ZSL London Zoo ZSL London Zoo News 2018

Shorts said:
And if they did have that level of funds part of me might question whether rehousing a vast collection of mostly small fishes was the best thing they could do with the money.
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Ah, but the thing is that a lot of these small fishes are of conservation importance. So what it boils down to is do they spend the money on conserving these species or yet another multi-million pound exhibit for a couple of species. that the public like?
 
Brum said:
Ah, but the thing is that a lot of these small fishes are of conservation importance.
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Absolutely agree but I'd at least question the wisdom of spending vast amounts (and to relocate of a majority of the collection would take that) on something that, most likely, would have no impact on visitor numbers or the quality of the experience for most visitors**. It's not like they've shown a history of willingness to throw money at fish exhibits. I just think that given the likely amounts involved even ZSL should be able to do something really magnificent (not just a single exhibit) instead. All that said, it's a moo point -I really just can't see them having the amounts of money needed to do what they've said (happy to be proved wrong though -maybe the Queen Elizabeth's left them something in her will).

I'm also really cynical about any significant relocation to Whipsnade which, as far as I'm aware, doesn't have any history, nor infrastructure, for keeping significant amounts of fish. I suppose at least, in theory, Whipsnade, has the spare space (something London might struggle with).

**though I'm sure they'll find a consultant charging ££££££££'s who could tell them they could spend millions on moving the fish and showing them in some innovative and, no doubt expensive, way which would result in higher visitor numbers and higher visitor satisfaction
 
@Shorts I totally agree with your post, my point (that I failed to get across) is that the conservation dependent fishes be moved elsewhere in the zoo, you could fit some in BUGS, maybe move some others off-show and also add a few species to Whipsnade in the butterfly house. Yeah, I know I totally failed to make that point but it is what I meant to say. Obviously it's going to thin out the collection significantly but at least itchyologists will have something to look at.

Shorts said:
All that said, it's a moo point
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I never knew you spoke bovine, next time we meet (probably to give you that quid I owe you! ;)) then you must teach me some phrases! :p
 
I wonder if any relocation to Whipsnade would involve the former Discovery Centre which has been closed for a while now. It did house a small amount of aquatic species previously I believe - nowhere near the scale of the London aquarium though obviously.
 
Zia said:
I wonder if any relocation to Whipsnade would involve the former Discovery Centre which has been closed for a while now. It did house a small amount of aquatic species previously I believe - nowhere near the scale of the London aquarium though obviously.
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Believe it has been converted into offices......
 
Here’s a grumble.

I wondered whether there would be any announcement, possibly to fellows, of the decision to close the aquarium.

Possibly that announcement has come, and I have missed it.

But, today, I received the latest fellows’ email newsletter from ZSL.

There’s stuff about an evening event at Whipsnade. Something about the annual weigh-in (is this the PR Department’s new annual stock take?). A “cute alert” for tiger cubs (God help us). But nothing about the demise of such a significant building.

I would have thought the fellowship might deserve to be better informed.
 
sooty mangabey said:
Here’s a grumble.

I wondered whether there would be any announcement, possibly to fellows, of the decision to close the aquarium.

Possibly that announcement has come, and I have missed it.

But, today, I received the latest fellows’ email newsletter from ZSL.

There’s stuff about an evening event at Whipsnade. Something about the annual weigh-in (is this the PR Department’s new annual stock take?). A “cute alert” for tiger cubs (God help us). But nothing about the demise of such a significant building.

I would have thought the fellowship might deserve to be better informed.
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What’s the event at Whipsnade
 
Maybe ZSL feel there are enough aquariums around the UK & there is little point in trying to compete with a facility that is old & expensive to maintain?
 
TriUK said:
Maybe ZSL feel there are enough aquariums around the UK & there is little point in trying to compete with a facility that is old & expensive to maintain?
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I'm not necessarily saying I agree with you, but this is probably a valid point. The cost of renovation may be better spent elsewhere in the zoo and there are Sealife everywhere, several not that far away! Personally, I don't really go out of my way to a Sealife, but I'm not the general public, who seem to love them & are prepared to pay their excessive prices!
 
TriUK said:
Maybe ZSL feel there are enough aquariums around the UK & there is little point in trying to compete with a facility that is old & expensive to maintain?
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A fair point, but it’s the principle of the matter.

As Sooty states, decrepit or not, the aquarium is/was an important part of ZSL’s heritage. The very least they could have done for Fellows was send a mail out explaining what was happening.

Sooty, from a fellow Fellow, I received nothing either, and only found out on this forum!
 
Tim May said:
Although probably none of the other UK aquariums match the important conservation work carried out by the London Zoo aquarium.
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...and to compare the ZSL aquarium - and a possible, future aquarium - to a Sealife Centre is, I think, misleading: rather nasty, formulaic, deeply commercial places of little real value, against something that could be great - we can but dream, but if London were to have an aquarium to match those at the zoos of Amsterdam, Berlin, Antwerp, or, in the USA, Toledo, then that would be something really special. Or a 'sort of' aquarium, as at Rotterdam or Wroclaw. Or - and this really is fantasy land - a world class aquarium, like the fishy part of the Shedd (I'll forego the dolphins and belugas, much as I'd love to see them in Regent's Park). If a kindly Russian oligarch were to give ZSL £100 million - instead of spending it on buying a football club - I actually think that a proper aquarium would be the wisest thing on which to spend the money, even if, on a personal level, I'm far less interested in fish than I am in mammals, bird or reptiles.
 
kiang said:
Interesting times ahead then, focusing on the 200th anniversary in 2026, which I hope will see facelifts for the Mappins, Casson, North bank and Cotton terraces.
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That’s a hell of a lot of money to find/spend in the space of 8 years!!!

At least the Cotton terraces are functional, but realistically HOW do you solve the Casson and Mappins without breaking the bank? The latter’s a multi-million pound project on its own! Where would you find that type of investment and justify it? We’ve all got our own ideas I’ve no doubt, but I’m sure ZSL will probably let both just slowly rot.

My prediction? The Casson will become an indoor soft-play area/coffee shop and Mappins gets sold off to Go Ape!

Stranger things have happened!
 
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