Zion Wildlife Gardens yet another big cat accident at Zion

Funeral service

Just a note: The service for Dalu is at Zion Tuesday AM. There will be stacks of disgruntled staff and volunteers there. Certainly a poor choice for this to occur and I am pretty sure there will be media which can make for a situation to occur.
 
ptig said:
Just a note: The service for Dalu is at Zion Tuesday AM. There will be stacks of disgruntled staff and volunteers there. Certainly a poor choice for this to occur and I am pretty sure there will be media which can make for a situation to occur.
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I understand it's at 10.30 am this morning. R.I.P Dalu and condolences to his family. Dalu's Friend Jason Taylor wrote a brilliant tribute

In memory of Dalu Mncube - National - NZ Herald News

Worth a read if anyone has the time. It was Dalu doing all the work not those who owned the park:)
 
I've been away for a few days so please forgive me if this news has already been posted somewhere - I have looked for it to no avail!

Tim Husband is to be Zion's new "Operations Manager".
 
Steve Robinson said:
I've been away for a few days so please forgive me if this news has already been posted somewhere - I have looked for it to no avail!

Tim Husband is to be Zion's new "Operations Manager".
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Hi Steve

The only mention of Tim Husband was in the Northern Advocate in an Article dated 21 May 09. But there was no confirmation from Zion Wildlife Gardens management that Mr Husband had been taken on:)

Lion Man could get a new rival for his role as the pride of Zion's - Northern Advocate - 2009-05-21 17:57:00.0 - localnews
 
Possible operations manager

The article attached seems to indicate that Tim Husband was recently at Cairnes Park. That was a few years now. An interesting choice if it is true.
 
The appointment was confirmed on June 1 by Mr Husband's wife in an email to various Aussie zoo people. [No - I wasn't on the mailing list but a friend was].

As ptig said, this is a very "interesting" choice. I'm not too sure just how long the short list was!

For the cats' sake, I wish him well.
 
Steve Robinson said:
The appointment was confirmed on June 1 by Mr Husband's wife in an email to various Aussie zoo people. [No - I wasn't on the mailing list but a friend was].

As ptig said, this is a very "interesting" choice. I'm not too sure just how long the short list was!

For the cats' sake, I wish him well.
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Well look at it this way a far better choice for managing the Park then the original *operator* at least the animals won't have their claws taken off!:rolleyes:
 
New director

Too late for that. I guess the whole thing though depends on MAF investigation and outcomes. The place might not survive anyway.
 
I did volunteer work at the park from Jan-March 2009.
I not only worked alongside Dalu but became very close friends with him. He took me sight seeing around New Zealand and we often had drinks/dinner at his place.
to hear what happened last week was such a shock so upsetting.
The good news is, today i heard that they have raised enough money to send his body back to south africa. This is great news as it was his wish and his family's.
Dalu had the biggest heart, the most contagious smile and the warmest personality i have ever seen. The way he loved those cats, interacted with them and cared for them was truly amazing.
RIP Dalu, you are forever in my heart
xxx
 
tigger000 said:
I did volunteer work at the park from Jan-March 2009.
I not only worked alongside Dalu but became very close friends with him. He took me sight seeing around New Zealand and we often had drinks/dinner at his place.
to hear what happened last week was such a shock so upsetting.
The good news is, today i heard that they have raised enough money to send his body back to south africa. This is great news as it was his wish and his family's.
Dalu had the biggest heart, the most contagious smile and the warmest personality i have ever seen. The way he loved those cats, interacted with them and cared for them was truly amazing.
RIP Dalu, you are forever in my heart
xxx
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hey glad you found your here hun :D

also its extremely good news that he can go home :D

can anyone shed any light on this new operator? is it a good choice and will he take a hands off attitude? although i think maf will have a hands off policy from now on anyways if they want to do the right things for the cats, someone posted on the fb page that zion was angry and that khali was depressed, this is indeed sad on two levels, we should be sad and angry for them, wild animals should not be pining for humans and they need to get some kind of routine going at least
 
Hey there Tigger

Nice to hear from someone who actually worked at the park. Tim husband runs Zooworks in Australia. As Ptig said earlier he was an interesting choice. Here's his website Zoo Works

I'm just very very sorry you lost a close friend. It didn't need to happen. I was pleased to hear a local Whangarei Businessman came up with the other half of the cost to fly Dalu home to Africa. He was so young and deserved a longer life than what he had. Sad Abu died but given the situation at the time I doubt anyone had any choice but to put the tiger down. You know because you were there when Demitri Price was attacked by the same Tiger.

Thanks for sharing with everyone here on this board.:)
 
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Dalu's return to Africa

For the life of me I cannot figure out why Patricia Busch did not reach into her back pocket to pay the expense. It is not even close to the least she could do....
 
ptig said:
For the life of me I cannot figure out why Patricia Busch did not reach into her back pocket to pay the expense. It is not even close to the least she could do....
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I'm sure the standard line is they are strapped for cash
 
cash strapped

You must be kidding. Sell furniture, car, whatever I find it a bit embarrassing to be asking for a hand out in such tragic circumstances.
 
ptig said:
For the life of me I cannot figure out why Patricia Busch did not reach into her back pocket to pay the expense. It is not even close to the least she could do....
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ptig that's exactly what I was wondering as well. Zion should have had the decency to pay for Dalu's costs back to Africa. After all he lost his life in their park and to be quite cold and blunt he was the one doing all the damned work.:mad::confused: Him and the other workers and volunteers that did all the donkey work. And yes the least they could have done was to pay for the air fare and done a little more than that. I understand Patricia Busch had set up a trust fund for Dalu to raise funds. Cash strapped maybe? Pass there
 
Hey all again,
It is true that Zion could be a little tight on the money side of things. I believe that they paid some of the fare to get him home, but they couldnt cover all of it.
With no business since the incident, i doubt they have any funds coming in...and keep in mind they still have to feed the cats which can become quite costly as well as now doing maintenance on the enclosures.
 
You're right about having no business - with the park shut down equals no income. All those animals would not be cheap to feed even if people gave them the stock for nothing (old cows etc) it's still the wages to pay etc.I know how expensive the Massey Lion Park used to cost to run not cheap and those guys did have a fairly good situation for their animals. Thanks for the info!:)
 
There will always be some form of income from the series, although I'm not sure if this goes to craig, his production company or the park itself. but as long as the show is on the air it will be producing an income even if they are all repeats.
 
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