The zoo i want to start

Viper said:
And also, if I may ask, where in Long Beach will this potential zoo be located? Do you have a list of desired species that are to be included in the zoo for any curious zoochatters?

I am genuinely curious to know. :)
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Yes I do have a list of 926 species I plan on adding, and the part of Long Beach I plan on putting my zoo is the 2,000 acre El Dorado Regional Park, It is a great location, It is off the 405 and 605 freeways, but if the City of Long Beach isnt interested I have other locations in mind which include Fairview Park in Costa Mesa, CA and Great Park in Irvine, CA and Mile Square Regional Park in Fountain Valley, CA and Caspers Regional park in San Juan Capistrano, CA and also Limestone Canyon Regional Park in Unicorporated Orange County, CA, I hope this helps :)
 
926 managed species? Maybe walk before you run.
Have you ever kept or bred any wildlife?
3 acres may sound a large area but its a fraction of a home range for most of the large a mamals.
Your an ungulate nerd, heard of "filicide" ? Its what happens often when ungulates are kept in small enclosures or their is a missunderstanding of their specific management needs. There's lots more to consider too.

I'd suggest increasing your enclosures area tenfold for most of the large mammals & keeping a lower density as it will reduce many of the issues & costs with high density exhibits. Remember the bigest costs with management in zoos occurs because animals are kept in an artificial environment which can not sustain them.
Go for quality not quantity.
Building good handling facilities is a major priority as well, but most often overlooked as they're out of the public eye.

Cheers Khakibob
 
As I think I said on one of your other threads a while back, I am all for another zoo in the greater Los Angeles area. The truth is the Los Angeles Zoo is overcrowded and cannot handle the crowds that come with a population the size of Los Angeles. My city of Tucson has two zoos, Phoenix has two zoos, Chicago has two zoos, and of course all the major twin city metroplexes have a zoo in each of their twin cities (Dallas-Fort Worth, Minneapolis-St Paul, Tacoma-Seattle, etc). My cousin lives in Los Angeles and was recently there for snow day and said the crowds were the worst he has ever seen. And I have seen some horrendous crowds with him myself before, so it must have been almost unbearable.

I am behind you Ungulate Nerd, but as others have stated and I hope you are aware you do need to start at a realistic level and build up from there. Polar bears are unobtainable currently - my zoo has a polar bear exhibit already built and is AZA accredited and were told we cannot aquire a bear to replace the one that died, so we are converting the exhibit for brown bears. Elephants will cause you a major fight from Animal Rights Extremists - look at the nightmare Los Angeles Zoo went through. Still, it can be done, just be ready for the picket lines.

Since your first love is ungulates, I think that is a good place to start. Exhibits for them are easy to build (just fence off a field), they are relatively easy to care for, they are readily available (some species anyway) in the private sector - look at all the game ranches in Texas and elsewhere.

I would strongly suggest you join the ZAA. If you can make it to their 2013 convention in Phoenix this Fall, I think you would make some great contacts. I have not been to one of their conventions myself, but I read a report of the 2012 convention in the Journal of the Feline Conservation Federation (of which I am a member). Seems like a really good networking opportunity and the reporter stated she found a lot of support and comaraderie.
 
Arizona Docent said:
As I think I said on one of your other threads a while back, I am all for another zoo in the greater Los Angeles area. The truth is the Los Angeles Zoo is overcrowded and cannot handle the crowds that come with a population the size of Los Angeles. My city of Tucson has two zoos, Phoenix has two zoos, Chicago has two zoos, and of course all the major twin city metroplexes have a zoo in each of their twin cities (Dallas-Fort Worth, Minneapolis-St Paul, Tacoma-Seattle, etc). My cousin lives in Los Angeles and was recently there for snow day and said the crowds were the worst he has ever seen. And I have seen some horrendous crowds with him myself before, so it must have been almost unbearable.

I am behind you Ungulate Nerd, but as others have stated and I hope you are aware you do need to start at a realistic level and build up from there. Polar bears are unobtainable currently - my zoo has a polar bear exhibit already built and is AZA accredited and were told we cannot aquire a bear to replace the one that died, so we are converting the exhibit for brown bears. Elephants will cause you a major fight from Animal Rights Extremists - look at the nightmare Los Angeles Zoo went through. Still, it can be done, just be ready for the picket lines.

Since your first love is ungulates, I think that is a good place to start. Exhibits for them are easy to build (just fence off a field), they are relatively easy to care for, they are readily available (some species anyway) in the private sector - look at all the game ranches in Texas and elsewhere.

I would strongly suggest you join the ZAA. If you can make it to their 2013 convention in Phoenix this Fall, I think you would make some great contacts. I have not been to one of their conventions myself, but I read a report of the 2012 convention in the Journal of the Feline Conservation Federation (of which I am a member). Seems like a really good networking opportunity and the reporter stated she found a lot of support and comaraderie.
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Arizona Docent, thank you so much for the informative and inspriring things you said, I really appreciate the time and thought that you took to respond to this thread, you seem like a very positive guy, and I am seriously considering your suggestions as they are really great ones, in fact I just might take a vaction this Fall to go to this conference because I need all the help and support i can get with this project, and also i wouldnt hurt to know and meet more people in the industry

All the best, Ungulate Nerd
 
Also if anybody is interested in a list of animal species and sub-species I plan on obtaining for the collection, PM me and I will send you a list if you are genuinely curious to know, and also it may seem like an ambitious amount of species and sub-species, I wont start out with all of them, and like Arizona Docent said I have to work my may up, but start small
 
I know that Viper said he was curious about the animals I plan on adding into the collection, so let me start with Suidae, knowing that i cant start out with everything that i want, for that group of animals and other groups of animals, I have a long term plan list and a short term plan list, and if any of you are curious about how I am going to source these species, I have figured out different ways, here are the planned Suidae species for the collection

Short Term:

Red river hog
Southern bushpig
Bornean bearded pig
Visayan warty pig
Common warthog
Central european wild boar
Babirusa

Long Term:

Javan warty pig
Giant forest hog

I also know that I cannot even obtain all the short term species simultaneously
 
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I have also been brainstorming and trying to figure out the staff that I need for this facility, I was also reading ZooPlantMan's thread about real life situations that being a zoo director requires of you, and I am trying to figure out what I would legitimately do in or about those situations

I also realize this endeavor takes money and lots of it, so I am brainstorming ways as to how could I get the nessisary funds to make this happen, I am also figuring out revenue sources such as restaurants, gift shops, tours, workshops etc.

I have also been getting into designing holding areas for the animals and the keeper areas, and trying to figure out the mechanics and small details of those things

I am also reading Themistocles' thread about starting a zoo from scratch, and how to do it

I must say that planning for this is fun but nowhere near easy or simple, this is what I want most in life and I don't care how long it takes, in fact I may not be alive to see the result that I ultimately want.
 
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I too would like to build a zoo one day or at least work in one, great job with the zoo, and the species I hope your dream is accomplished! I would visit!
 
Listen, ungulate nerd, absolutley anything is possible if you really want to. Im 14 and i have thousands of notebooks filled with drawings and plans and species lists. When my teachers in school ask me what i want to be when i grow up, i say "i want to own and run a zoo" evry time they look at me thinking 'not a chance' once a teacher told me that that wont happen and i just said what do you think neil armstrongs teachers thought when he said he wanted to be the first man on the moon. I beleive you can open your own zoo! Even with the experience you have. Tell me your opening day and trust me, ill be there !!
 
Hey Cian Bennett, i apologize for the late reply, thank you for your motivational and inspirational words, and thank you for taking the time to reply to my this thread, I am glad that you think highly of my idea and I like that you have a similar dream and goal, its wonderful getting positive feedback from like minded people, people with imagination and vision make the world a better place and move society forward

In fact id really like to see your zoo plans eg. Exhibit design, Animal collection lists etc etc

What would be the focus and mission of your zoo ?

Collection wise, my focus would be animals that are rare or uncommon in captivity or that most people don't know exist (but within reason for starters)

My mission would be education with an emphasis on species and subspecies diversity
 
BACK OFF, guys! ANYONE can start a zoo if they put their mind to it. Its not the size of the funds that matter, its the size of your interest in the animals of the world! I am starting a zoo myself in a few years. Your not alone ungulate nerd. And NOBODY will tell me Im not going to. You don't need "millions of dollars" to start a zoo. You just have to look in the right place. Places like big cat preserves, exotic animals shelters, and unwanted pets are great sources. There you can get animals at VERY low prices, and sometimes they will pay YOU to take them, if they don't have the resources to care for them. If you need an Idea for a low budget exhibit, but with exotic animals, just ask. I design exhibets all the time. I could design you a sea lion or lar gibbon exhibit that would cost only $50,000. Columbus zoo built a gorilla exhibit in the eighties that would be equivalent to about $67,000 today. I look forward to seeing your zoo.
-Jungle Leaf
[ my name is literally Leaf, I am not kidding ]
 
Cians right, do NOT give up your Kutumaini! [ hope in Swahili ]
I will be there as well. It would be nice if you could come to mine as well. Opening day is June 2033in Ohio, America at the latest, hopefully sooner. I am 13 now, and I have about 7% of the species I wish to have.

Jungle Leaf
[ like I said, my name is actually Leaf. ]
 
Malayan Tiger said:
BACK OFF, guys! ANYONE can start a zoo if they put their mind to it. Its not the size of the funds that matter, its the size of your interest in the animals of the world! I am starting a zoo myself in a few years. Your not alone ungulate nerd. And NOBODY will tell me Im not going to. You don't need "millions of dollars" to start a zoo. You just have to look in the right place. Places like big cat preserves, exotic animals shelters, and unwanted pets are great sources. There you can get animals at VERY low prices, and sometimes they will pay YOU to take them, if they don't have the resources to care for them. If you need an Idea for a low budget exhibit, but with exotic animals, just ask. I design exhibets all the time. I could design you a sea lion or lar gibbon exhibit that would cost only $50,000. Columbus zoo built a gorilla exhibit in the eighties that would be equivalent to about $67,000 today. I look forward to seeing your zoo.
-Jungle Leaf
[ my name is literally Leaf, I am not kidding ]
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Funds do matter, and while it is true that you can cut costs by looking at alternate sources, the dream zoo Ungulate Nerd has here would be pretty massive and therefore pretty expensive. Being in a pricier place to live like Long Beach would up some of the costs. Having a "house" for each type of animal? That would drive up the costs as well.

If you want to start a zoo, you have to start out small unless you already have tons of money. Getting rare animals would be difficult, as would building state of the art facilities, not to mention the costs for all of the land. A zoo needs to draw in visitors, so you have to be realistic as to what would do that. Meaning, don't have so many similar animals in each area. Zoo nerds and animal lovers might get excited, but the general public likely wouldn't care.

And it's one thing to make up a big, awesome fantasy zoo, it's another to make a Facebook page that misleads people into thinking it's totally going to happen. Shouldn't be doing that unless you already have the land and money and are already setting things up.

It's one thing to want to start a new business, but one has to be realistic, ya know? Start off small. Ungulate exhibits are pretty simple, and since you're a fan, that's a great place to start. As Malayan Tiger said, you might even be able to get some of the larger exotics by looking for rescues and pets and the like. I recommend starting with a bit more variety. Also, try to think of ways that would help draw in lots of visitors early. Some kinds of animal interactions like giraffe feedings or something.
 
Whoa, whoa..........Back it up. Ungulate Nerds is going to happen, if he puts effort into it. He is not "misleading" ANYONE! Im quite assured that Ungulate Nerd doesn't plan to build his zoo in a day or so. Just because it sounds big an detailed doesn't make it impossible. He might spend at least 20 years adding on and obtaining new animals. He might start out small, but in time his zoo will be as grand as he wishes. If he really wants a zoo, the he can go ahead and BUILD ONE!
Be realistic, Mighty Orca
-Jungle Leaf
 
ungulate nerd said:
Hey Cian Bennett, i apologize for the late reply, thank you for your motivational and inspirational words, and thank you for taking the time to reply to my this thread, I am glad that you think highly of my idea and I like that you have a similar dream and goal, its wonderful getting positive feedback from like minded people, people with imagination and vision make the world a better place and move society forward

In fact id really like to see your zoo plans eg. Exhibit design, Animal collection lists etc etc

What would be the focus and mission of your zoo ?

Collection wise, my focus would be animals that are rare or uncommon in captivity or that most people don't know exist (but within reason for starters)

My mission would be education with an emphasis on species and subspecies diversity
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He says "within reason"
 
ungulate nerd said:
Hey Cian Bennett, i apologize for the late reply, thank you for your motivational and inspirational words, and thank you for taking the time to reply to my this thread, I am glad that you think highly of my idea and I like that you have a similar dream and goal, its wonderful getting positive feedback from like minded people, people with imagination and vision make the world a better place and move society forward

In fact id really like to see your zoo plans eg. Exhibit design, Animal collection lists etc etc

What would be the focus and mission of your zoo ?

Collection wise, my focus would be animals that are rare or uncommon in captivity or that most people don't know exist (but within reason for starters)

My mission would be education with an emphasis on species and subspecies diversity
Click to expand...

http://www.zoochat.com/1812/zoo-you-want-359046/

Here Cain's Plans
I found them about a month ago
 
CGSwans said:
I was going to say something like 'ah, let the poor kid dream'. There's a few things that swayed me.
1) There seem to be people on the Facebook page that are under the misapprehension that this is even vaguely plausible, and I think it's unfair to mislead them.
2) You seem to think that you can just take over a public park for your private business. Oh, and it happens to be in a flood zone, according to Wikipedia.
3) The quote from the ex-San Diego Zoo employee, and your desire to follow in his philosophy, mark you out as somebody not well-suited to managing others.
4) You kinda lost me when you started talking about riding elephants from the airport to the zoo and feeling like an Indian rajah.
5) Are some of those gazillions of photos possibly from Zoochat? If so, you should be aware that you have no rights to use them.

My advice: stick to Zoo Tycoon.
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HEY- Ungulate Nerds not "misleading" anyone
 
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