Everyonelovesatapir
Active Member
Does anywhere else have Echidna's or Kiwi's in the UK or is it just Paignton?
Paignton Zoo Paignton Zoo 2022
- Thread starter Gigit
- Start date
Hamerton has echidna too; however kiwi is only at Paignton.
And Hemsley has echidna too afaik
Wonderful photograph.Bruce is not easy to see outside these days. He is quite old now and not as active as he used to be. You might be lucky at feeding time on a warm sunny day. I took this photo the last time I saw him.
Gigit
Well-Known Member
Speaking as a visitor, all I saw that was different was that the barriers preventing access to the Echidna outdoor enclosure had been removed and the zebras were all out together.
The new residents were in but haven’t yet plucked up the courage to leave their house. I thought I saw two Dwarf Mongoose?
It appeared all Egrets have now left the collection (from public view anyway), leaving all but one aviaries empty opposite the cassowaries.
The Mandrill makeover has created a new smaller outside area for infants, new animals or quarantine.
I saw at least two Black Macaques in the veterinary holding cages - still not integrated into the group.
The Hamerkop have been moved out of the Ibis flight and in with the Night Heron, next to the Screamers in ABC.
No shows (again) for Kangaroos/wallabies, M Wolf, Lion, Macaws & Echidna.
Great viewing of Red Panda, Spider Monkeys and Zebra.
The new paths are taking shape but there very few people working on it today - Easter hols will be crazy!
Attachments
Update from the zoo. Still keeping everything close to their chest, but communication nonetheless.
Paignton Zoo’s Preparing To Unveil New Look For Easter • Paignton Zoo
Paignton Zoo’s Preparing To Unveil New Look For Easter • Paignton Zoo
Paignton decided to no longer will keep elephants in the future. The last elephant - African elephant Duchess - died 2019 :
Paignton Zoo 'will no longer be home to elephants'
Paignton Zoo 'will no longer be home to elephants'
I have sent the following reply to this rubbish
I regret that parts of this article are incorrect. As a member of the Trust that runs Paignton Zoo, I welcome the decision not to hold elephants again: elephant husbandry has developed a great deal since Paignton's elephant and giraffe house was built. However I am also a member of the societies that run Chester, London and Whipsnade zoos and the Indian elephant herds at Chester and Whipsnade have been breeding successfully for many years. Whipsnade and Blackpool have built new elephant houses in the past few years and I believe that Blackpool hope to breed their elephants soon. I challenge the assertion in the article above "Last year – when there were 51 elephants in 11 zoos across the UK – it was reported that keeping elephants in zoos or safari parks would be phased out. Importation of new elephants would be prohibited and the existing population would be allowed to die out naturally." Who reported this to whom? Banning the importation of elephants would require legislation, but the government will not even ban the importation of hunting trophies at the moment. Even if they did, breeding will continue, so the population will not die out.
Indeed husbandry is continuing to improve. In February, Chester Zoo and the University of Surrey announced the development of a vaccine to protect Indian elephants from the Herpes virus, which is very dangerous to young calves when they are weaned off their mothers' milk. If this is successful, I am pleased to say that we should be able to see more elephants in the best British zoos in a few years time.
Indeed husbandry is continuing to improve. In February, Chester Zoo and the University of Surrey announced the development of a vaccine to protect Indian elephants from the Herpes virus, which is very dangerous to young calves when they are weaned off their mothers' milk. If this is successful, I am pleased to say that we should be able to see more elephants in the best British zoos in a few years time.
With some luck, we may have an ongoing population of Asian Elephants. If Aspinall has his way, we won’t have Africans
Aspinall won't. I have a gut feeling that many see him as a pompous, supercilious a$$hole, and they act accordingly.
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Unfortunately I disagree. It will happen, but maybe not in the way he may want or the timeframe he desires. As discussed on a dedicated thread, they’re essentially his property so he can do as he wants (within reason). And let’s not forget, the one thing he’s very good at is playing to the media! That’s also a rather diplomatic character assassination of him btw!
…Best to get back to Paignton news before this thread spirals out of control I think!
News pages are reporting on the choice to no longer house elephants and most of the comments are well meaning but essentially ignorant members of the general public who are demanding “the remaining elephants be set free in Africa” … you can tell who didn’t bother to read the articles
Not sure why they have released this now. After all, they said at the time when Duchess died that she would be their last elephant. What has changed since then...nothing afaik. Just for the publicity perhaps?
It was part of an FAQ they posted a few days ago - just one among a whole list of questions, but this one seems to have been caught attention.
You are right Pertinax.
Maybe the PZ management have included this about the Elephants as it’s a common question visitors ask? Perhaps, guests ask in the first place because they see a big empty barn and huge empty paddock that is sandwiched between other empty paddocks!
From Maguari's post above It seems its more that the press have simply picked this up from Paignton's FAQ's and its not the zoo making a statement about it themselves now.