Hang on. How come the plains zebras, ostriches and Ankole moved into an area where what used to be Asia Lowlands ?
West Midland Safari and Leisure Park West Midland Safari Park 2024
- Thread starter Jedd Cullinan
- Start date
SSLees
Well-Known Member
Honestly no idea. I know they've had ostriches in that area before, but admittedly the ostriches have moved constantly throughout the park (old cheetah enclosure, old giraffe house etc, paddock where the Lion lodges are now etc). But was very surprised to see the Plains Zebra and Ankole there.
Maybe they're working on making what used to be Asia Lowlands into a new African section? They do already have the elephants there. So they might add more african species in that area at some point?
Or probably just trying to stop traffic building up so much in the Africa area. There was some traffic there on that day (due to a car breaking down very near two rhinos in the shelter). But usually the zebras (despite food boxes being labelled not to feed them, and jeeps on patrol warning you not to) are very persistent in trying for food from cars no matter how much the keepers force them away, and there's always going to be someone that wants to feed a zebra regardless of possibly getting bitten or not.
The Grevy's Zebra there can be guilty of this too, but from what I've experience with them, they're not as bad as the Plains Zebra.
Yes I saw it and it's really good. Coco the Bull Elephant been mentioned now.
Suzy and Gitina the 2 female African Elephants will soon be on their way to their new home at West Midlands Safari Park from Pairi Daiza
Olek
Well-Known Member
Do You Know When? Also Where Did You Find The Info?
Well According to Facebook this is last weekend to see the African Elephants at Pairi Daiza before they leave for the UK and they will be in quarantine before they travel to England. Question is how long does elephant have to go to quarantine for ?
Laboratory 7
Well-Known Member
Not at all if it is moving between two BALAI approved collections, but it wouldn't surprise me if one or both aren't, so normally it will be about 3 months if they aren't.
So in that case then they should be at West Mids sometime over the summer at the latest? Very exciting in this case, especially for Five’s sake.
Olek
Well-Known Member
Just A question, Do you know how old Five is?
Rajang-GOAT
Well-Known Member
Born 1991 (wild) so 32 or 33.
Five at West Midland Safari Park in United Kingdom - Elephant Encyclopedia and Database
Additionally, her and Latabe had been together at least 23 years when she passed back in 2021 (plus we don't know how long they were together in South Africa), by which time the two were certainly very close, I've heard keepers refer to them as 'sisters'. It'll be great to have Five alongside other female elephants once again, I've grown very attached to her over the many years I've been visiting. I can imagine Latabe's death would have had a pretty profound impact on her, though I do not wish to anthropomorphise at all. Obviously, elephants form very strong bonds with their herd companions, especially given how long these two were together.
They used to be held in an offshow paddock where Lion Ridge is now, as for where they’ve been moved to I’m not sure. I know there are other offshow holding areas on site so I’d assume that’s where they are, but I don’t know any details.
1 month of pre-export quarantine and 1 month of post-export quarantine is the standart for international elephant moves (unless it´s done in simplified mode between some EU institutions).
Do we know of any long term plans in terms of the white tigers and lions. I’m assuming they’re being phased out as they hold no conservational value however, it seems like when they’re gone and the sumatrans move to the zoo section there will be a lot of unused space.
I suspect that white tigers and lions attract more visitors than do ordinary coloured tigers and lions, otherwise, why have them? If they do, they can interest visitors in the conservation of big cats and make more money for zoos. I keep hearing that ordinary coloured tigers and lions do this but very few are destined for rewilding.
I think there are still 2 of them, both of which were born at the park in the 2000s (I don’t know exactly what year) so they’re both rather old by now.