Rockhampton Zoo Rockhampton Zoo expansion plans

C

CGSwans

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
Whilst perusing some Census and Plan pages (because naturally that's what you do at 2.15am on a public holiday), I stumbled upon a rather startling discovery: the tiny municipal zoo in Rockhampton's Botanics Gardens, best known for its two middle-aged bachelor chimps, is planning a rather significant expansion.

Not only have they stated a desire to expand their chimp group from two to twelve, but there are now apparently intentions to acquire lion-tailed macaques (despite this not being a program species), common marmosets, black-capped capuchins, small-clawed otters, Brazilian agoutis and perhaps most remarkably, Sumatran tigers and pygmy hippos!

That's just the exotic headline grabbers. Native mammal species listed for acquisition are squirrel gliders, red kangaroos, northern bettongs, northern quolls, short-beaked echidnas and platypus.

They have listings for 15 new bird species, 20 new reptile species and 11 new amphibian species. Oh, and the timetable for all this to happen is by 2014. They intend to get the tigers in 2012.

So did someone hack Rockhampton's ZAA database account, or is something big on the cards in central Queensland?
 
The Lion-tails are already there having replaced the solo Hamadryas that was swapped out into a more appropriate social setting.

Rocky Zoo is owned by the local council and has had similar grand plans in past years.

However, councillors come and councillors go [as does zoo management as a result] and few of the grand plans have ever seen the light of day.

It is to be hoped that at least some of these plans actually do eventuate.
 
Steve Robinson said:
The Lion-tails are already there having replaced the solo Hamadryas that was swapped out into a more appropriate social setting.

Rocky Zoo is owned by the local council and has had similar grand plans in past years.

However, councillors come and councillors go [as does zoo management as a result] and few of the grand plans have ever seen the light of day.

It is to be hoped that at least some of these plans actually do eventuate.
Click to expand...

I thought council politics might have had something to do with it. The next round of council elections is in March 2012 (which is very awkward for the Queensland Electoral Commission, by the way, as a state election is also due around that time).

I wonder if the (very) ambitious schedule has something to do with zoo management wanting to make hay whilst the sun shines.
 
I think it's great that so many regional zoos are becoming bigger and better or have plans to do so. When I was a little kid you really just had the big 4 capital city zoos and then some wildlife parks of varying size and quality. Now we have great new or improved zoos in all the major regional centres like Australia Zoo, Mogo, Symbio, Darling Downs, Hunter Valley etc etc. It's a great thing for travellers and a great thing for regional breeding populations, especially for threatened species. Good to see some good things come from the massive increase in population in this country in recent years (i.e. it has made these sorts of regional enterprises viable).
 
I wasn't sure if I should start a new thread for this, but decided to just attach it onto this one:
Cassowary chick born at Rockhampton zoo - Yahoo!7
10 Feb 2012

The Rockhampton Zoo in central Queensland is celebrating the hatching of a baby cassowary.

The council says the zoo's breeding pair of cassowaries produced three eggs, but two failed to hatch.

The unhatched eggs will be sent to Cairns in the state's far north for analysis by a group of cassowary experts.

Rockhampton Councillor Cherie Rutherford says both the adults and the baby cassowary are adapting well to their new habitat.

Councillor Rutherford says there are only 1,800 cassowaries left in north Queensland.

She says the chick will eventually be moved to another zoo to join a breeding program.
Click to expand...
 
So Mogo doesn't have chimps anymore. Well, that was a success, wasn't it?

I note they are now listing an intention to acquire three male gorillas, and I'm guessing that's why they've given up on the chimps. I wonder how Orana feels about that? Not hard to figure out which three Mogo thinks they can get.
 
CGSwans said:
So Mogo doesn't have chimps anymore. Well, that was a success, wasn't it?

I note they are now listing an intention to acquire three male gorillas, and I'm guessing that's why they've given up on the chimps. I wonder how Orana feels about that? Not hard to figure out which three Mogo thinks they can get.
Click to expand...

I thought that they still had the father of I think it is Samantha?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top