Werribee Open Range Zoo Werribee Open Range Zoo News 2025

austrlain zoo gower said:
Happy 2025!

According to Keepers on my visit on Monday, Melbourne Zoos Elephants estimated departure to Werribee is around end of Jan - Feb
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Yes, it’s been stated on socials that the school holidays will be the last chance to see the elephants at Melbourne Zoo.

The complex is nearing completion and will open around a month after the elephants arrive, dependent on how long it takes them to adjust.

The arrival order will be:

1.0 Luk Chai (2009) - first/transferring alone

A few days later:

0.1 Kulab (2000)
0.1 Num-Oi (2001)
0.1 Kati (2023)

24 hours later:

0.1 Mek Kepah (1973)
0.1 Dokkoon (1993)
0.1 Mali (2010)
0.1 Aiyara (2022)
1.0 Roi-Yim (2022)
 

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Zoofan15 said:
Yes, it’s been stated on socials that the school holidays will be the last chance to see the elephants at Melbourne Zoo.

The complex is nearing completion and will open around a month after the elephants arrive, dependent on how long it takes them to adjust.

The arrival order will be:

1.0 Luk Chai (2009) - first/transferring alone

A few days later:

0.1 Kulab (2000)
0.1 Num-Oi (2001)
0.1 Kati (2023)

24 hours later:

0.1 Mek Kepah (1973)
0.1 Dokkoon (1993)
0.1 Mali (2010)
0.1 Aiyara (2022)
1.0 Roi-Yim (2022)
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Correct, the move will take place over the period of a week. They're looking to hopefully avoid weekends and all elephants will be transferred early morning.

Assuming all goes to plan, Luk Chai will be departing first week of Feb. The cows and calves will follow later in the week. School holidays end mid next week so they'll be looking to avoid this busy period too.
Zoofan15 said:
Last month, @NathanTheAsian shared these photos taken from the Safari Bus:

View attachment 765691

View attachment 765692

View attachment 765690

This is the latest photo we have of the barn, courtesy of @akasha:

View attachment 765693
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Just to note too - the first three photos don't show the actual elephant complex; in fact, the first half of the 'trail' which has been dubbed the 'Waterhole trail'. Only Ostrich are confirmed for this section thus far, but I'd assume a few other species will be here too.
 
The Sleepy Hippo said:
Long term I would hope the water hole precinct turn into an Asian/Indian waterhole precinct :rolleyes:
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This site describes the waterhole as follows:

Werribee Open Range Zoo Expansion / ARM Architecture

a waterhole precinct, with places to view animals, places to rest, and amenities for visitors.

It later mentions a Waterhole Cafe.

It appears they’re playing on ‘waterhole’ theme to create an eating/drinking/guest amenity hub with a handful of accompanying animal exhibits. Whether that will correspond to the exhibit being waterhole drinkers (primarily ungulates) is unclear.

Bachelor exhibits for species like Waterbuck and Lowland nyala could be a possibility given the requirement to house these separately from the breeding herd - and considering the strong interest from people in seeing a bull nyala, which is strikingly different from the cows on display.
 
Zoofan15 said:
This site describes the waterhole as follows:

Werribee Open Range Zoo Expansion / ARM Architecture

a waterhole precinct, with places to view animals, places to rest, and amenities for visitors.

It later mentions a Waterhole Cafe.

It appears they’re playing on ‘waterhole’ theme to create an eating/drinking/guest amenity hub with a handful of accompanying animal exhibits. Whether that will correspond to the exhibit being waterhole drinkers (primarily ungulates) is unclear.

Bachelor exhibits for species like Waterbuck and Lowland nyala could be a possibility given the requirement to house these separately from the breeding herd - and considering the strong interest from people in seeing a bull nyala, which is strikingly different from the cows on display.
Click to expand...
I'd love them to catch a few feral Asian water buffalo that run rampant in Kakadu, and house a small herd near the Waterhole cafe. Indian Rhino may be too much to ask, but water buffalo could be possible. They could even "stand in" for Cape Buffalo like how the elephants "stand in" for African Elephants
 
Initial plans included exhibits for the likes of Cheetah, Spotted Hyena and African Wild Dogs.

Not entirely sure whether these plans were in fact scrapped in favour of being more cost efficient for the time being - but it appears that way with the confirmed addition of Ostrich, which weren't initially part of the plan and can be accommodated much more easily.
 
The Sleepy Hippo said:
I'd love them to catch a few feral Asian water buffalo that run rampant in Kakadu, and house a small herd near the Waterhole cafe. Indian Rhino may be too much to ask, but water buffalo could be possible. They could even "stand in" for Cape Buffalo like how the elephants "stand in" for African Elephants
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This would also be able to double up as an educational opportunity about the breadth of feral animals in Australia
 
Article on EEHV testing lab at Werribee:

Melbourne’s elephants test for deadly disease before big move to Werribee - ABC News

We have a really important lab set up out at Werribee, which is onsite, so literally, a 10-minute walk away," she said. So, when the bloods are taken, they go straight to the lab to run those tests. And that's really a key element, is getting quick answers.

Samples used to take 48 hours to test, but at Werribee, the process is cut to six hours.

Mek Kapah, 52, is a calm role model for the rest of the herd during their weekly tests and cleans. But her blood isn't just taken for testing — it is stored to save others in her own herd or in any other herd in Australia with an EEHV outbreak.
 
Zoofan15 said:
Article on EEHV testing lab at Werribee:

Melbourne’s elephants test for deadly disease before big move to Werribee - ABC News

We have a really important lab set up out at Werribee, which is onsite, so literally, a 10-minute walk away," she said. So, when the bloods are taken, they go straight to the lab to run those tests. And that's really a key element, is getting quick answers.

Samples used to take 48 hours to test, but at Werribee, the process is cut to six hours.

Mek Kapah, 52, is a calm role model for the rest of the herd during their weekly tests and cleans. But her blood isn't just taken for testing — it is stored to save others in her own herd or in any other herd in Australia with an EEHV outbreak.
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Absolutely spectacular news for the future of the EEHV fight regionally (and globally)! We've seen a lot of improvements to EEHV testing/vaccines globally over the last few months so fingers crossed we see success fighting this virus going forward.

Whilst we haven't had a significant amount of deaths resulting from this illness thus far, it's better to be on the precautionary side going forward - especially with the calves going across now entering the 'high risk' period.
 
Jambo said:
Absolutely spectacular news for the future of the EEHV fight regionally (and globally)! We've seen a lot of improvements to EEHV testing/vaccines globally over the last few months so fingers crossed we see success fighting this virus going forward.

Whilst we haven't had a significant amount of deaths resulting from this illness thus far, it's better to be on the precautionary side going forward - especially with the calves going across now entering the 'high risk' period.
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It’s fantastic news and I think this sentence most of all represents the cooperative relationship amongst our region’s zoos:

Mek Kapah, 52, is a calm role model for the rest of the herd during their weekly tests and cleans. But her blood isn't just taken for testing — it is stored to save others in her own herd or in any other herd in Australia with an EEHV outbreak.

This is not just to save the latest cohort of calves in Melbourne’s herd, this could be used for Sabai (2016) and Kanlaya (2018) at Dubbo; and of course any future calves born across Australian zoos (including Anjalee’s unborn calf). What a fantastic example of zoos working together. :)
 
Luke899 said:
Is the transfer still going ahead next week? :) Looking forward to seeing the new exhibit
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Should be, assuming there's been no significant changes.

Similar to Permai's transfer, the moves are very weather dependent. But considering each move should only really take about an hour; if they move them early morning as planned, everything should be fine.
 
Jambo said:
Should be, assuming there's been no significant changes.

Similar to Permai's transfer, the moves are very weather dependent. But considering each move should only really take about an hour; if they move them early morning as planned, everything should be fine.
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It's going to get even more interesting when Taronga's two girls arrive!
 
Luke899 said:
Is the transfer still going ahead next week? :) Looking forward to seeing the new exhibit
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Jambo said:
Should be, assuming there's been no significant changes.

Similar to Permai's transfer, the moves are very weather dependent. But considering each move should only really take about an hour; if they move them early morning as planned, everything should be fine.
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Temperatures are set to soar Sunday-Tuesday in Werribee, but are forecast to be cooler towards the end of next week.

The elephants will be leaving early in the morning to avoid rush hour traffic, rising daytime temperatures and to allow them nearly a full day of daylight hours in what will be a very new environment to them. Within the matriarchal herd, they’ll be four elephants who have never known another home!

Plans around transferring Luk Chai are flexible in that he will transfer out ahead of the cows/calves irregardless of how soon after they can follow. Due to the strong bonds within the matriarchal herd, the two groups of cows/calves will transfer at most 24 hours apart (one group each morning).
Zorro said:
It's going to get even more interesting when Taronga's two girls arrive!
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Taronga’s cows are going to Monarto Safari Park, not Werribee Open Range Zoo (which is the discussion topic of this thread).
 
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