Quest for the Black Lechwe

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MikeG

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
Has anyone visited Aqualeón Safari-and-Waterpark recently? According to Zootierliste, it's the only place in Europe to see Black Lechwe. I suspect, from the park's website, that it's a case of driving past them on a tour-bus and maybe getting a minute's look at them before the vehicle moves on.
Am I right? Is there a way of admiring the Lechwe at one's leisure?
(And just why did a theme park end up holding this rare antelope?)
Advice and information welcomed.
 
The original group og black lechwe was illegally imported to Spain, confiscated and placed (of all places) in Aqualeon. It was many years ago. There were no records kept for that group and there is a threat that the whole group is hybridized with red lechwe. That group was supposed to go on public tender many years ago for sale and EAZA Antelope TAG was even willing to put forward a bid to acquire those animals. This had never happened and even getting samples to check the purity of current group was not possible. Aqualeon is very uncooperative.
 
Thanks for the replies. Sounds like a disaster: the lechwe being placed in a collection that doesn't appear to value them or want to cooperate with others.
 
Zootierliste now [July 2013] shows Black Lechwe at 2 further Spanish collections: Safari Park Aldea del Fresno (near Madrid), and Safari Aitana (Peneguila). Can anyone confirm if these specimens originated from Aqualeón, and how many lechwe are held by the new collections?
 
MikeG said:
Zootierliste now [July 2013] shows Black Lechwe at 2 further Spanish collections: Safari Park Aldea del Fresno (near Madrid), and Safari Aitana (Peneguila). Can anyone confirm if these specimens originated from Aqualeón, and how many lechwe are held by the new collections?
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They did originate from Aqualeon park.

It would be really important to check the purity of these groups now.
 
^^
I totally agree with KB. the specimens in Alicante and Madrid come from Aqualeon
 
Black Lechwe at Safari Park Aldea del Fresno (near Madrid)

Those look like Black Lechwes, at Safari Park Aldea del Fresno (near Madrid).
 

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It seems that there are no longer any ungulates at Aqualeon and on their most recent map & brochure there is no evidence of any animals being kept at the park.
Interestingly, zootierliste now shows Askaniya Nova (Ukraine) as a holder of black lechwe.
 
There were some indications that the ungulates at Aqualon were fed to the carnivores. The question is now if Askaniya got some Lechwe's from Spain or they imported them directly from the wild. Unfortunately I could get no information for either.
 
DDcorvus said:
There were some indications that the ungulates at Aqualon were fed to the carnivores.
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From what's been said so far on this thread I'm unsure why this place was permitted to keep wild animals. I hope the remainder were confiscated from them, and placed in much better hands than the previously confiscated animals which ended up here.
 
devilfish said:
From what's been said so far on this thread I'm unsure why this place was permitted to keep wild animals. I hope the remainder were confiscated from them, and placed in much better hands than the previously confiscated animals which ended up here.
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I think we only have the animals in Madrid and Penguila left. And yes it was a very weird decision to let the animals go to Aqualeon.
 
Carr

The Black lechwe and Red lechwe that were in Aqualeon formerly Rioleon Safari Park were legally captured in 1973 in Zambia by Rolf Rohwer; using an airboat specifically designed and made there for that purpose. The Kafue/ red lechwe were captured on the Kafue flats. The black lechwe on the Bangwelu swamps. The remains of the airboat are still there as it was donated to the Wildlife Department by Rohwer.
Approximately 7 of each species were captured. They passed quarantine in Naples and then were transported to Rioleon Safari Park where they bred well.
Unfortunately for these animals they became the victim of greed. Firstly by a character called Mike Bradford who built Aqualeon it appears he borrowed around US 5million, he didn't pay the providers of the waterpark installations or the bank loan etc raked in a year or so's income and then did a bunk with millions as the story goes. Abandoning the animals and unpaid staff. The Catalan Government (Generalitat) took over the animals but refused to allow the lechwe to leave to their rightful owners. A certain individual in the Generalitat Sr. Maldonado & the new owners of Aqualeon after it went up for auction thought they could make a small fortune out of them. Legitimate animal dealers would not touch them knowing their story and the rightful owners. Many years passed and the animals kept breeding, the Generalitat spent millions looking after the animals, which were available to visit in the safari park part of Aqualeon. It was lamentable how everything deteriorated. Eventually all the animals were put up for public auction. Unfortunately due to diseases prevalent in Spain at that time such as blue tongue etc. Export from Spain was prohibited. These wonderful animals (that are density dependant for breeding) at that time were the only ones ever in captivity. Instead of, as was planned, being spread among Europe's & US Zoos they ended up being trapped almost held hostage in Aqualeon. A truly tragic event for these beautiful animals. They were shipped out of Aqualeon about a year ago does anyone know where they are? The red and black lechwe were always kept separate and would have still been pure bred until 2014.
 
Red Lechwe have an healthy population in Europe with more than 100 animals spread over 15 collections although I am not sure if any of those animals originated from Aqualeon.

The black Lechwe is a lot rarer, but in 2013 10 animals were moved from Aqualeon to Safari Aitani and 8 animals went to Madrid. The animals in Aitani are breeding but I do not know if the herd in Madrid does so.

Askaniya in Ukraine also claims to have black Lechwe but it is not known if those come from Spain.
 
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DDcorvus said:
The black Lechwe is a lot rarer, but in 2013 10 animals were moved from Aqualeon to Safari Aitani and 8 animals went to Madrid. The animals in Aitani are breeding but I do not know if the herd in Madrid does so.
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Well, my personal quest to see the Black Lechwe was finally fulfilled, by a recent visit to Safari Aitana. Yea, my aged & rheumy eyes have beheld the dusky beauty of Kobus (leche) smithemani.
There only seemed to be half-a-dozen specimens on exhibit, so it may be that numbers have actually declined over the last couple of years.
I cannot say that Aitana had anything else much to recommend it as a zoological destination - unless, perhaps, you have a strong urge to lob a melon into a hippo's mouth [under supervision].
It's a crying shame that the Black Lechwe have ended up at a couple of 'for profit' Spanish collections, whilst no EAZA zoos have been able to obtain them...or did other zoos even make a serious effort to get them?
 
I was on the same trip as Mike,in fact I was the driver around said safari park...and actually I disagree that the non-lechwe elements are worthless.For a start,the montane setting is spectacular and the twice-daily guided tour (actually following the feeding rounds) rather uniqu.At how many safari parks do you get out of the car and meet unfettered adult elephants?(actually one of a number of areas where public safety is somewhat compromised in general). If that isnt a worthwhile zoological experience,then said subject matter is truly losing its lustre.Of course there are plenty of parts to this place that would hardly challenge the scientific aspirations of the zoo community,and one or two that are not worthy at all(the dull little zoo for instance),but I have to admit that I enjoyed the whole experience FAR more than I thought I might.And the keeper even went and rounded the distant herd of Black Lechwe up for us to have a closer look - he deserves rather more than short shrift.
 
Giant Eland said:
I'm excited to say I have also conquered my quest for Black Lechwe at Safari Madrid- many photos to come!
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Wonderful! I still haven't gotten to see even the red variety, they were one of the species I was most looking forward to at Dallas Zoo but the monorail was closed due to extreme heat.
 
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