South Lakes Wild Animal Park South Lakes 2011 news

Nisha

Nisha

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
Some news regarding the Giraffes to start off with

Walda the park's last pure Rothschild Giraffe will be moving to Fota this week. Once he has gone they will be left with 2:0 Hybrids (Bo, born 2006 at Belfast and is going to Knowsley in April and Tibor who's new location has yet to be confirmed) as well as 1:1 Peralta who will form the nucleus of a future breeding herd. The other 0:2 Peralta should be arriving in March. I was at South Lakes this weekend and Walda had already been seperated from the others in preperation to leave
 
Im somewhat confused by South Lakes choice to go with Peralta giraffes. Why didnt they retain Walda and bring in female Rothschilds rather than move into a subspecies that is kept mainly in France and thus is a pig to import from.
 
Rothschildi said:
Im somewhat confused by South Lakes choice to go with Peralta giraffes. Why didnt they retain Walda and bring in female Rothschilds rather than move into a subspecies that is kept mainly in France and thus is a pig to import from.
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Your not the only one confused about this move,my only guess is its yet another case of South Lakes doing its own thing regardless of what others think they should do!!
 
Once again comment on Zoo Chat that is uncalled for. regardless of what others think??? what you clearly dont know is that South Lakes has been working with Peralta Giraffes in the wild for the past 6 years as a major project with Bioparc Doue La Fontaine in France. they are core funders ( over £100,000 )for this amazingly sucessful project that started with less than 50 giraffes in West Africa and now has over 250 in this years census. the reason for bringing in West African Giraffes is to highlight the plight of these very different giraffes to the Uk public. It is nothing to do with what others think,,it is a conservation motivated move and one they should be applauded for. Why would you think it is difficult to import from France? it is no more difficult than a UK zoo..if you are Balai registered (South Lakes were the first zoo in the UK approved under Balai). I understand that the huge expansion of south Lakes next year will contain a number of new ideas and all linked to conservation projects in the wild, It seems a zoo that bases all its decisions on what the conservation issues are and what it is linked to in the wild is critisised for being different...well done south Lakes..its great that you are different. and clearly sucessful.. i read recently they are running 67,000 up on visitors and income this year... that says it all. I hear the Rothchilds giraffes have not moved as yet but will during the year.
 
yorik said:
Why would you think it is difficult to import from France? it is no more difficult than a UK zoo..if you are Balai registered (South Lakes were the first zoo in the UK approved under Balai).
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Firstly BALAI doesnt exist in France and in regards to moving hoofstock from France they have a different serotype of BT (1 & 8, vs our now lower risk 8) resulting in stricter import requirements and thus making it more difficult. Whilst it might be a good move for their conservation messages it doesn't seem to particularly tie in with current trends of giraffe keeping within Europe set out by the EEP.
 
I dont have the inside on that detail as they have not released any info to "freinds of the park" about that issue or on FB. All I know is that the plans are in at the council and it is about 3 times the size of the existing park.
 
Rothschildi said:
Firstly BALAI doesnt exist in France and in regards to moving hoofstock from France they have a different serotype of BT (1 & 8, vs our now lower risk 8) resulting in stricter import requirements and thus making it more difficult. Whilst it might be a good move for their conservation messages it doesn't seem to particularly tie in with current trends of giraffe keeping within Europe set out by the EEP.
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Who are you Rothschildi? expert indeed , all you say may be correct..except the issue of Balai in France and the bit about EEP as this is a fully approved EEP move as I have discussed it with there staff. you seem to have missed the point..zoos are not on the earth to follow plans and strategies for captive management..they are an educational tool to ensure and encourage the conservation of the animals in the wild. Zoos that dont have this as their mission should not exist as they become entertainment and will watch as the animals dissapear. So let me reiterate to all the zoo philes on this site... conservation issues should outweigh every other issue in any zoo. Every animal should have a reason for being there and have a educational message to help change the world . South Lakes is a shining light to all other zoos in the way it operates , its missions and its aims and missions. thats why i support it and defend it against uninformed negativisms in the "experts" who probably have never worked in a zoo or ever will. regards
 
Walda has not left yet for some reason,The Tayra are to arrive in 6 weeks and will be offshow in a quarientine station and 0.1 Spectacled Bear to leave soon.
 
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yorik said:
Who are you Rothschildi? expert indeed , all you say may be correct..except the issue of Balai in France and the bit about EEP as this is a fully approved EEP move as I have discussed it with there staff. you seem to have missed the point..zoos are not on the earth to follow plans and strategies for captive management..they are an educational tool to ensure and encourage the conservation of the animals in the wild. Zoos that dont have this as their mission should not exist as they become entertainment and will watch as the animals dissapear. So let me reiterate to all the zoo philes on this site... conservation issues should outweigh every other issue in any zoo. Every animal should have a reason for being there and have a educational message to help change the world . South Lakes is a shining light to all other zoos in the way it operates , its missions and its aims and missions. thats why i support it and defend it against uninformed negativisms in the "experts" who probably have never worked in a zoo or ever will. regards
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Most zoological collections in the UK have conservation at the heart of their operations and South Lakes is by no means alone in having it's aims and missions to conserve rare wildlife.
 
yorik said:
Who are you Rothschildi? expert indeed , all you say may be correct..except the issue of Balai in France and the bit about EEP as this is a fully approved EEP move as I have discussed it with there staff. you seem to have missed the point..zoos are not on the earth to follow plans and strategies for captive management..they are an educational tool to ensure and encourage the conservation of the animals in the wild. Zoos that dont have this as their mission should not exist as they become entertainment and will watch as the animals dissapear. So let me reiterate to all the zoo philes on this site... conservation issues should outweigh every other issue in any zoo. Every animal should have a reason for being there and have a educational message to help change the world . South Lakes is a shining light to all other zoos in the way it operates , its missions and its aims and missions. thats why i support it and defend it against uninformed negativisms in the "experts" who probably have never worked in a zoo or ever will. regards
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Well, many zoos do appear to be "on the earth to follow plans and strategies for captive management" (see Edinburgh, Red River Hogs, for an example). A large percentage of managed populations are managed to maintain a healthy captive gene pool rather than to directly support conservation projects, many of these species are not threatened in the wild.

I do agree with you that it makes sense for South Lakes to exhibit a group of Peralta giraffe given their work in situ, I believe in captive animals as storytellers for their wild counterparts.

I disagree that conservation should take priority over everything else, animals are great educators in their own right, we in the colonial north are not the saviours of the planet, no matter how much our zoological collections might like to portray us as being, in fact the UK zoo community has only really adopted the model of captive flagship species supporting linked in situ projects in the last 20 years, and this was still largely restricted to charitable zoos until recently.

Also, be a bit careful about generalising when you're angry....'Zoophile' didn't seem like a respectful name to call a diverse bunch of people who use this site (including you), many who work or have worked in zoos. I actually agree with much of your praise for South Lakes, but its not above criticism.
 
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yorik said:
.zoos are not on the earth to follow plans and strategies for captive management..they are an educational tool to ensure and encourage the conservation of the animals in the wild.

South Lakes is a shining light to all other zoos in the way it operates , its missions and its aims and missions. thats why i support it and defend it against uninformed negativisms in the "experts" who probably have never worked in a zoo or ever will. regards
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1. Most major Zoos list captive breeding, education and in situ/ex situ Conservation Projects in their Mission statements nowadays. I am sure South Lakes also follow 'plans and strategies' for captive management. They would have to for at least some of the species they keep-those managed by EEP/EAZA breeding programmes- so in that respect they are following a similar format to most other zoos too. And some other zoos place similar emphasis on conservation projects in the wild too- Jersey Zoo/Durrell being the best and original example.

2. I wish we could get over the frequent accusation that people on this site have not/do not work in zoos or have zoo experience, as used every so often in defence of arguments on here. Obviously most of the younger members haven't, but a fair proportion of older ones have- some in fact have experience dating back several decades, or still have longterm connections with zoos in other ways too.
 
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Pertinax said:
like 'our man in Havana'...;)

Any idea where the Spectacled Bear is going?
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Hehe :)

I have no idea where the spectacled bears are going, but it says 'One of the females will be leaving very soon for another zoo to be a breeding female under the guidance of the EEP' - so I guess it's staying in Europe (don't know how often individual animals move out of a continent's studbook and into another, so this is probably obvious even if that wasn't mentioned :D)
 
Javan Rhino said:
Hehe :)

I have no idea where the spectacled bears are going, but it says 'One of the females will be leaving very soon for another zoo to be a breeding female under the guidance of the EEP' -
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It is most likely staying within Europe- transfers outside are rarer- though they do happen of course.

I was wondering if it might be joining Chester's pair, but more likely perhaps is Belfast who have only a single male at present- or it could be going somewhere else entirely in Europe.
 
As of last night (haven't had time to check again today) this was not confirmed but according to the parks Facebook page it appears that the remaining 0:2 Peralta Giraffe (should of originally arrived in January) arrived from France yesterday. They report that something exciting was happening yesterday and also that Walda was also due to depart for Fota on 9th March (appears that he originally didn't leave as he wasn't well enough to travel)
The new females were due in March so it would make sense for them to have come now

EDIT: They are now confirmed to have arrived and their names are Eloise and Gaya. They are from a different collection than the first female
 
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