Noah's Ark Zoo Farm Noah's Ark Zoo Farm

This must currently be Bristol Zoo's main rival, as its very close to the City and has large animals like white rhino and giraffe which you can't see at Bristol(at present) I've only seen adverts and the website. I think its been developed from an existing farm. Someone told me there is a religious aspect(hence the name?)
 
They used to have a lot of stuff about creationism on their website, it seems to have been toned down since I saw that.
 
Hadley said:
They used to have a lot of stuff about creationism on their website, it seems to have been toned down since I saw that.
Click to expand...

Ah, I see what you mean, the education section on their website does contain a lot of stuff about the ark and various forms of creationism and darwinism.

I've found a Flickr gallery for the zoo- doesn't look too bad- certainly better than I expected.
 
I didn't really agree with a zoo importing White rhino from South Africa having never kept them previously, but the conditions for the animals seem okay.
 
They have two, both arrived in 2005 from South Africa. They have a yard area and access to paddocks. I don't know whether they are male or female.
 
I found this the other day about the noah's ark zoo farm

17/08/2007: BBC - Bristol - Made In Bristol - Elephants head for zoo farm

Noah's Ark Zoo Farm has announced plans to introduce elephants, lions, zebras and bears to its collection of animals.

In the next five years, the park in Wraxall also plans a new café, improved facilities for disabled visitors and a conservation building for teaching school children about local nature and global wildlife.

"The elephant enclosure will comprise seven acres of rich grassland, 7000 sq feet of heated housing plus an outdoor sandy area with a water pool," said owner Anthony Bush.

"We're looking to keep four elephants, three females and one male, who will hopefully breed and help the dwindling numbers of elephants in the wild."

The zebras will move in with Gerald the giraffe to create a mixed African-grassland exhibit

The attraction says it expects to employ about 75 full-time staff and welcome 300,000 visitors a year by 2012.

It made the announcement after North Somerset Council asked the park about its plans for expansion over the next five years.
 
If all this goes ahead, it will be direct competition for Bristol's planned environmeal park at the Hollywood Towers Estate. Both are about equi- distant from the City centre and only a few miles apart along the M5...

Longleat could be affected too, though its further away. People who want to see Elephants will have only the one choice(Noah's Ark)
 
They moved to a private collection in France as Longleat wanted to keep them as a breeding group, but did not have the staff or facilities to keep and adult bull. Their enclosure has become the site of the flamingo exhibit.
 
The Longleat eles live at the Beauval Zoo today, where they have an enclosure of 5 hectares. It`s one of the best elephant facilities in Europe.
 
Noah's Ark

Guys,

Is this facility a member of BIAZA?

If not, how can they get planning permission to exhibit wild animals. I thought any UK zoo needs to be licensed (in accordance with EU legislation on zoos and aquaria).

I personally do not think the establishment is in direct competiton with either Bristol Zoo or its planned National Wildlife Conservation Park. The latter 2 are part of a large zoological society with a rich historical tradition. Their commitment to wildlife conservation and captive-breeding is paramount in the many EAZA captive-breeding programmes it participates in.

The National Wildlife Conservation Park will be similar to the Whipsnade Zoo as an extension facility to Bristol's city Zoo. It will benefit the maintaince of the larger vertebrate wild animal species that can not be housed at Bristol. The enclosures will be themed on different continents and habitat types. It will also extend the role of its conservation breeding activities.

It seems that Noah's Ark is a far cry from that and more or less is very much biased towards high interest illiciting species like elephants, bears, lions and zebras. Moreover, it remains to be seen how well run the zoo is from a scientific and conservation breeding perspective. The "toned" creationist philosophy on their site and the keeping of f.i. white rhino - in a 2 individual setting as opposed to a loose herd structure of 3-6 - make me feel somewhat uneasy on that front.
 
I agree with everything you say here about Bristol Zoo. But by the time the new environmental Park opens its gates, Noah's ARk could have obtained many more species. If they can keep their admission prices noticeably lower than Bristol Zoos, then they are certainly likely to attract a good section of visitors away from Bristol's 'countrypark'. Of course, Bristol Zoo = quality exhibits which Noah's Ark almost certainly won't match (hence Bristol Zoo's higher admission).
 
With the number of Rhino, elephant etc in europe right now, it doesn't seem necessary for another UK collection to introduce them, especially with no prior experience. What is clearly a farm diversification scheme can be useful to the UK zoo community, as is the case with Folly Farm in Wales which houses surplus male hoofstock (Arabian Oryx and Bongo etc), but appears to be acquiring stock purely to assemble a collection based on the owners wishes to keep well-known, large animals. As a BIAZA member I can't see how these plans benefit the greater zoo community, unless there are a surplus of young bulls right now, but then Noah's Ark plan to keep 1.3, right?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top