Zoo Report: Reikorangi Animal Park

[Cassidy Casuar]

In case it is of use to anyone here, I have made a list of the animals that are kept at Reikorangi Pottery and Animal Park; probably one of the less popular animal collections of the lower North Island.
Their website contains some information that is definitely outdated, and unfortunately, their animal collection has seemingly deteriorated.

BIRDS

-Domestic Chicken: Many; 50 as a probable minimum. Notably, four recently-born birds seen (two for each mother), as well as a bird with long head plumes that may have been of the Polish breed. Most of them seemed to be small breeds. At least 60% were free-roamers.
-Helmeted Guineafowl: A few free-roamers among the other birds; possibly <10.
-Indian Peafowl: Probably <10 free-roamers, including an apparent juvenile. A leucistic adult male was caged.
-Mallard: Many free-roamers among the chickens, including many clearly derived from domestic breeds; 30 minimum (?).
-Muscovy Duck: 2 free-roamers; one white and one pied.
-Greylag Goose: Probably <30 free-roamers; at least some of them could have been Greylag x Chinese Goose hybrids.
-Chinese Goose: A few (~5?) with the Greylag Geese.
-Cape Barren Goose: Probably <10 free-roamers, including two nesting specimens.
-Rock Dove: ~5 of the entirely white variety were in the same cage as several young chickens.
-Barbary Dove: ~5 caged
-Rose-ringed Parakeet: ~5 caged
-Sulphur-crested Cockatoo: 1 caged
-Australian Magpie: 2 caged
-[Yellowhammer: 2 were frantically flying back and forth in a chicken run and both eventually escaped, so were almost certainly wild specimens].

MAMMALS

-Domestic Goat: 1 free-roaming; at least 2 in enclosures.
-Tahr: 1 in an enclosure.
-Deer species: 1 doe was in an enclosure that was apparently unlabelled as to its species; “Fallow Deer” was seen on the fence of a different enclosure, but it was not seen.
-Llama and Alpaca: Little attention was paid to them; there may have been just one or two of each.
-Domestic Horse: 1 Shetland pony in an enclosure.
-Wallaby species: 1 in an enclosure; specific name not given.
-Guinea Pig: Some in small cages near the main building; probably more than 3.
-Domestic Dog: 1 free-roaming; 1 caged in front of the main building.
-Domestic Cat: 1 in the main building.

 

[Cassidy Casuar]

An update; I visited again today, and there have been a few changes. During this visit, I asked why they no longer have two of the three species that they no longer have that are featured on their website; the Mandarin duck and the Kea. I was told that they used to have a pair of Mandarin ducks; both of which were killed by a stoat (along with a 'yellow parakeet', which I'm guessing was a yellow rose-ringed parakeet); as for Kea, I was told that they had been kept at the facility for a very long time, but the last one they had was confiscated by the DoC. I was also told that one Kea that they had at the facility went to a zoo and died soon after, but I wasn't told when this happened, or which zoo this was. As for the third species that they didn't have that was featured on their website, the domestic turkey, I didn't bother asking what had happened to it/them, for obvious reasons.
As for the changes I saw at the park, there seems to have been a decrease in the number of peafowl and guineafowl that they have, and I didn't see any 'pure-looking' Chinese geese. A pair was all that was left of the rose-ringed parakeets, and there was only one caged magpie. The Cape Barren geese apparently bred there last year, but there couldn't have been many goslings that reached adulthood, as I only saw four or five birds there. The dama wallaby enclosure was still there, but it looked empty to me.
As for good changes, there are now three leucistic peafowl there; there now being two males and a female present, and there was a pair of Swinhoe's pheasants there, which was a pleasant surprise.