Twycross Zoo Twycross Zoo News 2010

zoogiraffe said:
Actually i would not be so sure that you will be collecting your winnings on this at anytime for various reasons I CANNOT say why on here,but lets just say there alot of things going on at Twycross which most people would never believe could be happening in one of the UK`s top Zoo`s!!
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That's just devilish teasing :p
 
It remains my sound conviction that investing in shares is not sound financial trust fund management. It is a high risk factor and it is irrelevant whether or not a financial collapse was on the cards or not. My comments are also meant to be more general than that. So, do not misconstrue them. On the other hand: government bonds are safe from a trust fund perspective as they are guaranteed that upon maturity the value of the bond will be honored.

As per the current Twycross Zoo financial situation, it WAS a major event that there had to be a write-off at all on the Lehman Bros. issue. Considering the first alinea above and not in hindsight, there should never have been a Lehman Bros. investment.

For the record: I am with zoogiraffe on this one and I cannot believe what is happening to an institution that could be so much the greater in reality.


Now, I will go back to work and will look into the financial reports in more detail when I get the time. So, I reserve the right for further comments on this issue. :cool:
 
sadly a lot of charitable organisations have found themselves in a similar position due to having deposits in icelandic banks, which offered much higher rates of interest than uk banks. nobody could have predicted what happened to the icelandic banks or to lehman brothers and these would have appeared to be relatively safe investments.
 
Shorts said:
Not it's not, as is often the case he's just saying as much as he is able to at that moment in time.
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I know, I was just posting a little cheeky comment (hence the smilie). I wasn't trying to milk the info out of him :)
 
zoogiraffe said:
Yes but you wouldn`t have complained if i had said more would you!!
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I wouldn't have complained because I am interested, but I wasn't asking you to divulge any more info. I completely respect that some info is confidential and I didn't write the comment to try and make you say more, I was just being cheeky (if that is the word I'm looking for) :).

I'm not as keen as talking over posts and such as I am talking to people in the flesh, since something written by one is read completely differently by another, which can cause confusion/arguments between people. For example, it is difficult for me to know whether your post is supposed to have an aggrivated tone, or whether it is supposed to be a friendly/cheeky comment like mine.
 
zoogiraffe said:
Actually i would not be so sure that you will be collecting your winnings on this at anytime for various reasons I CANNOT say why on here,but lets just say there alot of things going on at Twycross which most people would never believe could be happening in one of the UK`s top Zoo`s!!
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Too true!!
 
Spent the day at Twycross today. The male woolly monkey will be swapped with a male from somewhere in France within the next few weeks; keeper didn't tell me where.

Male baby bonobo has been named Winton (by a sponsor) and the female has been named Malika.
 
TARZAN said:
the previous management, who I did note were once disrespectfully referred to as " The old dears". Well I am sure that if the red river hogs had been in the care of "The old dears" instead of Edinburgh we would not have been discussing their unfortunate demise at length on this site.
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I've been away for a week or so, so please forgive me for coming late to this party, but this one can't go uncommented upon...

...this comment seems to sum up the double standards which people have towards animals. The painless killing of a red river hog is an act of evil, but taking young chimps and dressing them up in human costumes, making them perform a number of tricks, is fine so long as the people doing this 'love' those animals (as I'm sure Miss Badham and Miss Evans 'loved' their chimps). And that's without even starting on the rights and wrongs of the ways in which apes in particular have been managed at this zoo. And what is more 'unfortunate'? That Edinburgh euthanase, or the fact that Twycross have kept their giraffes on a bit of featureless gravel for many years?
 
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TARZAN said:
Painless killing!, and were you,may I ask, there when this act took place?
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I don't necessarily agree with sooty mangabeys comment, and I don't like the euthanasia of the Red river hogs, but not for one moment would I ever believe that it was painful for the piglets!
 
rubymurray said:
To argue that the previous regime would never have jeopardised the zoo by making such a rash investment is hollow in my opinion, because we all know that if the old regime were still in charge then we wouldn't be on here discussing innovative buildings like Himalaya (love it or hate it). Twycross would still have piles of cash in the bank and we would be discussing the latest timber clad primate exhibit or red brick ape house or Lion Enclosure that is too small for Lions because they wouldn't spend the cash on a proper one. Innovation back then was putting a timber clad shelter over the house windows so we didn't get wet! I'm not suggesting anybody here has expressed this opinion but it's been said many times that the previous regime was responsible for the status quo that existed at Twycross for so long, and despite their dedication to conservation they did not invest in the best exhibits for their animals and they did not invest in conservation projects outside of the zoo when they had the means to do so. I'm sure they cared a great deal and their husbandry techniques were good (not best person to comment on this!), however, they did not spend the money that they needed to spend and if they were still in charge now Twycross would be largely the same zoo as it was 10 years ago.
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Having read most of the discussion on this thread, this appears to be the most sensible statement made.

It would be interesting to compare Tywcross, post Miss Badham and Miss Evans, to Marwell post Knowles or Chester post Mottishead, Howletts and Port Lympne post Aspinall Snr. How long did those zoos take to make significant investment in a direction away from that which the previous director would have taken. There is no doubt that for many staff and visitors the first major investment in the zoo should have been for the chimpanzees, so long the symbol of Twycross, and perhaps not the other species/areas that have received attention. Unfortunately, and please correct me if I am wrong, I suspect that for the senior management that were left in place, and perhaps for the new director, that birds, carnivores, elephants, a comfortable working environment, improved resources for the keeping staff and investment in conservation were/are seen as a priority to them.

It has always fascinated me that when you view a map of Twycross the primates are all located in the centre of the zoo, whilst most of the non-primate exhibits are located on the peripherary. This is of course no surprise as these were the first exhibits built, and where so much attention was focused. The 'other' exhibits almost appeared secondary to the primates, well you need lions, tigers, giraffes, elephants and a reptile house to attract people (don't you?)? I'm gonna stick my neck out here, but since the last directors have left Twycross has lacked a dedicated primate person in a senior management position, could that be why the chimpanzees have been eft so long, no one really pushing for them to receive attention?
 
Yes, Miss Badham did dress young chimps in clothes and did make commercials for Brooke Bond with them for many years. I think we should remember that this took place in an era when thousands flocked to Billy Smarts circus to watch tigers, elephants etc. perform in the ring, it was also the era when people sat in amusement at the sight of Flipper the dolphin performing in a small swimming pool. Thankfully this era is now over, however the fact that the chimps were used in this way cannot be denied, as it is the truth. I am sure that the fees paid for doing these commercials were large, however I do not think Miss Badham and Miss Evans spent this money on world cruises and Rolls Royce cars, all the money from these advertisements was ploughed into the zoo, indeed as I understand it they hardly withdrew any money from zoo funds for themselves, perhaps Mr. Shorts from the accounts department could confirm this. What cannot be denied is the fact that at the time these television commercials were very popular and it is perhaps ironic that I recently observed that certain animal rights groups are currently campaigning to remove from our television screens an advert for a national chain of coffee houses which used live primates. I certainly agree that new facilities for the chimps should have been at the top of the list for improvement, hopefully this will take place in the near future.
 
TARZAN said:
I do not think Miss Badham and Miss Evans spent
this money on world cruises and Rolls Royce cars, all the money from these advertisements was ploughed into the zoo, indeed as I understand it they hardly withdrew any money from zoo funds for themselves, perhaps Mr. Shorts from the accounts department could confirm this.
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To prevent any major misunderstandings:

1. It's just Shorts, no Mr. (nice to see the dot on the abbreviation though);

2.I'm not from the accounts department at Twycross (just ZooChat:)).

To my own, and I think common knowledge, Misses Badham & Evans always led/leads a fairly frugal/unextravangant existence. In fact, I think if anything they were too frugal in terms of building up funds in the bank and not investing in new enclosures -to be fair though it was their zoo, they built it and that attitude is an attribute of their generation, not just them (arguably better than the other extreme a lot of people have nowadays when they spend large amounts of money they haven't earnt yet).
 
Will be visiting very shortly for the first time in 15 years.
I have some very fund memories of the zoo how it was and I can't wait to see it now
Will give a very impartial report as I have a open mind when I visit any zoo.

We all have our own opinions on any zoo and it doesn't matter what they do, they will not satisfy all of us all of the time but all zoos do thier best to keep animals and visitors happy.
 
I hear that Twycross is holding workshops to encourage staff to communicate better and be more friendly to each other which must be great news for the ten members of staff (including four long termers) culled last week! What is happening there? staff are constantly disappearing
 
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