Melbourne Zoo Melbournes eles heading for Werribee?

Sounds good...but then what would become of Melbourne's elephant exhibit?

Older females, bachelors, or maybe even Indian Rhinos???
 
Hmmm, spend $15 million on an Asian elephant exhibit and then ship them all out within a few years! Interesting statement, but with the possibility of a new gorilla/chimpanzee complex at Werribee that open range zoo could be the place to visit in another 5 years or so. The habitats that are currently there (especially the lion and hippo enclosures) are all top-notch, but the number of animals is only a few hundred.
 
okapikpr said:
Sounds good...but then what would become of Melbourne's elephant exhibit?

Snowleopard, my exact thought when l saw this on the news this morning.

What animals are suited to this exhibit. A big concern would be the steep terrain in allot of the enclosure.

If they could place some barriers between the coloums could bears go in here? Indian Rhinos would be great.

The more l think about this the less likely l see it happening.

My money would be on it not happening. How many directors ect will go through between now and when the funds are available for a elephant enclosure at werribee.

Just cant see why the statement was released????:confused:
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That's interesting, as the latest info I heard was that the plan was to keep big-ticket items (I would think ele's fit into this catagory) at Melbourne Zoo. There is a plan on the table to move the bachelor group of gorillas (currently off display in the crappy old orang pits) out to Werrribee, which I think is a fantastic idea.
 
Apart from any other consideration, isn't Werribee's focus supposed to be African animals? How do Asian elephants fit in?
 
just a side-note.
every few years zoos victoria seems to get a new CEO. and every few years zoos victoria seems to revise its mission.
whilst this seem to be very progressive motivations, i think these varying philosophies over the years have led Zoos Victoria up and down so many different garden paths its not funny, leaving them vulnerable to everything from hostile takeovers to staring down the barrel of a $15 million white elephant to the attacks from welfare groups over animal welfare and over-commericialisation of conservation.
these three zoos are great institutions, but smack bang in the centre and to the sides of australia's second biggest city and arguably most innovative they could be a little better.
animal people are great for zoos. they truly are; the work john kelly pioneered at taronga in the 1990s turned this institution into the 21st century conservation centre we see today. on the other hand, the appointment of business savvy guy cooper in 1998 raised eyebrows and ire, but he has turned the zoos around financially....
i guess it reflects the balancing act that zoos balance on in western society. zoos victoria probably needs to find out 'who it is' and stick to it for a while.
 
This is pandering to the politically correct "city zoos should only keep small animals" school of thought.

If they move their elephants out to Werribee, they may as well shut down the whole Melbourne zoo and move EVERYTHING out to Werribee.

ON THE OTHER HAND; Adelaide zoo has "dispensed" with elephants (giraffes too? I'm not sure) and it's going OK.

(Guess I'll sit on the fence with this one.)
 
The sight of a free-roaming elephant would be awesome to see, though like mentioned in the artcile would probably upset many, many visitors! The Trail of the elephant I personally think is a great enclosure. But wouldn't it be a little dangerous.....

I mean yeah perhaps the 4 females out on safari trail will be fine, but Bong Su would probably have to be kep off-display for most of the time??? :confused:

Unless a new exhibit is designed. Like the hippos....
 
Thanks for the link, but in the clip it says that most likely that some elephants will stay at Melbourne, a secondary herd in Werribee... it is much more of a pleasing plan to the public, being Melbourne and Werribee are going to gather much more crowds..

It was a bit frightening before for me I thought we were was going to lose all 5 at once!
 
dragon(ele)nerd said:
Thanks for the link, but in the clip it says that most likely that some elephants will stay at Melbourne, a secondary herd in Werribee... it is much more of a pleasing plan to the public, being Melbourne and Werribee are going to gather much more crowds..

It was a bit frightening before for me I thought we were was going to lose all 5 at once!
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Actually it was not what was said in the clip, but what was said by others, that is that maybe Melbourne Zoo is not a suitable site for a zoo, that Melbourne can't afford three zoos, and that the real estate is too valuable.

Or at least that is how it was reported to me by a friend. So admittedly this is all second hand, but interesting people are talking that way.
 
As it was said some time ago on the forum if the herd at Melbourne zoo gets to a size where they have to split the herd into two groups then I feel that it would not be a good move for them, The herd would of been much better going to Werribee zoo from the start, not just because they could of had much more room for a growing herd but more importantly all the family members of each generation could be kept togeather such as they do in a wild herd and in time just take out any males when they reach the right age to leave the herd, I feel Emmen zoo is an outstanding case in doing this.
 
Yeah but there was a time that the herd got too big for Emmen and so 4 elephants were sent to Colonge, but yeah every female calf ( there has only been 4) is planning to stay there long term, spliting up the group when they have made close-knit bonds is like child authroties taking away kids from Parents......
 
dragon(ele)nerd said:
Yeah but there was a time that the herd got too big for Emmen and so 4 elephants were sent to Colonge, but yeah every female calf ( there has only been 4) is planning to stay there long term, spliting up the group when they have made close-knit bonds is like child authroties taking away kids from Parents......
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From what I understand Emmen are making their elephant exhibit much bigger to hold the growing herd, most city zoos are going to have some space problems with holding an expanding herd where as open range type zoos could cope better with the extra numbers
 
MARK said:
From what I understand Emmen are making their elephant exhibit much bigger to hold the growing herd, most city zoos are going to have some space problems with holding an expanding herd where as open range type zoos could cope better with the extra numbers
Click to expand...

Yep expansion plans to open round 2012.
 
technically melbourne zoo could breed every one of its fertile cows and still accomodate all offsrping plus the current animals, if instead of spending money on a satelite herd at weribee it instead invested that money into further expanding TOTE into the giraffe yards (and moving them to WORZ-giraffes arent as smart as elephants but with weribee only half an hour from the city zoos victoria really could establish a decent herd of this species, which is normal for them and 99% of the public could still access them).
just a few things to bear in mind. melbourne zoo's elephant herd is unlikely to grow by three animals long-term; it is highly unlikely that even if three cows bred that three female calves would be produced.
also, whilst i agree Dave Hancocks is truly visionary when it comes to zoos i think...

1-sometimes his opinions are a little too perfect world. in an economic landscape of government cost rationalisation, zoos are obligated to meet commercial objectives. even though zoo operations around Australia are subsidised by the state in most cases they are still obligated to pay their own way.

2-in Australia, there are very few exotic animal species legally able to be imported. we all complain about the lack of exotic species on display; a situation which is going to get worse in the next few decades. im all for exhibits of okapi and sumatran rhino, aye aye and prevosts squirrel, victoria crowned pigeons and chilean flamingo but the reality is that if city zoos were to lose asian elephants in australia they would be left with big cats and primates to display really

3-Dave Hancocks often pulls the Bronx Zoo, London Zoo and Detroit Zoo and Alaska Zoo examples out of the bag; the reality is that the simplicity of this argument might suit the zoos bad for elephants, wild good for elephants viewpoint BUT we all know that a myriad of other factors came into play including climate, heritage restrictions, and finances which influenced these zoo's decisions to rid themselves of elephants.

he always fail to mention that 60 american zoos are actually building new exhibits for elephants. adelaide zoo in the 1990s sent its elephant to monarto where she died shortly after...with one geriatric elephant left, not much space, no choice of obtaining elephants from elsewhere and no government funding.....well it becomes obvious why it has no elephants. clearly, it has less to do with virtuous animals welfare considerations and more to do with having no elephants, space or money to buy them.

i do not subscribe to the theory that every zoo needs an elephant. but i think in australia it should be viewed on a zoo by zoo basis. secondly, whilst i think every single animal is fascinating, at least one or two blockbuster species should be maintained to attract people in the first place.
in the 1990s melbourne zoo copped considerable flak for its lack of giraffe, rhino, hippo and off-display elephants. when TOTE opened in 2003, MZ experienced record-breaking crowds.
clearly, the expectations of zoo visitors have not changed that much since then or else the zoos wouldnt be spending tens of millions of dollars on keeping elephants. and without people-paying customers-then MZ would either have to surrender a lot of its conservation work or become yet another institution reliant on the public purse, which would clearly hamper its ability to progress and evolve into the sort of institution dave hancocks is actually arguing for.
 
Goodday glyn,

Seems like fair comment to me. I would not favour relocating the elephants as a media prank from the new director, not on the grounds you just described to us as well as the fact it would be burning an investment.

I am not sure ... - not having been able to visit Melbourne Zoo - what to make of the urban zoo. Werribee has an Australia precinct, a main Africa zone and some Asian plains zone. If I were Zoos Victoria I would built on that and try to augment the African theme with larger groups of the animals they have (giraffe, wild dogs, cheetah, rhinos) and try to bring in some African forest species (e.g. bongo .. with a considerable import .. I will continue to dream) and a gorilla or chimp group! Try and source a second Indian rhino facility and build out the Asian terai-grassland theme there.

The urban Melbourne Zoo should focus more on the Asian tropical region (Sumatran tigers, silvery gibbons, Francois langur, ASC otters, Malayan tapirs - overcoming the eye-exhibit issue) with the elephant breeding herd an obvious drawcard, a more robust native species area and some African and S.American tropical areas. It would suit the foresty feel of the place ... would it not?

Would do you think?

Jelle
 
Glyn, you bring very valid points up and I like your plan to move some of the Giraffes to Werribee than the elephants and the exhibit could be expanded there. Plus the Giraffes would be much better suited than elephants in Werribee, just Hypothesising.
 
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