OT: Wildlife Parks/Conservation centers

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gallenwolf

Well-Known Member
Hello everyone,
Sorry for the OT question, zoochat is dedicated more to Zoos, but do any of the visitors here also visit wildlife parks? Are there forums related to wildlife parks and stuff?
I have only visited the the zoo in Regent's park because I can walk to it :) Most of the other Zoos are just too far for me to travel by public transport, yet the wildlife parks and conservation places are located relatively near railway stations and I can get to them by taxi. (For example, the British Wildlife Center, Eagle Heights, Shepreth etc)

Cheers!

Alvin
 
Zoos, wildlife parks and conservation centres are often the same thing. These forums are not devoted to zoos but to the zoo community, all zoos, wildlife parks and consevrtaion centres have the same goals, have to abide by the same standards of care and all exhibit animals for display of the general public.

deifnition of zoo (taken from a quick google search): facility where wild animals are housed for exhibition

therefore wildlife parks and conservation centres are all zoos. For exmaple Whipsnade was originally called Whipsande park zoo But did change to Whipsnade wild animal park and then back to zoo in 2007.

The difference between wildlife park, wild animal park and conservation centres is minimal at best. They are same thing!
 
Welcome on board! :)

gallenwolf said:
(For example, the British Wildlife Center, Eagle Heights, Shepreth etc)
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These three are all zoos in my book - they don't say 'zoo' over the door but they are collections of animals on display to the public so well within the remit of this site! Can't comment on those three in detail as I've visited none of them I'm afraid, but Shepreth in particular is a proper little zoo with bigs cats and suchlike.

I can definitely recommend the smaller places around Britain - there's some real gems. Have you visited Battersea Park Children's Zoo? Don't be put off by the 'Children's' bit - it's areally quite ncie little place with various small animals.
 
Hi all!
Foz - that's good to know :) However there doesn't seem to be much discussion about the wildlife parks/conservation centers on this boards, I have been wondering why.

Maguari - thanks for the welcome :) I am particularly fond of the BWC, it is very nicely laid out and they have most of the british critters there. Red squirrels are so cute. It's also a great place for photography, which is my hobby :) They run photo days, and I will be going on their next one.

I've wandered by the Battersea Children Zoo, and yes to be honest I was turned off by the Children in the name, and also that parents look at me funny when I tote my gear around ;-) I think I will pay it a visit this weekend though :)

Would anyone have a list of wildlife parks and conservation parks in and around london? So far I've visited the following places for "wildlife" photography:

London Zoo
Shepreth Wildlife Park
Paradise Wildlife Park
British Wildlife Center
Wildwood Trust
Eagle Heights Wildlife Park
UK Wolf Trust
English School Of Falconry/Bird Of Prey Center
Wildilfe Heritage Foundation
Santago Rare Leopards Project (closing)

Not really zoos but there's lots of critters:
Camley Street Natural Park
Richmond Park
Bushy Park
Grenwich Park

Alvin
 
gallenwolf said:
However there doesn't seem to be much discussion about the wildlife parks/conservation centers on this boards, I have been wondering why.
Click to expand...

I think it's a combination of there simply being more to discuss about the big zoos, the fact that more Zoochatters will have visited the big places than any given small place, and people's particular interests. A lot of people have a favourite zoo or group of animals - in particular there's a lot of ape fans on here and smaller places tend not to have great apes!
 
One of my favourite collections is one that would regard itself as a Wildlife Conservation Park, the New Forest Otter, Owl and Wildlife Park. It's about twenty minutes drive from me, and as the name suggests the emphasis is on otters and owls, more particuarly the former. They have three species, European, Short-Clawed and Canadian, and they recentley quarantined a giant otter for their sister park the Chestnut Centre; I have been told they hope to keep a family group of these in the near future. There are about 15 species of owl there, a walk-through butterfly house (as the site was originally the New Forest Butterfly Farm when it opened) and various species of British Wildlife Past and Present: Four Deer Species (Red, Fallow, Sika and Muntjac), Harvest Mice, Ferrets, Hedgehogs, Badgers, Red Foxes, Polecats, American Mink, Pine Martens, Scottish Wildcats, Bennett's Wallabies, European Lynx and Wild Boar.
The park also contains a wildlife rescue network, which will take in most wildlife handed in but specialises in orphaned otter cubs, and there are two sets of pens where these are rehabilitated before being released back into the wild.
 
Hello mates,
Maguari: That makes sense. I'm personally more of a canine person ;-)

Hey Marwell Dalek, that sounds good. I'll probably make a trip down in about 3 weeks time. From my estimates, it'll probably take me about 2 hours to get there, I'll just grin and bear it :)

Cheers all!

Alvin
 
gallenwolf said:
Hello mates,
Maguari: That makes sense. I'm personally more of a canine person ;-)
Click to expand...

I'm not much of a one for the apes either - ungulates, small carnivores and generally anything odd is more me!
 
Hi gallenwolf, welcome to the forum. The London Wetland Centre in Barnes is pretty easy to get to, you can just get a bus from Hammersmith station or walk from Barnes rail station. It's better than the royal parks for wildlife, and they've got a good collection of birds from around the world.
 
Good morning Nayer!
Thanks for the welcome. The London Wetland Centre sounds exciting and easy to get to - just next to richmond park! Another place to visit. Thanks!

Alvin
 
And if you get down to the New Forest to visit the Otter, Owl and Wildlife Park, I'd also reccomend the New Forest Reptile Centre. It's a small place with an education centre, picnic area and woodland walk, but the reptiles themselves are in netted pods, and they contain nearly every species of Reptile and Amphibian native to the UK. You'll need to visit on a warm, sunny day to get the best results though as the reptile pens are outdoors.
 
Just googled the place, it's pretty close by to the otter park! Thanks. I'll have to plan this trip to these two places carefully. May need a stayover in southhampton.

Cheers!

Alvin
 
Generally we aim to discuss any form of captive wildlife facility here on ZooChat, whether that be a zoo, wildlife park, conservation park and such. Although there have been a few exceptions, I wouldn't typically expect there to be much discussion about general wildlife reserves or national parks where the animals truely are wild and are not really captive.

I am actually planning on starting a sister website for ZooChat to discuss national parks and wildlife reserves (non-captive facilities). Haven't decided on a name yet.
 
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