Wolds Wildlife Park Wolds Wildlife Park

I never think of Gorillas as rare because my doorstep collection's got them but really they're relatively sparse in UK collections (none in Scotland, only Blackpool north of Twycross, none in eastern England, none in Wales).

I'm familiar with the old joke that the north starts at the Watford Gap, but I think this is the first time I've come across saying that London isn't in the east :p let alone Kent.
 
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You're playing quite fast and loose with the figures to justify your claim of 10% collections, I notice :p as you note that your total of approximately 100-110 collections excludes private collections, yet your total of collections holding the species does include a private collection (Heythrop).... not to mention your inclusion of a future holder as already discussed.

My view on Heythrop is whilst it is predominately Private, it does open to the Public certain times a year, you can also purchase animal experiences there and encounters so can visit at other times of the year if you take up those options.
Therefore I sort of view it as a collection that whilst it is private it is accessible to people to visit if they wished to, which is unlike a number of Private collections (Park house for instance) which is never open at all to the public.

I just personally feel a larger animal which is currently visible in 9 collections, and soon to be in another two, is rather common.

I get it's not Lion or Tiger common, but it is by a long way the most common of all the Bear species and when you consider Lions are held at around 25 collections, I would say that one species of Bear at 9/10 (soon to be 11/12) collections makes it relatively common.

Zoo's will clearly have big cats over bears as a draw to the public, but given by 2020, there will be Brown Bears at 12 UK Zoo's and Wildlife Parks (Including one Private Zoo) and another Zoo with a non European Species of Brown Bear then I don't think this is actually a reflection of an animal not held at many collections and therefore uncommon.
 
I just personally feel a larger animal which is currently visible in 9 collections, and soon to be in another two, is rather common.

Even if you count Heythrop, European Brown Bear is still only in 8 collections :p and I know you aren't counting the non-European individuals at Yorkshire as you list it as distinct further down in your post.

I get it's not Lion or Tiger common, but it is by a long way the most common of all the Bear species and when you consider Lions are held at around 25 collections

Try 36 :P

Really? What happened to Dartmoor's Syrian? The only Syrian brown bear I recall seeing at that.

Died in 2017.
 
I'm familiar with the old joke that the north starts at the Watford Gap, but I think this is the first time I've come across saying that London isn't in the east :p let alone Kent.

I was talking the Norfolk/Suffolk bulge topped by Hull and bottomed by Essex (which you well know:p).
 
I was talking the topped by Hull and bottomed by Essex (which you well know:p).

Quite - althoughif you're defining Hull as the top, it's more the "Norfolk/Suffolk bulge with big Lincolnshire flat bit" :p
 
I'm currently at the zoo! It's very busy with lots of people surrounding all of the exhibits.

Some of the collections highlights include:
- 3.1 African Lions
- 1 "Bengal" Tiger
- 1.1 EuropeanBrown Bears
- Lynx
- Chapman and Grants Zebra
- Pig Tailed Macaques
- The usual small collection animals (lemurs, Bennet's, Mara etc...

I'll post some pictures once there is a Wolds Wildlife Park media page (I have requested one in the Thread requests page).
 
Some of the more interesting enclosure pictures:
European Brown bears, Pig tailed macaque, African lion and Bengal tiger.
(I'll upload more when the gallery opens)
 

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Scottish Deer Centre, Dartmoor Zoo, Whipsnade Zoo, Wild Place Project, Welsh Mountain Zoo, Five Sisters Zoo, Camperdown Wildlife Park, Heythop Zoo and Wildwood Kent also have EBB. That's just the ones I can instantly think of.

There are also plans (long term) to bring them to Wildwood Escot, and Lake District Wildlife Park, based on the talks they give there.

I would say that EBB are in around 10% of UK collections, therefore I wouldn't say that they aren't quite common.

The Heythrop bears are the ones now at Wolds. So one fewer collection now holding them than your list.
 
The Heythrop bears are the ones now at Wolds. So one fewer collection now holding them than your list.

Are you sure? I was chatting to whom I believe was the owner, and he said they they had come from a zoo in Europe? He may have said Eastern Europe, but that might be my imagination. He definitely did not say that they had come from somewhere in the UK.

I could be wrong though, just what I've heard :)
 
Wolds wildlife park have finally been granted planning permission to expand the park, they plant to build a cafe, education block and more housing to expand the collection and to apply for a zoo licence so they can open 7 days a week.
 
The zoo have announced that they have welcomed a 9 year old "Indian Leopard", named Mowgli, from a travelling circus in Germany.
 
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