South Lakes Wild Animal Park South lakes 2014 news

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It's a mix i've never understood, the foxes seem happy enough but the sloths constantly hide on the heaters which mean they are only seen if you happen to catch a rare moment of activity from them.
 
Shorts said:
So a rainforest species with a desert species? I can't imagine the enclosure environment suits them both equally well (or well at all):eek:.

Where's Yoric when you need a defence of SLWP? I'd love to here this one explained/justified (maybe it's the classic, "temporary measure").
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Looks like it was temporary for the tamarins, maybe the foxes made sure of that!
 
Just seen on their Facebook page that their fist giraffe was born today, her patterns look like she is pure kordofan and her birthday implies that she was conceived last winter, and as soon as any bad weather starts the giraffes stay in their house more or less all the time, which is segregated between the pure heard and the hybrids they took in. so hopefully its good news all around and shes pure and looks happy and healthy on the pictures they uploaded.

However the bad news is Gill's still stubbornly consistent in calling them west African *slaps forehead* ...
 
TheTimidTapir said:
Just seen on their Facebook page that their fist giraffe was born today, her patterns look like she is pure kordofan and her birthday implies that she was conceived last winter, and as soon as any bad weather starts the giraffes stay in their house more or less all the time, which is segregated between the pure heard and the hybrids they took in. so hopefully its good news all around and shes pure and looks happy and healthy on the pictures they uploaded.

However the bad news is Gill's still stubbornly consistent in calling them west African *slaps forehead* ...
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What a surprise there! :rolleyes: Great news regarding the first Kordofan Giraffe calf - I knew that it'd happen two days after I visited! :D
 
Jordan-Jaguar97 said:
What a surprise there! :rolleyes: Great news regarding the first Kordofan Giraffe calf - I knew that it'd happen two days after I visited! :D
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yeah me and Smallestgiraffe went on Thursday hoping to catch the little one before I had to go back down to uni, Eloise was looking ready to pop and her milk bags had dropped but she frustratingly kept her legs crossed, and the day after i came back down to uni is the day she's had it! grrr.

Hopefully we're gonna go back down the end of the first week of march to see the newest addition :)
 
zoogiraffe said:
Yes but if the collection had done what the studbook wanted there would never had been any doubt about the purity of the giraffe births to come at the place!Because if they had they wouldn't have had any hybrid males at the place!

Isn't funny when the first Giraffe was put down a certain Mr Gill posted in support of Copenhagen Zoo and there decision as soon as there was rumours of a second he offers to create a second group to house surplus males!Jumping into get some good will from people just like YWP did the first time round!I use the words rumours because if what I have heard is correct it was the collection trying to force the hand of the studbook to give them a female,which they will not as the housing is not up to standard for a breeding group!
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It's not ideal them sharing a paddock but he has kept them split up when ever they're in the house which is quite a lot of the time. I'm glad he saved the pair even if they are hybrids, cause they are still beautiful and full of personality and would hate to see them destroyed. I think this is one of gills most sensible moves in building a new home for the pure herd and keeping the old house for a small male herd that have no where else to go at the time, before being moved on when possible.

The post I seen on Facebook didn't seem to be supporting Copenhagen as much but explaining the reasons why they've did what they did. He didn't as much say I think its right, just cleared up a lot of confusion and misleading information that was going around, although he did have dig at YWP that was clear.

Whatever he's said before I still think he's now doing whats best for the giraffes in his care by splitting them up, and for the first time I think its a step forward for him, rather than a step back.
 
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Great news about the new baby giraffe, i have everything crossed that the baby is indeed a pure Kordofan and hopefully - by adding dates etc - it looks as if it could be as the hybrids are kept seperate throughout the winter months when they cannot get into the paddock due to bad weather etc.

Gutted that i can't see the baby while it is tiny and new but hopefully will get there in a month or so and eagerly waiting for Katoumi's baby now.

Sure Elouise will prove to be a good mum and i'm glad they have the giraffe house closed today rather than open straight away as they hadn't fully decided what they were going to do when i asked.
 
Frankly it is not so much his persistence at calling them West African that tickles me, it is his claim on Facebook to have been responsible for increasing the wild population of West African giraffe from 60 to 400 in 9 years :p which quite apart from the issue of responsibility is mathematically improbable considering the gestation period of giraffes and the interval between breedings.
 
Baby is female and has been named Belle.

One thing i have hated to see is that Gill's children have been in with the baby already and in one picture it appeared she was in the corner with two children patting at her. Apparently Eloise and Dayo (Mum and Dad) and Belle were calm but Belle looked anything but calm on the photos. I would have thought that the main focus would be keeping the giraffe house peaceful and ensuring that mum and baby have formed a strong bond before allowing children in to play and before bringing public in. The giraffe house gets very busy and pretty hectic especially during feeding time, and it is set to open as usual tomorrow.

Such a special new arrival i'd have expected would have been treated with special care and everything possible done to ensure that the bond is successful and that Eloise settles into being a mum.
 
Apparently the Giraffe will be on show from tomorrow. Not sure that's entirely wise given the amount of people who will want to see it coupled with the fact it's half term....

Will try to head down early next week when the kids are back in school for some pictures!
 
TheTimidTapir said:
I thought I read somewhere that gill took them in as a last resort as Tibor and Bo were looking at being euthanized if they couldn't be re homed? It's not ideal them sharing a paddock but he has kept them split up when ever they're in the house which is quite a lot of the time. I'm glad he saved the pair even if they are hybrids, cause they are still beautiful and full of personality and would hate to see them destroyed. I think this is one of gills most sensible moves in building a new home for the pure herd and keeping the old house for a small male herd that have no where else to go at the time, before being moved on when possible.
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Somebody has been listening to the SLWAP pr department again,just like the Giraffes he claimed to have saved from the floods at Praghe when in fact the animals arrived 2 months before the zoo flooded!!!

I have no problem with any zoo keeping Hybrids as long as they are in a none breeding group,which for along time the ones at SLWAP were not despite what they claimed!
 
TheTimidTapir said:
Just seen on their Facebook page that their fist giraffe was born today, her patterns look like she is pure kordofan and her birthday implies that she was conceived last winter, and as soon as any bad weather starts the giraffes stay in their house more or less all the time, which is segregated between the pure heard and the hybrids they took in. so hopefully its good news all around and shes pure and looks happy and healthy on the pictures they uploaded.

However the bad news is Gill's still stubbornly consistent in calling them west African *slaps forehead* ...
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I wouldn't going jumping up and down that they are pure by the pattern,as Chester used to have a bull Giraffe called Cormac that was the picture postcard of just what a pure Baringo should look like,but he was hybrid but to look at him you would have sworn that he was pure!

That said congratulations to them on their first Giraffe birth!!
 
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The Giraffes arrived in 2000. For many years SLWAP only had males... right up until, I believe, at least four-five years ago. I vividly remember that when we had an annual pass in 2009-2010 the keepers used to shout 'come on boys' to get the herd down to the Arial walkway for feeding times. When the first females arrived the Giraffes were NOT separated. This is a recent development, and again, i have seen all giraffes mixed and free to roam the paddocks certainly during the last couple of years :eek:
 
Hoping to get to the zoo in the next couple of weeks, although i'd hoped to get there before then to see the new arrival.
The giraffe house is busy as it is so opening it in half term with a brand new baby seems a bit silly...
 
zoogiraffe said:
Somebody has been listening to the SLWAP pr department again,just like the Giraffes he claimed to have saved from the floods at Praghe when in fact the animals arrived 2 months before the zoo flooded!!!

I have no problem with any zoo keeping Hybrids as long as they are in a none breeding group,which for along time the ones at SLWAP were not despite what they claimed!
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Haha ahh well I couldn't remember where I'd heard/read it.

well, thats what he's planning to do according to his keepers, so he may have been doing it wrong, but if he's separating them I think that's a good thing.

all we can hope is the offspring being produced wasn't from the hybrids. going off when they're giving birth or expected to, the first two should be pure, the giraffes don't mix during the winter when they will have concieved, but the third one could be more questionable if the weather was drying up at the start of last year.
 
zoogiraffe said:
I would going jumping up and down that they are pure by the pattern,as Chester used to have a bull Giraffe called Cormac that was the picture postcard of just what a pure Baringo should look like,but he was hybrid but to look at him you would have sworn that he was pure!

That said congratulations to them on their first Giraffe birth!!
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I never said the pattern definitely made her pure, just merely stating that it is a promising sign, if she came out looking completely different to her parents it would be a bad sign suggesting she wasn't pure.

Hopefully she'll have a DNA test to prove she's pure kordofan, even though Gill claims she's west African.
 
They are most definitely separated when they are inside which due to Cumbrian weather is for the whole winter usually, which means that it would be a VERY unlucky catching if this new youngster is indeed a hybrid but the DNA testing will reveal all. They are however, all allowed into the paddock together which leaves a question mark definitely over the genetics for Katoumi's youngster when she does in fact give birth. That's purely going off the dates and knowing that they are separated indoors.

I'm afraid we don't listen to the PR department but we do chat to keepers and see what is said from all involved.

In this particular case - which see's the Kordofan's moved to the expansion and the hybrid herd kept completely seperate i do not see the reason for an argument regarding whether or not is a bad decision.

I think with Gill the more people try to tell him what to do the more he rebels and does things "his way", the past shouldn't be forgotten but dwelling on the past is taking away from the fact that keeping a hybrid herd seperate from the Kordofan's is a great thing for future breeding!

Not sure exactly how old the Kordofan's were when they arrived at the zoo but they are currently 4 and 5 years old if that helps with when the females arrived AlfieTheTortois :)
 
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TheTimidTapir said:
I thought I read somewhere that gill took them in as a last resort as Tibor and Bo were looking at being euthanized if they couldn't be re homed? It's not ideal them sharing a paddock but he has kept them split up when ever they're in the house which is quite a lot of the time. I'm glad he saved the pair even if they are hybrids, cause they are still beautiful and full of personality and would hate to see them destroyed.
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Out of curiosity, did you hear that from Gill's Facebook page or similar venue?
 
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