Zoos of Australia

Chlidonias said:
if a farm park only has one alpaca it doesn't count, but if it has alpacas, cockatoos, emus, ostriches, whatever, then it can stay.
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Actually I don't think alpacas count either as they are a domestic species not found in the wild, nor feral in Australia.

Similar argument could apply to camels as they are also extinct in the wild but of course feral in Australia.

I must say I am in two minds about Big Goose as it is very much a children's farm with the few non-domestics treated as domestics in the same type of enclosures etc. I just reported what I saw...

By the way Snowleopard your use of "exotic" in this context is a little confusing, in that in Australian zoos "exotic" refers to animals from overseas against "natives" and "domestic". So here a zoo without "exotics" would be one that has only "natives".
 
snowleopard said:
Kangaroo Island Penguin Centre (SA) - the website states that the penguin tours closed in 2013 and I'm not sure if the aquariums are still available for viewing either. Maybe someone else could confirm that suspicion.
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Chlidonias said:
the website had a virus (probably from one of the add-ons) so I didn't review it - and which is why I didn't put a link to the website as for the other collections. I will look into the aquarium situation.
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I had a look around and found some comments that the building is empty so I have removed it from the list.
 
It seems as if the combined efforts of a few ZooChatters has contributed to a newly revised Australian Zoo List and I'm 99% satisfied with the revisions and various updates. I have aligned my own list to match with the 159 zoos on the master list that is at the beginning of this thread and it has been fun researching all the zoos.

I agree with 155 of the zoos but there are 4 that I have question marks over:

Cooberrie Park Australian Wildlife Sanctuary (QLD) - the website looks great and by all accounts it appears to still be open...but the "what is new" section of the website was last updated in 2013! Is this place definitely still open to the public?

Animal Land Children's Farm (VIC) - it has almost all domestic animals and other than a few alpacas (and perhaps some deer?) this place might not qualify in the minds of most zoo enthusiasts. A tough call.

Collingwood Children's Farm (VIC) - it seems that there are only domestics here.

The Big Goose Kids Farm (VIC) - it seems that this place is almost entirely full of domestic animals and the 3 farms in the state of Victoria seem out of place on a list of Australian zoos. I'd be intrigued to read a report of someone who has actually visited all of these places. Should they really be included?

Also, what about Goolwa Animal Farm in Goolwa, South Australia? According to the website there are "a colony of wallabies, 3 different types of kangaroos, alpacas and emus." Maybe we should add in that one? It seems much more valid than the trio in Victoria.

Home

Now I'm curious to find out if there are any zoo nerds who have visited more than 50% of all the zoos on the list. Is there anyone on this site willing to share their numbers? How many Aussie zoos have you been to?
 
snowleopard said:
Cooberrie Park Australian Wildlife Sanctuary (QLD) - the website looks great and by all accounts it appears to still be open...but the "what is new" section of the website was last updated in 2013! Is this place definitely still open to the public?
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yes Cooberrie is still open of course. They are even Zoochat members.


snowleopard said:
Also, what about Goolwa Animal Farm in Goolwa, South Australia? According to the website there are "a colony of wallabies, 3 different types of kangaroos, alpacas and emus." Maybe we should add in that one? It seems much more valid than the trio in Victoria.
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I'll add that one in.
 
I've been to 50 of them.

I think you can probably include Raptor Domain - even though it is not a zoo per se, they are wildlife demonstrations with a variety of non-domestic species.
home

:p

Hix
 
Hix said:
I think you can probably include Raptor Domain - even though it is not a zoo per se, they are wildlife demonstrations with a variety of non-domestic species.
home
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I shall add that one in as well.
 
You could probably also include Myuna Farm in Victoria, which has red & fallow deer, alpaca, water buffalo, peafowl, pheasants, kangaroos, emu and several licenced birds such as black cockatoos.
And also Chesterfield Farm which has kangaroos, cockatoos, camels, llama, red deer, fallow deer, emus, ostrich, peafowl, as well as the usual domestic farm animals. Last time we were there, I suspect the young deer in the petting area was actually a sambar deer, rather than a red deer, but the staff member I asked had no idea....
 
Astrobird said:
You could probably also include Myuna Farm in Victoria, which has red & fallow deer, alpaca, water buffalo, peafowl, pheasants, kangaroos, emu and several licenced birds such as black cockatoos.
And also Chesterfield Farm which has kangaroos, cockatoos, camels, llama, red deer, fallow deer, emus, ostrich, peafowl, as well as the usual domestic farm animals. Last time we were there, I suspect the young deer in the petting area was actually a sambar deer, rather than a red deer, but the staff member I asked had no idea....
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thanks, I'll add those ones in as well.
 
Valley Lake Conservation Area (Mt Gambier, SA) and Little Desert Nature Lodge (Nhill, VIC) should be added to the list.
 
gerenuk said:
Valley Lake Conservation Area (Mt Gambier, SA) and Little Desert Nature Lodge (Nhill, VIC) should be added to the list.
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can you explain the Mt Gambier one? Is it a fenced area with captive animals free-ranging inside? Are there any caged animals as well (e.g. aviaries).

And are the captive animals at the Little Desert Nature Lodge restricted to their malleefowl, or also other animals?

(I'll add them both on, just trying to get a handle on what they actually are).
 
Chlidonias said:
I've taken out Buller's Bird Park (Victoria) and Bordertown Wildlife Park (South Australia) as Steve tells me they are now closed...
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I'm not sure the latter is (still?) closed, it seems to be well advertised in the local tourist brochures available in the town (printed this year). Apparently displays Western Grey Kangaroos (white, "not albino"), Dama Wallabies and "birdlife". It sort of sounds like access into the park was closed, but the animals can still be viewed from the outside of the park, so it is still in existence.

Website: https://www.tatiara.sa.gov.au/page.aspx?u=578&t=uList&ulistId=0&c=5675
 
zooboy28 said:
I'm not sure the latter is (still?) closed, it seems to be well advertised in the local tourist brochures available in the town (printed this year). Apparently displays Western Grey Kangaroos (white, "not albino"), Dama Wallabies and "birdlife". It sort of sounds like access into the park was closed, but the animals can still be viewed from the outside of the park, so it is still in existence.

Website: https://www.tatiara.sa.gov.au/page.aspx?u=578&t=uList&ulistId=0&c=5675
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that's interesting. I had a bit of a google and the park was never "closed down" but equally I'm not sure that it's been actually "open" for a long time. I'll put it back on the list because even though visitors can't enter the site it appears it is a regular tourist attraction.

The kangaroos are clearly albino as well, despite what they say in that link.
 
Chlidonias said:
can you explain the Mt Gambier one? Is it a fenced area with captive animals free-ranging inside? Are there any caged animals as well (e.g. aviaries).

And are the captive animals at the Little Desert Nature Lodge restricted to their malleefowl, or also other animals?

(I'll add them both on, just trying to get a handle on what they actually are).
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Valley Lake Conservation Area is a large walk-in fenced enclosure with kangaroo, wallaby, bandicoot, and koala. Tasmanian Bettong and Potoroo were in separate enclosures.

Little Desert also has Bush Stone Curlew, Brush-tailed & Rufous Bettong, and Sugar Gliders in enclosures.
 
zooboy28 said:
I'm not sure the latter is (still?) closed, it seems to be well advertised in the local tourist brochures available in the town (printed this year). Apparently displays Western Grey Kangaroos (white, "not albino"), Dama Wallabies and "birdlife". It sort of sounds like access into the park was closed, but the animals can still be viewed from the outside of the park, so it is still in existence.

Website: https://www.tatiara.sa.gov.au/page.aspx?u=578&t=uList&ulistId=0&c=5675
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I'd support that, when I last drove past that was the situation. Same as Kaniva but larger. I doubt it has ever been "open" in that visitors can go inside, if so it must have been many years ago. Also I believe there is something similar in Sale but I have not seen it. If I get down that way I will check it out.
 
I did look through the list to see which I had visited and not surprising my list is probably a little larger than most. What did interest me though is I jotted down a list of zoos I have visited but which have subsequently closed, and I came up with 25. I have to say though, there is probably only one on the list that I would miss.
 
here's their website Welcome to On the Perch

It seems kind of expensive for only four aviaries ($14) but they have over 40 species on show apparently, and there are some nice species amongst them.
 
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