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Marwell Wildlife Marwell Zoo News 2014
- Thread starter mhale
- Start date
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Chester has been through a not-dissimilar phase - from 1997 to 2001 the number of mammal species held fell from 77 to 57 (about 25%), largely because the Small Mammal and Cat Houses were closed and not really replaced. I did not enjoy this time!
Luckily it turned around and by the early 2010s it was back up into the 80s (though not all on show, of course!).
BongoHardwood
Well-Known Member
I have found access very erratic. Try a bit later or tomorrow and you may get them!
Quite; it is entirely possible that Marwell is going through a similar period of cutting dead wood away and re-organisation. Considering a lot of the species that have left Marwell were elderly animals dying off and not being replaced, this is certainly not out of the question.
It does say unavailable initially, but if you go through the planning tab, and try searching "Marwell wildlife" it should come up, there are a few planning submissions on there, (the latest one is to change use of the stable cottage which was keeper accommadation) but below that it is there. It is very basic information.
Ok, it it might be remotely possible, but Marwell has not demolished a multi-species house or two giving it an excuse! Marwell isn't Chester, it is only going in one direction unless someone with a clue takes over!
Go to the link. And click Planning / Applications and digit in Marwell. You will find these and other plannings documents easy.
BTW: agreed Marwell Wildlife is going through a rationalization process. You can only judge that in 5 years time … I welcome the new development, save for the fact I would rather have the scimitars / Arabian oryx in combined exhibit next door so expanding the arid area desert / steppe theme. The rhino and Grevy's might then possibly be run with a third antelope species.
BTW: agreed Marwell Wildlife is going through a rationalization process. You can only judge that in 5 years time … I welcome the new development, save for the fact I would rather have the scimitars / Arabian oryx in combined exhibit next door so expanding the arid area desert / steppe theme. The rhino and Grevy's might then possibly be run with a third antelope species.
IanRRobinson
Well-Known Member
It does seem rather as if Marwell has lost its original rationale, and hasn't gained another. It was established to concentrate on hooved mammals and large cats and by 1984, a mere dozen years after its opening, it had assembled (with a fair bit of collaboration from ZSL) a formidable collection (all the hippotragine antelopes except Beisa, all five Panthera cats, all three species of zebra, Okapi, Maned Wolf. Pygmy Hippo and two species of tapir spring to mind).
Somewhere along the way the decision was taken to diversify. Is it just me or have the diversions never really convinced? The Siamangs went from a facility that wouldn't have flattered Grey Parrots for space to one that seemed to be competing for an award for "biggest ever primate enclosure without climbing structures", a bijou Nocturnal House came and went, and the Tropical House has to my eyes always looked plain ugly. That courtyard, treated sympathetically, could have looked very nice with small primates (maybe even smaller carnivores) or aviaries installed. A second hand greenhouse has always looked out of place.
Meanwhile, species that were part of the original concept (maybe not there in 1972) have been allowed to vanish. No more Lions, ersatz Asiatic or otherwise; no more Jaguars; no more Onager; no more Dama Gazelle. Somehow, you notice their going an awful lot, not least because no eye catching replacements have ever arrived.
I like Marwell. It may never have been "my" zoo, but it's a place where I have spent many happy days, both with my parents and friends. It saddens me to read about charismatic species leaving that would have been cherished once, in favour of some nebulous concept of biomes. ( Can anyone imagine John Knowles phasing out Takin?
)
I really hope that I'm wrong, and that the present management is working to a well worked masterplan. The impression, however, most emphasised by an expensive new café with inadequate indoor seating overlooking a valley with as yet hardly any animals installed, is of a zoo that is rather making it up as it goes along.
Somewhere along the way the decision was taken to diversify. Is it just me or have the diversions never really convinced? The Siamangs went from a facility that wouldn't have flattered Grey Parrots for space to one that seemed to be competing for an award for "biggest ever primate enclosure without climbing structures", a bijou Nocturnal House came and went, and the Tropical House has to my eyes always looked plain ugly. That courtyard, treated sympathetically, could have looked very nice with small primates (maybe even smaller carnivores) or aviaries installed. A second hand greenhouse has always looked out of place.
Meanwhile, species that were part of the original concept (maybe not there in 1972) have been allowed to vanish. No more Lions, ersatz Asiatic or otherwise; no more Jaguars; no more Onager; no more Dama Gazelle. Somehow, you notice their going an awful lot, not least because no eye catching replacements have ever arrived.
I like Marwell. It may never have been "my" zoo, but it's a place where I have spent many happy days, both with my parents and friends. It saddens me to read about charismatic species leaving that would have been cherished once, in favour of some nebulous concept of biomes. ( Can anyone imagine John Knowles phasing out Takin?
) I really hope that I'm wrong, and that the present management is working to a well worked masterplan. The impression, however, most emphasised by an expensive new café with inadequate indoor seating overlooking a valley with as yet hardly any animals installed, is of a zoo that is rather making it up as it goes along.
Fantastic summary, particularly liked the following points:
The last time I visited the weather was as bad as it gets for zoo visiting, heavy rain all day, and accordingly there were not a lot of visitors yet the restaurant still struggled to contain them. The size was ridiculously small, I can't imagine it's anywhere near adequate at peak times.
an expensive new café with inadequate indoor seating overlooking a valley with as yet hardly any animals installed
The last time I visited the weather was as bad as it gets for zoo visiting, heavy rain all day, and accordingly there were not a lot of visitors yet the restaurant still struggled to contain them. The size was ridiculously small, I can't imagine it's anywhere near adequate at peak times.
sooty mangabey
Well-Known Member
I very often don't agree with what Ian posts, but in this case I think the summary of events at Marwell is spot on.
What gets me is that I really do think the people in charge think they're doing a good job, that their empty 'valley' is a great exhibit, that the loss of species is not noticed (or minded) by visitors, that the recent developments are, in some way, exciting or innovative.
The relatively healthy visitor numbers the place still gets may support this satisfaction - but given all of its advantages, the lack of competition, the popularity of zoos, the relative affluence of the local area - then surely 800,000 visitors or more is a realistic goal.
I feel it is a zoo almost wholly without charm, without aesthetic sensibility (it's still essentially a set of farm buildings, and when it's not - siamangs, coatis - it makes you rather wish they'd stuck with the sheds), and without any interest in biodiversity (how else does one explain the incessant focus on red pandas and meerkats?).
Some of the recent developments are simply an embarrassment - viz. "Cold Blooded Corner", a coati cage that is just dreadful for the viewer, a meerkat thing which duplicates exhibits elsewhere (while the zoo's small carnivore collection shrinks to buggery). And to hear they're now moving out of bat-eared fox (despite their inhabiting a relatively-new exhibit), and kudu, and serval, and goodness knows what else....
At least that horrible bat house is going too. Every cloud....
What gets me is that I really do think the people in charge think they're doing a good job, that their empty 'valley' is a great exhibit, that the loss of species is not noticed (or minded) by visitors, that the recent developments are, in some way, exciting or innovative.
The relatively healthy visitor numbers the place still gets may support this satisfaction - but given all of its advantages, the lack of competition, the popularity of zoos, the relative affluence of the local area - then surely 800,000 visitors or more is a realistic goal.
I feel it is a zoo almost wholly without charm, without aesthetic sensibility (it's still essentially a set of farm buildings, and when it's not - siamangs, coatis - it makes you rather wish they'd stuck with the sheds), and without any interest in biodiversity (how else does one explain the incessant focus on red pandas and meerkats?).
Some of the recent developments are simply an embarrassment - viz. "Cold Blooded Corner", a coati cage that is just dreadful for the viewer, a meerkat thing which duplicates exhibits elsewhere (while the zoo's small carnivore collection shrinks to buggery). And to hear they're now moving out of bat-eared fox (despite their inhabiting a relatively-new exhibit), and kudu, and serval, and goodness knows what else....
At least that horrible bat house is going too. Every cloud....
planning permission has been granted for an underwater viewing area for the hippo house as part of the southdowns national park planning concent.
Okapis
Marwell Tarkin will be going soon,should have gone to Sweden 3 months ago but female not well another species to go from zoo.
Marwell Tarkin will be going soon,should have gone to Sweden 3 months ago but female not well another species to go from zoo.
IanRRobinson
Well-Known Member
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No comment from me on the takin! Think i've said enough over the last couple of years! How much longer will so many go on defending this place? Plans? They only appear to have one!
Somehow, a track by the Manic Street Preachers comes to mind...
Manic Street Preachers - Everything Must Go - YouTube
Spot on Ian!
So was John Knowles pushed out or did he jump? Have to agree with the comments made by Ian and Sooty- in a world of increasingly generic zoos I could always trust Marwell to be different. I took the girlfriend there last year for the first time and to say I was shocked by the changes is an understatement! It's as if management thinks that as long as you've got meerkats on show you'll be fine thankyou very much!
Is there a masterplan? As the tree said to the lumberjack, I'm stumped!
Is there a masterplan? As the tree said to the lumberjack, I'm stumped!
sooty mangabey
Well-Known Member
Somehow, a track by the Manic Street Preachers comes to mind...
Manic Street Preachers - Everything Must Go - YouTube
How about "If You Tolerate This, Then Your Snow Leopards Will Be Next"? Or "Your Meerkat Alone Is Not Enough"? Or, without alteration, their excellent earlier track, "Slash and Burn"?
sooty mangabey
Well-Known Member
If you read his autobiography, the suggestion is very much that he was pushed. It must have been hard to have someone who so very much was the place still hanging around, so in a way I sympathise with those who sought a fresh start. But history has shown them to be very, very misguided.
I find the decline of Marwell even more striking than that of Twycross. Even those who loved Twycross would admit that it was in a bit of a state by the end of the Molly Badham era, with crumbling infrastructure and a real lack of organisational direction. It did have cash, but that slipped away thanks to unlucky investment. Marwell, though, was different. When Knowles retired, it was in pretty good health. It didn't need wholesale surgery to save it, just a sympathetic development leading to intelligent progress.
And as for losing takin - good grief! They fitted in with the nearby snow leopards, they are a great zoo animal, they are unusual and interesting. And now they're going!
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