Zoos and other animal collections of New Zealand

I've made a complete rework of the list in the original post of this thread.

There are two major differences now.

Firstly I have decided to add in farm parks and petting zoos to the list (previously I had left off anything which was solely composed of domestic animals). I did this as I felt like the list would be of more general use (to anybody who comes across it, not just Zoochatters) if it simply included all places where one could go to see animals. There are loads of farm parks around New Zealand so there will still be many missing. I'll just be randomly adding them as I come across them.

Secondly (partly because of the above) I have divided the list into categories: Zoos; Native Wildlife; Bird Collections and Aviaries; Aquariums; Butterfly Houses; Museums with live animals; and Farm Parks and Petting Zoos. This means that it is easy to see places of specific interest (e.g. native wildlife) and also caters to those people who like to protest "that's not a zoo".

The full list (arranged north to south) is still there also, after the section where the collections are divided by category, for anyone wanting to see where all the zoos are in relation to one another. At some point I might even make a Google map like the one devilfish made for the UK.

The Closed Zoos section is still right at the bottom as well.
 
Which South island wildlife centres would be best to see/photograph native birds?? Also any recommended walk-through aviaries??
 
Lindale almost certainly no longer has animals. Lindale Farm closed down in early 2015, and most of the animals were subsequently re-homed. The now-disused 'Te Nikau Cafe' Facebook page indicates that Lindale still had some animals in September 2017, but in the same month, the still-active 'The Lindale Village' Facebook page made its last post about having animals. Additionally, the 'Lindale Barnyard' link in the OP no longer works, and the rest of the Lindale Village website does not mention having an attraction with animals anywhere. Finally, the most recent review of Lindale on Tripadvisor (from March 2019) mentions that Lindale no longer has animals.

Also, The Bushmans Centre closed down last year.

This facility is possibly worth adding to the OP: Animal Park — WALNUT RANCH
 
I visited Lindale Village today. I asked a staff member about the animals; they confirmed my suspicion that the animals were re-homed after the Te Nikau Cafe came under new management. The village's goats went to the Reikorangi Pottery Park. I was under the impression that there were no animals left at all, but just as I was finishing my conversation with the staff member, I saw the village's free-ranging male Indian Peafowl. The staff member then told me that in addition to that Peafowl, the village still has a rooster and six hens, but I didn't see them.

In other words, the only animals that Lindale Village has left are a peacock and a few chickens.
 
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The Thames Butterfly and Orchid Garden (AKA Butterfly Forest) appears to have permanently closed some time between early 2019 and early 2020. Originally it was just going to move, but apparently that plan fell through somehow.
 
The Parrot Ranch no longer has animals.
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News about the current status of the Reikorangi Pottery and Animal Park is possibly conflicting. It is supposed to have closed to the public in 2020 (see here: (1) (2)), but news about the park's remaining animals was posted to a Kāpiti community group on Facebook in mid-2021, by a person who is not one of the retired owners. It is unclear whether this means that the park can still be visited by appointment, or that it will be re-opened in the future, or that the person who made the posts is simply a close friend of the owners (at least two people asked, but they did not get public responses). The following is from one of the Facebook posts (posted in August 2021):
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According to local media, Rainbow Springs in Rotorua is proposing to close perminantly resulting from Covid-19. They had a large number of native animals and I believe farmyard exhibits. Story here
 
Matt_C said:
According to local media, Rainbow Springs in Rotorua is proposing to close perminantly resulting from Covid-19. They had a large number of native animals and I believe farmyard exhibits. Story here
Click to expand...
Rainbow Springs was by far the most substantial of the private wildlife parks I visited during my short trip to New Zealand in 2018. That it is closing is an indication as to how hard the New Zealand tourism industry has been hit by the COVID lockdown there.

Note there was an "if" in that story so maybe they are holding out hope for some government support. Can anyone advise as to what support there has been for zoos in New Zealand?
 
Yeah the group who own Rainbow Springs are very clever and well resourced business people and will hopefully be seeking support or even an opportunity to sell the venture.
It seems surprising given their extensive Rotorua tourism portfolio Rainbow Springs is the one they are looking to offload, it was always very popular. Oddly though they have stayed closed other operators have reopened so maybe they need large visitor volumes to cover the filtration and running costs?
 
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Today I visited Murrayfield Café. For years it had a small collection of mostly domestic animals with ponies, goats, etc. It used to have a small rustic museum, but I found out online that the café came under new management last year and that the museum was subsequently removed. I was unable to find anything about whether the animal collection was affected by the change in management, however. Today I got my answer; despite the entrance still having a sign that advertises a, "Children's Petting Zoo", this has been reduced to 10 sheep in a paddock. So, much like Lindale Village, Murrayfield Café lost almost all of its small collection of animals due to the facility coming under new management by people who had no interest in keeping them.

I have visited Murrayfield Café once previously, which was in 2013. Back then it had domestic mallards and a small aviary that I remember as containing a diamond dove and possibly also a Chinese painted quail. Most or all of the photos that I took during that visit were lost due to a hard drive crash.
 
Rainbow Springs have confirmed their decision to close:

'Iconic' Rainbow Springs will permanently close

Rainbow Springs will proactively work with the Zoo and Aquarium Association to relocate the animals.

The National Kiwi Hatchery, which is also located at Rainbow Springs, will remain open. It will continue to operate at the site until plans are developed to move it to the recently reopened Agrodome site.

1932-2022.​
 
It appears that West Melton now has not one, but two farm park-type animal-holding facilities that can be visited by the public.
Glenlothian Farm appears to hold Red-necked Wallaby, Red-eared Slider, European Fallow Deer, and an assortment of common domestic mammals and common non-native birds.

Glenlothian Farm - Unique Animal Farm West Melton
 
Riddiford Garden Aviary is slated for demolition due to budget problems faced by the local council:

Desperately seeking savings, Lower Hutt council plans to close aviary

There is also another alpaca farm that can be visited by appointment that is not in the zoo list; Cantharis Alpacas in Paraparaumu:

Alpacas Kapiti Wellington New Zealand

Also, I recently realised that the area of the Kapiti Coast and surrounds has lost at least five publicly-accessible captive animal viewing facilities within the past ten years.

-Te Nikau Barnyard: Closed 2015.
-Reikorangi Pottery Park: Closed 2020.
-Owlcatraz: Closed 2020.
-Loco Miniature Railway & Gardens (Ōtaki): Closed 2020.
-Murrayfield Café: Ceased holding most species in 2021, closed 2022.

It's funny; there is a negative online review of Murrayfield Café from 2013, saying of their petting zoo, "there are better ones in the area". My, how things have changed.
 
Cassidy Casuar said:
Shaw's Bird Park no longer exists. The protected native birds that were held there were held without authorisation; they were seized by the Department of Conservation and several of them have since been euthanised due to poor health. The park's non-native bird species have been re-homed. A long article about this controversial zoo is linked below.

The bird park, the conspiracy, and the council plans that kickstarted a years-long dispute over a piece of land
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What a bizarre story. Open a bird park as an action of political protest.
 
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