West Midland Safari and Leisure Park News 2012
- Thread starter Chali
- Start date
johnstoni.
Well-Known Member
It seems odd that they have let go of both elephant bulls. I wonder if it is a licensing issue, especially since the elephant bull escaped at Woburn. WMSP has very minimal electric (flat) fencing for the outdoor paddocks around the elephant house.
beckiv1234
Active Member
If they are planning an arrival then, all WMSP have said is 'Keep an eye here for announcements on new animals'. That was from Facebook- now aside from that does anybody know how many orange Bengal tigers there are at the Park? Last I heard they had 1.1 anybody know what happened to the rest?
mazfc
Well-Known Member
I got the impression that the fb post was a polite way of saying we will tell you stuff when we are ready, rather than that an arrival was imminent
I wish someone knew about the elephants, that one with the runny eyes didn't look good, she looked really underweight, although maybe I don't know what I'm talking about because I'm not very used to seeing African elephants.
karoocheetah
Well-Known Member
It does seem to be hard to get info on the elephants - last time I was there was about 12 months ago maximum and I have lots of photos of the Elephants and they all appear healthy and content - I say appear as I have no idea what's going on with them health wise that might not be obvious visibly, like every other visitor - but elephants are one of the animals that when they look physically underweight and 'droopy' (for want of a better word) then you're bound to feel that they might be unwell - large and round is an elephant shape
so if you say that one of them appears underweight then it must be stand out obvious. I feel that this could end up a bit like the Twycross info thread - zoos share info as they please you know that as well as I and maybe WMSP have a no share policy - I've always found the keepers very very helpful when you can find one to talk to - they are usually really busy and hard to get at especially on the safari drive but it's worth getting one to stop to talk to. To finish my ramble - maybe we should compare images and you can know for sure if one of the ellies is very different from a previous image? not sure how scientific that is but it could help?
Can't believe I didn't actually take a photo 
However if you show me yours I'll say if she looks different.
However if you show me yours I'll say if she looks different.
karoocheetah
Well-Known Member
Can't believe I didn't actually take a photo
hokeydokey - you show me yours and I'll show you mine
They are on my hard drive at home - I'm out availing myself of Starbucks free WiFi at the moment - bear with me!
johnstoni.
Well-Known Member
...I wasn't suggesting they are planning any new elephant arrivals, unless I've missed something that has been raised elsewhere on this forum I don't think there is any reason to believe they are planning on bringing in any new elephants. You might be thinking of Knowsley, which has had a recent change in this respect.
I understood why they sent away the first bull, as both bulls were reaching maturity, however the departure of the second bull suggests to me that their facility is in fact not able to manage an adult bull. It is possible that, raised essentially as cull orphans, the bull was inept at mating or showed no desire to, however this is a fairly similar situation to other collections which have got round this using AI, so I wouldn't think this alone a sufficient reason to export the bull, especially becuase the recipient collection would be aware he is unlikely to behave any differently with their cows.
It makes me wonder what their plans were when they aquired the four elephant calves in the 90s. Like I said before, issues at Woburn may have precipitated a rethink on low-impact electric fencing of elephant enclosures where adult bulls are present.
karoocheetah
Well-Known Member
what happened at Wobun then - since I'm heading there soon and would like to avoid being pancaked!!
Jordan-Jaguar97
Well-Known Member
Jordan-Jaguar97
Well-Known Member
Quick question: Do WMSP have Anoa? If so, where did they come from and how old are they?
Just a quick look on Zootierliste indicates that 0.1 arrived from Leipzig in 2008 and 1.0 arrived in 2009.
Jordan-Jaguar97
Well-Known Member
Thanks, seems Leipzig are good at breeding them.
zoogiraffe
Well-Known Member
Visited yesterday and noticed a few changes from my last visit well over 2 years ago,Persian Fallow Deer have taken the place of the Addax by the Hunting Dogs,and the Addax are now in what used to be the Wallaby and Emu reserve.The Persian fallow Deer share their reserve with the Barbary Sheep.The Wolves have left the collection,and have been replaced by Dhole which were getting used to very top part of the reserve for the first time yesterday,the park hopes to be able to give them use of the whole reserve in time for Easter.The new African Village which includes the Lemur walk through enclosure has got one of the most impressive Meerkat complexs I have seen,the new Penguin Cove is on the site of the old on-show holding area for the sealions that were not used for the shows,all in all its not a bad looking exhibit for a small group.Saw the Indian Rhino complex for the first time have to say I'm not sure about the front of the House but the complex looks very good if you forget about the front of the building.Also yet another Cape Buffalo has been born.Cannot think of any other changes worth mentioning on here
Jordan-Jaguar97
Well-Known Member
Good to hear about the Cape buffalo birth.
1. Where did the Dhole come from?
2. Did the Persian Fallow deer come from Edinburgh?
zoogiraffe
Well-Known Member
Both excellent questions of which I cannot answer either as the staff couldn't remember or didn't know,the only thing I can say is the Dholes didn't come from a UK collection.