Fantastic news. I think his point about Gorillas was simply that everyone knows they're in trouble and are keen to do something about it. Whereas a lot of the native species have never been heard of in the average household, so most people aren't motivated to help them. Yet we have some of the most threatened species in the world and the rate of decline is very high. Zoos Victoria is in a great position to promote help for these species and doing it through 3 facilities that appeal to a wider "audience" is better than just at Healesville. Exotics are what currently get people through the gates of Werribee and Melbourne and so will always be the focus. I'd also like Werribee to continue doing the good work they have been doing on promoting the threatened native grasslands that the site is built on - with threatened species like golden sun moths, legless lizards, eastern barred bandicoots, southern brown bandicoots, growling grass frogs and perhaps reintroducing earless dragons (regionally extinct and almost nationally).
