The Good, The Bad and The Ugly!

Dassie

Dassie

Member
Thought I would offer up for opinion The Good, The Bad and The Ugly from some of our collection visits last year.

The first but in no particular order is London Zoo.

Good = Aardvark, great animal to see close, but exhibit nothing compared to Blackpools.

Bad = That poor Okapi looking miserable! Give it to a Safari park with trees and good land to explore.

Ugly = Everything in the reptile house. Flakey walls, sad exhibits etc etc.

I will Post some pictures to back our views up and return to do another collection.

Anyone have an opinion on London zoo's? Good, Bad, or Ugly?
 
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Drayton manor
Good = Meerkat Exhibit, indoor and out, lots of different enrichments.

Bad = Near death Leopard Gecko. No excuse for displaying sick animals in sub-standard exhibits.

Ugly = As above and also Three species of tortoise plus, in one viv when not natural geographical overlap. Not nice to see.

I will post photos.
Opinions please.
 
Dudley Zoo

Good - The Lemur Walk Through 4 Species and nearly always all 4 are out and about, also plenty of climbing to be had and loads of plantation

Ugly - Orangutan out door area this is so out of date (already discussed on other threads)

Bad - The state of the Tecton Buildings around the zoo (Due to lack of funding from English Heritage)
 
Dassie said:
Thought I would offer up for opinion The Good, The Bad and The Ugly from some of our collection visits last year.

The first but in no particular order is London Zoo.

Good = Aardvark, great animal to see close, but exhibit nothing compared to Blackpools.

Bad = That poor Okapi looking miserable! Give it to a Safari park with trees and good land to explore.

Ugly = Everything in the reptile house. Flakey walls, sad exhibits etc etc.

I will Post some pictures to back our views up and return to do another collection.

Anyone have an opinion on London zoo's? Good, Bad, or Ugly?
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London zoo:
Good: the reptile house! (an utterly fantastic collection, a definate competitor as the best in the UK)
Bad: the big cat terraces (just for looking quite shabby)
Ugly: casson pavilion

Newquay zoo:
Good: the unusual species (narrrow striped mongoose, owstons civet, black wildebeast, etc)
Bad: fossa cage
Ugly: the monkey cages
 
Bioparco

Good:reptile house;bear,lion,chimpanzees and lemur exibits.

Bad:the tiger rock.

Ugly:the macaque rock.
 
Colchester- just because it lends itself to this!

Good- diverse collection, mandrill group, detailed 'open' news and press releases, innovative displays and frequent new developments.

Bad- Gelada baboon enclosure. Electronic doors and piped music everywhere.

Ugly. All that Fake Rock!
 
And for Paignton;

Good- interesting collection, pleasant luxuriant valley setting, outdoor Orangutan island.

Bad- Monkey Heights (Heights?:confused:) Raised indoor viewing of Giraffes (stupid design)

Ugly-baboon rock(but works well for the baboons;)) older buildings.
 
Marwell;

Good- Giraffe house, ungulates generally. Many cat and smaller enclosures.

Bad- antelopes that live on hardstandings semi-permanently. Lack of branches/ropes in Siamang cage. Encounter village area.

Ugly- previous old Siamang cage/small parrot/ bird aviaries. Some old original stabling e.g. Hartmann Zebras' area. Hippo/tapir indoor pools?
 
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Pistoia

Good:Enclosures for bears,wolves,lions,tigers,linxs,flamingos,cassowary,
lemurs,titis
Bad: polar bear cage;the complex for elephants,hippos and giraffes
Ugly:aviaries for macaques and jaguars

Falconara

Good:the primates' aviaries,the cheeta and wolf enclosures
Bad:the bear cage
Ugly:the reptile house and the hippo enclosure
 
EDINBURGH ZOO, THE GOOD, The Budongo Trail, the penguin enclosure. The magnificent view from the top of the hill. THE BAD, most of the big cat enclosures, the old bear enclosure, the food in the cafeteria, the steep walk to the top of the hill where there are not alot of animals to see. No longer exhibiting giraffes and bactrian camels.THE UGLY, the old gorilla house which is soon to be refurbished for giant pandas,How can you make a silk purse out of a red river hog's ear?
 
BLACKPOOL ZOO, THE GOOD, The sea lion pool, the new penguin pool, although getting on a bit the attractive camel house . THE BAD, the fibre glass dinosaur park, the space could be better used to house live animals what people have paid to see+, THE UGLY, the interior of that converted hanger that houses the elephants, it's depressing, and the outside isn't much better.
 
TARZAN said:
EDINBURGH ZOO.THE UGLY, the old gorilla house which is soon to be refurbished for giant pandas,How can you make a silk purse out of a red river hog's ear?
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Agree- its the worst Ape House I've seen constructed in the UK in recent times, so 'Bad' as well as ugly I think. They will probably make a better refurbishment of it for the Pandas though.;)
 
Cotswold;

Good- Walled Garden area, Reptile collection, Madagascar lemurs, beautiful parkland & general quality of enclosures.

Bad- Nothing.

Ugly- Nothing.
 
TARZAN said:
THE UGLY, the interior of that converted hanger that houses the elephants, it's depressing, and the outside isn't much better.
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Agree, and to that I'd add the old part of the Ape House which nowadays houses just the Orangutans, particularly the outside. Also the zoo entrance/car park area used to be really depressing but I think its been improved?
 
Pertinax said:
Agree, and to that I'd add the old part of the Ape House which nowadays houses just the Orangutans, particularly the outside. Also the zoo entrance/car park area used to be really depressing but I think its been improved?
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The entrance building at Blackpool is now very good, most attractive, as for the car park why charge people £2.50 just to park their car when they have been good enough to turn up and patronise the zoo? You wouldn't perhaps mind if this money was being used for a worthwhile conservation project.
 
LONDON ZOO, THE GOOD, The history of the place, the ambiance unequalled by any other zoo in the country, a comprehensive animal collection even though a lot of the big stuff has moved out, it's amazing a shy animal like the okapi being bred at a place just a short bus ride away from Oxford Street. The BAD. The swarms of school kids turning up on a free pass and at times their despicable behaviour, how peaceful the place is late afternoon when they have all gone home. THE UGLY. Unfortunately I have to say the Casson Pavilion, certainly an amazing piece of architecture in its day but it certainly had more than its fare share of sadness during its time housing elephants. It has now served its purpose , perhaps it's a pity it is a listed as it could be demolished to make way for something more worthwhile in these most precious thirty six acres.
 
TARZAN said:
as for the car park why charge people £2.50 just to park their car when they have been good enough to turn up and patronise the zoo? You wouldn't perhaps mind if this money was being used for a worthwhile conservation project.
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Its possible the carpark is still council owned land, while the Zoo nowadays is owned by a leisure company. It does sound exorbitant but I suspect that's the reason. Its why Whipsnade have a carpark charge on top of the admission charge- the carpark land isn't owned by them.
 
Jersey

Good-Kirindy Forest exhibit, Red River Hog enclosure, Reptile House (Collection and Condition)

Bad-Emptiness of Chough aviary, Gorilla house

Ugly-Noise from building work on Visitor Centre
 
West Midlands

Good-Sea Lion show (as always), Reptile Collection, White Lions are fantastic

Bad- 'Glass Box' (Amur Leopard enclosure), Sea Lion enclosure is a bit too small

Ugly-Asian Rhino house, Hippo enclosure and tiny house with no public viewing, Amusement area is very loud and looking extremely shabby.
 
Cotswold Wildlife Park

Good-New Giraffe House and enclosure, Lemur walk-through, Asiatic Lions very active and great close up viewing, Wolverine enclosure and viewing platform, Jaguarundi, Clouded Leopards, Reptile collection.

Bad-Fake rock on renovated Penguin enclosure and depth of pool.

Ugly-Purple Faced Langurs need a female to become an established breeding group, wolves seemed very depressed.
 
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