South Lakes Wild Animal Park South Lakes 2011 news

I read this thread with no surprise once again. what a sad bunch of commentators to be pontificating on the actions of South Lakes in giving free entry to visitors again this winter. My goodness do most of you live in a real world? this innovative concept clearly worked for them last year increasing their income at a time of year all UK zoos find it difficult to cover costs. I have just read a comment that says it cost over £1000 per day to fund the zoos running costs and if they can achieve that by letting people in free and then charging for everything once inside that is their right and what right have any of you out their to question this? Are you better businessmen and could do it better? It is also their decision whether they charge for seeing their Rhino or not, it is their rhino and a clear opportunity to make money to pay for the rhinos feed and cleaning costs , they are not there to go bust because some people think they are entitled to everything for nothing. I could go on but the response of some is typical of the real problems with this country we live in , that too many feel the world owes them everything for giving nothing. what you all have not seen or considered is why this is being done. The literature says it is to generate more income via the gift shop and restaurant during the winter months as they are not accessible without entering. They usually lay off 20 staff for the winter from Nov to March and this keep the full staff employed all year round. It goes on to say, "this benefits you the visitor in that you can CHOOSE what to spend your money on or make a donation to our costs of giving you this visit, you keep our staff employed and we can provide a service to our community by allowing visits from people and organisations that otherwise could never afford to visit the park. We all win, you the visitor, we the park and the community , so please give generously and take part in as many activities as possible , enjoy your visit." I think they are once again leading the way in how to get more people into the zoo for education and conservation awareness and at the same time employing more people and yes, charging for many items that are normally free in the summer, but this zoo is a private company and can make innovation and do what it wants and whether some of you miserable lot who complain about helping to feed and heat the animals with charges for the benefit of seeing a baby rhino or donations like it or not, you really do need to get a life ! there is a real world out there that relies on money to go round , sadly !
 
Yorik,
I have to disagree here, I am willing to visit South Lakes as a paying customer or as a free entry customer.

I am not prepared to visit their assuming all is free of charge and then get told it costs 'this or 'this' extra to see different animals.

However I am assuming that this is not even the case and that there is no compulsory charge to see a baby rhino, so the discussion had come to a conclusion here.

When I go in the next two weeks there will be two of us and I will probably make a donation of at least £5 (considering free entry), also we will more than likely at some point have a cup of tea and perhaps a bite to eat their also to help them out over the tough winter times.

However IF there was a compulsory charge to see an exhibit AFTER being told entry is free then I would feel a bit dejected about this and may choose to refuse to pay the fee on principle.

Footnote - You are free to say what you like, but to label so many people you do not know a 'sad bunch' and saying 'do you live in the real world' is not a very mature or educated way of putting your point across in my opinion.
 
Typical.... what right have you to complain about a zoo trying to make ends meet any way it sees fit. Free entry is just that !!! It is free entry to the grounds only, it does not say Free everything else, food in the cafe, free gifts in the shop or free access to every animal..
wake up.
Business is business, if you are happy to give £5 then why do you find it wrong to pay to see an animal, surely this is what you day any other day by paying to get in under those conditions.
I do find this thread to be petty and not understanding of the zoos needs at all. Are you also against them charging for feeding giraffes and penguins and other animals as they do to make up the income , they dont do that in the summer either?
It is the right of any company to charge what it wants for any of its products and good luck to them. why dont you make sure you get to talk to the management there when you visit and make your point to them not to this site which I doubt they would have any idea of.
 
But I am not complaining about a zoo trying to make ends meet any way it sees fit, where have I said that ?

It is clear that you are missing the point here that has been discussed. If you cannot understand the point being discussed by now, then I myself see no point in attempting to explain it further.

As for paying extra when visiting zoos on top of entrance fees, this year I can give you a good example of this and I will make it as clear as I can. Me and my girlfriend went to Africa Alive paid our entrance fee and then discovered that there was an option available to pay extra to go into an exhibit in a jeep with a keeper, have a good chat with the keeper, get really close to some animals and hand feed a giraffe under the keepers supervision. This cost me £30 or £40 extra on top of the entrance fee and I was happy to pay it for the experience. So as you can see, I am not against giving extra at all to any zoo or park when I choose to, and the words 'when I choose to' are the important ones here. I hope you understand more now Yorik.
 
yorik said:
Typical.... what right have you to complain about a zoo trying to make ends meet any way it sees fit. Free entry is just that !!! It is free entry to the grounds only, it does not say Free everything else, food in the cafe, free gifts in the shop or free access to every animal..
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So by that logic, the zoo could allow "free entry" and then charge small amounts to view each animal, not really free entry is it?:p

I applaud South Lakes for trying something different letting people in free and relying on secondary spend (if you look at my posts when it was announced last year I disagreed with some others that, on economic grounds, the concept was necessarily a bad idea).

I also accept that the zoo is free to do what it wants re charging.

The point I, Pootle and others are making is that it would be disingenuous or just plain underhand if the zoo were offering free entry and then charging to see individual animals. It would be like accepting a "free" hair cut only to find there's a fee for cutting off the last bit around your ears (i.e. not free).

Finally, if you're associated with the zoo I can see why the place has continuous run-ins with the authorities. Regardless of right or wrong, your aggressive attitude is hardly conciliatory and unlikely to get your point accross or make others see an issue from your viewpoint
 
A sad bunch of commentators, very well, you are entitled to your opinion just like everyone else, and I can assure you that I have been called worse than that in my time. We don't live in the real world, well perhaps that we take an interest in zoo's finances proves that we do as we realise that any zoo charitable or commercial has to have a lot of money coming in to make it pay. You suggest that we get a life, Animals have been a major part of my life since I was a small kid, including those in zoos and that also includes the South Lakes Zoo which I visit annually and have no qualms about paying the entrance fee whatsoever, we may be just a bunch of sad zoo anoraks but please give us credit for realising that if we are allowed into the zoo free of charge,which incidentally I will not be taking advantage of as I visit in September, we do not expect food in the cafe and cuddly toys from the gift shop (do they by any chance have cuddly baby rhinos) to be free of charge, You can see from one of my previous postings regarding this that I did state that this free entry scheme must be advantageous for the zoo as it is the second year they have done this, and if this allows staff to be employed throughout the year rather than being paid off that can only be a good thing.
 
Visited the park today,and the only thing to note that the place was very busy with people,in the place due to the free admission,and despite it been grey wet and miserable daymbut yet despite of this most people,seemed more than happy to spend money on the food,ice skating for the kids or in the shop.On the animal front the only thing I cannot think of that has not been mentioned on here is that it appears that the Mandrills amd Pygmy Hippo's or no long mixed as the exhibit is now split in half by an electric fence.
 
ZG, re-mandrill/Hippos mix, I was led to believe that was a temporary measure over the winter to keep the hippos from churning up the enclosure in the bad weather. Hopefully it will return to a mixed enclosure in the spring/summer.

Did the hippos have access to their pool on your visit?
 
Waddi said:
ZG, re-mandrill/Hippos mix, I was led to believe that was a temporary measure over the winter to keep the hippos from churning up the enclosure in the bad weather. Hopefully it will return to a mixed enclosure in the spring/summer.

Did the hippos have access to their pool on your visit?
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Well they would have done if they went outside,when we arrived a member of staff was trying to get them outside,so she could clean inside but with little success while we where watching.

As for the electric fence that sounds logical but from memorary the area the Pygmy Hippo's had a far greater outside area to use than the Mandrills had,and also many a temporary split can become permanent,given that from what I can gather this is the longest "successfull" mix of these 2 species,I know the mix at Zoo Halle in Germany certainly didn't go well!!
 
zoogiraffe said:
Well they would have done if they went outside,when we arrived a member of staff was trying to get them outside,so she could clean inside but with little success while we where watching.
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I've just been looking at a few South Lakes photos in the Gallery. I know it is mid-winter when Zoo enclosures always look their worst and allowances should be made for that, but one or two at South Lakes do look rather dire.
 
Pertinax said:
I've just been looking at a few South Lakes photos in the Gallery. I know it is mid-winter when Zoo enclosures always look their worst and allowances should be made for that, but one or two at South Lakes do look rather dire.
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Which ones do you feel look dire? As with most zoos there are exhibits that need work on them to make them better and just wondered which ones you thought were particularly bad.
 
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