New park

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Bruce burdon

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I’m thinking about building a new wildlife park in northern Victoria. Australia somewhere near Shepparton or dookie what are peoples thoughts.
 
Bruce burdon said:
I’m thinking about building a new wildlife park in northern Victoria. Australia somewhere near Shepparton or dookie what are peoples thoughts.
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If it’s not a rude question, how serious are your intentions? Do you have the capital to make this a reality and the knowledge/experience needed to run such a facility? Is ZAA accreditation the eventual goal?

The Zoos of Australia thread lists 34 facilities in Victoria (many of which are decent sized zoos or wildlife parks), so there’s a fair bit of regional competition.

Shepparton has a population of around 70,000. Would you consider that sufficient to support your business? And if not, what points of difference would your park have to encourage people from inner Melbourne to make the 4.5 hour round trip? i.e. what would they be able to see at your zoo that they couldn’t already see at Melbourne Zoo, Healesville Sanctuary etc.?
 
Bruce burdon said:
Yes I do have the funds and I was a zookeeper for many years. I’m very interested establishing natural enclosures to enhance the publics experances
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Bruce burdon said:
And ZAA accretion is my aim yes
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That’s great to hear. I wish you every success - as I’m sure does everyone on the site.

If resources allow, I’d urge you to consider an emphasis on exotics. Facilities specialising in native species are abundant and one of the closest facilities to you (Kyabram, which has the backing of Zoos Victoria) primarily houses natives and low key exotics e.g. meerkats.

Sydney Zoo is an example of a facility that established itself in a short space of time with several species of megafauna. They had the financial backing to undertake this versus the more traditional route of stating small with natives/low key exotics and building up a collection over several decades.
 
CGSwans said:
The Shepparton region already has that zoo in the form of Kyabram Fauna Park, which is government-supported. How do you propose to compete in a small regional market?
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Supplement a point of difference from Kyabram to start. They have a mainly native collection, so going the route of exotics would make sense especially as they’re more appealing to most members of the public. For example, most people in Shepparton won’t be able to make it down to Melbourne or Werribee to see a Giraffe, but if they were provided an opportunity to see one close by, I’m sure they would take it.
 
Bruce burdon said:
I didn’t think I had to compete all zoos should compliment each other
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All people won’t visit all zoos, so if you want to be successful you have to identify what it is about your facility that will make people visit. As myself and @Jambo have mentioned, you need to have points of difference - offer people something your competitors don’t.

To complement the other facilities is to provide something that is needed or lacking. Shepparton lacks exotic megafauna, so whatever large exotic are within your means is the obvious starting point. ZAA accreditation will be required for the majority of these; but some species like lions can be held without ZAA accreditation.
 
Bruce burdon said:
I didn’t think I had to compete all zoos should compliment each other
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In spirit, yes, but as an economic reality you will require the limited local pool of visitors to overwhelmingly choose your zoo over Kyabram - which has an established and growing collection and the economies of scale and access to capital for further expansion/improvement that comes with being part of Zoos Victoria (not to mention subsidised entry for children, which is a formidable marketing advantage).

You are proposing to enter a capital-intensive, high fixed costs business. You need a rational answer for how you will make it work.
 
I remember being taken to a very small park in the Dookie area, about thirty or more years ago. It was built along the side of the road, maybe in an old railway station reserve? Anyway the highlight from my point of view were the green peafowl. I purchased a fridge magnet, There was nobody else there and I could not see where a clientele would come from. Had not heard of it before being taken there, and have not heard of it since.
 
MRJ said:
I remember being taken to a very small park in the Dookie area, about thirty or more years ago. It was built along the side of the road, maybe in an old railway station reserve? Anyway the highlight from my point of view were the green peafowl. I purchased a fridge magnet, There was nobody else there and I could not see where a clientele would come from. Had not heard of it before being taken there, and have not heard of it since.
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Coincidentally, I was about to ask Bruce Burdon if he had been associated with that park. It is not every day that someone expresses interest in Dookie!

From memory the park was quite rustic, mainly featured birds, a few native mammals and reptiles. The highlight for me was probably a small Freshwater Crocodile - which was later advertised for sale.
 
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As stated, lions are a good choice if you can manage to get you hands on excess, likely males. I would also recommend building up with small exotics first. Something like a capybara is an amazing choice, shouldn’t be overly difficult to upkeep, the only holder in Victoria and an extremely popular and charismatic species. Something like a caracal could also be another great one due to internet popularity, and would complement the lions sensationally, also with little expenses. Smaller primates are also ideal species to begin with
 
PaddyRickMFZ said:
As stated, lions are a good choice if you can manage to get you hands on excess, likely males. I would also recommend building up with small exotics first. Something like a capybara is an amazing choice, shouldn’t be overly difficult to upkeep, the only holder in Victoria and an extremely popular and charismatic species. Something like a caracal could also be another great one due to internet popularity, and would complement the lions sensationally, also with little expenses. Smaller primates are also ideal species to begin with
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Thanks for your helpful advice paddy. I will certainly take that on board
 
Bruce burdon said:
I didn’t know about the park her in dookie but I certainly am going to research it now. I have not been here long
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Just to be clear not in Dookie, and maybe quite a distance from it. I was being driven around so no idea where I was, all I remember is that it seemed to be surrounded by wheatfields.
 
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