Fota Wildlife Park and Dublin Zoo striding forward in their conservation efforts

Hollzy

Dublin Zoo has a new male Amur tiger. He has joined the two female Amur tigers so hopefully they'll breed!

http://www.dublinzoo.ie/News/66-84/Dublin-Zoo-Welcomes-New-Tiger.aspx

Fota, which has never had tigers before, is getting two Sumatran tigers in September this year. It's hoped this pair will breed too. Fota has done huge work with their cheetah breeding programme so let's hope their success continues! They have many more arrivals planned after this one as they are working on a new 45 acre Asian exhibit. Here's an article from last month on it.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/sumatran-tigers-lions-and-rhino-all-coming-to-fota-3337264.html

Fota will be getting Asian lions as well. I don't know much about this but I do know that a few months ago, the African lioness Dublin Zoo had passed away so they sent their male African lion to England and got two Asian lionesses instead, as they are more endangered. So maybe the two establishments can collaborate on this project in future years.

It's all looking very promising at the moment anyway!

Ziphius

Very interesting.
Looks like quite the expansion for Fota. I'm eager to see how they will implement it. Their aesthetic has always been to use a minimum of fences and barriers in the enclosures and I'm curious how/if they will manage this with larger more dangerous animals such as tigers and rhinos.

Hollzy

I'm intrigued myself. I think Sean McKeown is a great park director though, so I imagine they'll do it well.

Maybe the tiger enclosure will be similar to the cheetah ones? Tigers are much stronger so the exact same model wouldn't be good enough. We'll just have to wait and see I suppose!

As for rhinos, I don't know. Maybe they'll do something similar to what Dublin Zoo have?

Ziphius

Ah yes! Now that you mention it the barriers in the new(-ish) African Savannah area in Dublin are rather unobtrusive. As are the elephant and great ape enclosures.

Something to look forward to.

Hollzy

Yeah, I think Dublin Zoo has made some major improvements in the last few years. The operations manager has been into college a few times to give us talks. The work that they put into the new elephant enclosure is amazing. And there are cameras set up so he can check on them on his phone 24/7!

Yeah, I can't wait to see the finished products in each establishment! I'll be in Fota next month. I wonder if I'll get a glimpse of construction... I should be in Dublin Zoo pretty soon too actually.

Birdnuts

Hollzy wrote: »

Yeah, I think Dublin Zoo has made some major improvements in the last few years. The operations manager has been into college a few times to give us talks. The work that they put into the new elephant enclosure is amazing. And there are cameras set up so he can check on them on his phone 24/7!

.

The new ele inclosure is indeed a vast improvement on what went before. I hope Dublin ZOO continues to expand in area to give the larger mammals even more room. The Phoenix Park is plenty big for such an expansion. I would love to see it more like a safari park in the future.:cool:

Hollzy

Yeah, I would too. Unfortunately it's about more than the fact he space is there... Funding and planning permission slow these things down considerably. But they're moving in the right direction. They're always embarking on something new. Hopefully they will get more land in the next few years and when they do it will be as generous as Fota's 45 acres!

dahamsta

Great news, can't wait to see the newbies in Cork.

Hollzy wrote: »

a few months ago, the African lioness Dublin Zoo had passed away so they sent their male African lion to England and got two Asian lionesses instead, as they are more endangered.

Sheila did pass away recently but she was on her tod, the male died years ago. Last I read about it, Dublin were holding off on bringing Asian lions into the Zoo until Sheila died, presumably to prevent against any possibility of cross-breeding.

EDIT: The wifelet points out that I should have said cross-infection, not cross-breeding. <waves at wifelet>

Hollzy

Are you sure? It was the operations manager who said they'd sent the male away. The Asian lionesses are in a different part of the park anyway but I can still see how it would be sensible to wait until the other had passed on when she was so old.

dahamsta

Absolutely. The male died around 3-4 years ago, Sheila has been on her own there since. If Gerry sent a male to England, he must have been keeping it at home. More likely he sent a male something-else somewhere and will receive the lions from somewhere else. Zoo transfers can be quite complex.

The Zoo has had plans to bring Asian lions in since Matt died, if not before. I could be wrong about the reason, but I'm sure that they were waiting for Sheila to pass away.

Hollzy

Was it that long ago? :O I must have mixed that up with something else he said, my apologies.

I wonder what they'll do with Sheila's old enclosure now. It was empty the last time I was there.

dahamsta

No need to apologise, I'm just a know-it-all on Sheila because I sponsored her.

I'd imagine the enclosure'll be left for a while, they seem to be focussing their work on the older section of the Zoo at the moment. I couldn't believe the transformation over on the left the last time I was up there, and of course they've done sterling work with the ellies area.

Hopefully they'll tidy all those enclosures on the path up towards the sealions now, some of them are looking very tired. The old polar bears enclosure has been empty for years now.

Hollzy

Ah, I see!

Yeah, I feel like some work on the otter enclosure could be a good idea. That general area does seem a little behind the rest now. The new gorilla enclosure is fantastic though. I wonder what the next project will be...

dodderangler

Be nice to see them put the snowy owl into a bigger enclosure
I know they aren't huge birds of prey but they do prefer a much larger aviary
And maybe give the wolves a bigger expansion also
Wolves territory's are huge and that enclosure just doesn't seem big enough

Hollzy

They have a second snowy owl now too.

Yeah, the wolves have a quite small enclosure. I was at the zoo today and I heard them howling from across the park which I hadn't heard before!

Hollzy

I meant to mention this a few weeks ago. I was talking to a zoo volunteer and apparently okapi will be put into the old African lion enclosure but I have no idea when.

maria_81

Hollzy wrote: »

I meant to mention this a few weeks ago. I was talking to a zoo volunteer and apparently okapi will be put into the old African lion enclosure but I have no idea when.

haven't been there for a long time. But don't they have okapi already?

Or are you saying they're moving them? Apologies if I misunderstand.

Hollzy

No, they don't have okapi yet but they do have bongo which look quite similar.

maria_81

oh right, my mistake:o

thanks for the info

Hollzy

No problem!