I've never been and heard mixed reports - is it really that bad? I guess no one else would want the animals .
Worst UK Zoos
- Thread starter willtheman45
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I've never been and heard mixed reports - is it really that bad? I guess no one else would want the animals .
You can see my favourite and worst small zoos in the same county and infact visit both within a day.
My favourite - Shaldon - small and beautifully formed - nice unusual small species that suit small enclosures, great conservation message, polite and educated staff, feeling of space and "green-ness" because of a well thought out site lay-out. Excellent, I'm shocked that it even made this list.
My worst - Dartmoor. I thought that with the new owners it would get better from the "dark days of Dawe", it did for about a year or so - site got tidied up, animals looked healthy etc. Then, it just seems to have gone down and down, the animals are not looking so healthy anymore, the zoo smells of rotten meat, there is no conservation message in the zoo, the signs have been copied from the internet (complete with spelling mistakes and errors), the staff are rude and ill-informed, the enclosures are dirty, the cafe is expensive and the food terrible.
I think it is actually far worse then when it was run by Ellis Dawe and was closed down.
And then the whole LionMan fiasco - why they wanted him in the first place is beyone me, and then to cancel and blame BIAZA is hypocritical - they clearly need the money (as they said on this website). If they wanted him, they should have just had his visit rather than sulk about BIAZA'a advice.
My favourite - Shaldon - small and beautifully formed - nice unusual small species that suit small enclosures, great conservation message, polite and educated staff, feeling of space and "green-ness" because of a well thought out site lay-out. Excellent, I'm shocked that it even made this list.
My worst - Dartmoor. I thought that with the new owners it would get better from the "dark days of Dawe", it did for about a year or so - site got tidied up, animals looked healthy etc. Then, it just seems to have gone down and down, the animals are not looking so healthy anymore, the zoo smells of rotten meat, there is no conservation message in the zoo, the signs have been copied from the internet (complete with spelling mistakes and errors), the staff are rude and ill-informed, the enclosures are dirty, the cafe is expensive and the food terrible.
I think it is actually far worse then when it was run by Ellis Dawe and was closed down.
And then the whole LionMan fiasco - why they wanted him in the first place is beyone me, and then to cancel and blame BIAZA is hypocritical - they clearly need the money (as they said on this website). If they wanted him, they should have just had his visit rather than sulk about BIAZA'a advice.
I was going to also say that. It's a small zoo that knows it's a small zoo. I haven't been there for a while but knew the original owners who took it over when it really was a small sea-side zoo and renovated it.
Shaldon Wildlife Trust
Interesting comments. I suspect you have noticed things there which a number of other posters who have 'bigged it up' recently have not done?
johnstoni
Well-Known Member
I don't really know what to make of a comment like 'the animals don't look so healthy anymore' re Dartmoor zoo. Are you suggesting the new management are skimping on food or vetinary bills? They are planning a vast outdoor monkey exhibit, the tapirs have finally got decent yards and housing to accompany their paddock, and there is a programme of enrichment. It sounds like you had a bad day at a bad time of year. I don't think the park in its current form can be compared to the state it was in before it closed.
Johnny Morris.
Well-Known Member
No it isn't.
I am suggesting that the management are skimping on food.
I am suggesting that the "enrichment programme" is simply for the big cats.
I have seen less and less visitors every time I go, not just on bad days at bad times of year.
I am suggesting now that the monkey enclosure will not happen - I gave them money last year for a fishing cat enclosure, which hasn't happened. When they had their TV show in 2007 (and I thought they might succeed) I bought a path-light from their website for them (probably as did many others) - still no pathlights in the zoo.
I am suggesting that they need to work harder and get back on track. It can be done, but they need to stop messing around and "playing" at having a zoo. Benjamin Mee needs to take it all a bit more seriously.
Do you know if this for existing monkeys- is it Vervets?- or for some new species.
It's for the Vervets as I understand it.
johnstoni
Well-Known Member
It sounds like you have some personal issues with having supported the park and this support having been misappropriated, which must be frustrating and would certainly put anyone off repeating it. Have they given you any indication as to why it is taking them so long to use peoples' donations in the way they agreed to?
Did you pay for the entire fishing cat exhibit or are they possibly waiting for other donations to be able to press ahead with this?
I would still say that these misgivings are distinct from accurately judging the park to be in a worse state than when run by its predecessor. I'm thinking overweight bears begging for food all day, tigers on rotation due to overcrowding, hand-raised cubs being brought out to play with visitors, coatis and macaws in that big encounters shed in 4ft square cages with no outdoor access......this is not the same park as the one in existence today.
I can't agree with that. London Zoo has spent huge amounts of money on it's animal exhibits in the last few years. You went 9 years ago - lots of things have changed:
New gorilla exhibit
New bird exhibit
Continuing renovation of the aquarium and Mapin Terrance
New children zoo.
etc
Exhibits
With respect, please don't equate enclosure size with animal welfare it doesn't work like that.
I would recommend going back to London Zoo it really has invested heavily in new exhibits.
Johnny Morris.
Well-Known Member
For a start it isn't a zoo.
I personally liked the place. It does good work on very limited resources. Hasn't it also taken in Animals that, the establishment near you, wanted paying to take in? These animals are either better off than they were, or have been spared the death sentence. I'm sure if this place had had a fraction of the tv exposure as the establishment near you, then things would be a heck of a lot better. But for a sanctuary in the middle of nowhere that was set up to rescue chimps on death row at Penscynor, i for one applaud their work and wish them every success for the future.
johnstoni
Well-Known Member
If I built a shed in my garden for some macaques I had paid to have flown over from terrible old Eastern Europe while hundreds die and are mutilated each year in british labs (not to mention douracoulis, squirrel monkeys, callitrichids, capuchins, spider monkeys and baboons), would I be applauded?
The sanctuary is doing very good work, but the fact they have very poor boundaries IMO in relation to when they need to take a breather before saving more monkeys (or wolves for that matter) means they should rightly be criticised. It doesn't mean people don't want their work to continue or for the sanctuary to cease to exist.
Sure, the rumour that the Cronins expected a dowry for the Southport chimpanzees doesn't make them look good. The chimpanzee facilities at Cefn yr Erw are fine, its the little cages for lemurs, capuchins etc at a time when even the shoddiest of childrens zoos are holding their lemurs in better accommodation than this. 'We're trying' just doesn't cut it - maybe if thats the case, they're trying too hard.
The sanctuary is doing very good work, but the fact they have very poor boundaries IMO in relation to when they need to take a breather before saving more monkeys (or wolves for that matter) means they should rightly be criticised. It doesn't mean people don't want their work to continue or for the sanctuary to cease to exist.
Sure, the rumour that the Cronins expected a dowry for the Southport chimpanzees doesn't make them look good. The chimpanzee facilities at Cefn yr Erw are fine, its the little cages for lemurs, capuchins etc at a time when even the shoddiest of childrens zoos are holding their lemurs in better accommodation than this. 'We're trying' just doesn't cut it - maybe if thats the case, they're trying too hard.
Johnny Morris.
Well-Known Member
Well Designaka does, "Having said that the Monkey Rescue place in South Wales really should think about closing down soon. It's dreadful."
That depends on whether you think the chimps would have been assets to the Cronins or a financial burden - a couple of potentially difficult adult chimps who would not have attracted significant extra numbers of people to see them but would have needed feeding, keeper time, accommodation and vets bills!
Why should the people who had used them as an attraction (and not given them the best of lives) not expect to contribute to their retirement!
Johnny Morris.
Well-Known Member
Because Monkey World is an ape rescue centre, maybe?
zoogiraffe
Well-Known Member
Well said I`m with you on that 100 %