the best collection is / will be now.
They seem finally to be onto this with the new tortoise house and rapidly developing reptile house.
Look at the plans and put them into historical context then; it is wrong to be dismissive of them in that way. I agree the current exhibit is a joke. Interestingly, until quite recently it was a modern addition which was the real safety concern. I don't know if that has changed recently. I have said before that I think it would make an amazing African water hole; zebra, ostrich and one calm species of antelope; would need minimal levelling off now and animal housing could be surface built.
Yes, at the end.