Australia Zoo

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Australia Zoo


Date opened	1970
Location	Beerwah, Queensland, Australia
Land area	72 acres
Coordinates	-26.837512, 152.960844
Website

Australia Zoo is located in the Australian state of Queensland on the Sunshine Coast near Beerwah/Glass House Mountains. It is owned by Terri Irwin, the widow of Steve Irwin, whose wildlife documentary series The Crocodile Hunter made the zoo a popular tourist attraction.

1 History
2 Attractions
3 Zoo Development
4 Criticism
5 Gallery
6 References
7 External links

[edit] History

Australia Zoo was opened by Bob and Lyn Irwin in 1970 under the name Beerwah Reptile Park.^[1]^[2] Bob Irwin is a world renowned herpetologist, who is regarded as a pioneer in the keeping and breeding of reptiles. His wife Lyn was one of the first to care for and rehabilitate sick and injured wildlife in southeast Queensland.^[3]

Bob and Lyn passed on their love and respect for wildlife to their children, especially to their son Steve Irwin, who had helped his parents since childhood to care for crocodiles and reptiles and to maintain the growing number of animals in the zoo. Over a decade later the park was renamed to the Queensland Reptile and Fauna Park and the area was doubled with the purchase of another four acres. In 1987 the Crocodile Environmental Park was opened in an effort to aid saltwater crocodile protection. By the 1990s the Crocodile Environmental Park had become very popular and was seen as unique for its display of crocodile feeding within the park.^[4]

In 1991 Steve "The Crocodile Hunter" Irwin overtook management of the zoo. In 1992 the park was renamed again, becoming Australia Zoo. Currently, the zoo maintains more than 1000 animals and over 550 staff.^[5]

Australia Zoo won the Australian Tourism Awards for 2003-2004 in the category Major Tourist Attraction.^[6] Australia Zoo Retail has also won the Tourism Retailing Award from Qantas Australian Tourism Awards.^[7]

On 16 March 2008 the Brisbane-based newspaper, The Sunday Mail, claimed there are plans to sell Australia Zoo to Animal Planet and create a $100-million Disney-style wildlife theme park. ^[8]

[edit] Attractions

Although best known for the crocodiles and the live crocodile feedings, the zoo is also known for featuring exhibits of other Australian wildlife, including koalas, wombats, Tasmanian devils, snakes, and (until 2006) a giant Galapagos tortoise called Harriet, who was generally acknowledged as the world's oldest living chelonian when she died on 23 June 2006, at the age of 176.^[9] The Zoo also features a smaller selection of animals from around the world, including elephants, tigers, cheetahs and Komodo Dragons, along with a wide range of birds.

[edit] Zoo Development

In the meantime, the zoo has encompassed a large area of 72 acres (29 hectares)^[10], (this will be expanded to over 500 acres - 202 hectares - in due course), in which many animals live. In order to reduce long walks, a 'modified trailered bus' has been utilised, named Steve's Safari Shuttle, which operates on a reasonably narrow bitumen roadway circuit. ^[11]

At the zoo there is also a stadium, named the 'Animal Planet Crocoseum', which has a capacity of approximately 5000.^[12] At the time of its construction, it was the first in the world where snake, bird and crocodile shows were conducted. Australia Zoo calls these shows 'Wildlife Warriors 101'.^[13] One can also view a crocodile feeding and even participate in an elephant feeding (the elephant feeding can be participated in during the mornings on the roadway circuit at the first crossover to the internal section of the zoo or in the afternoons at 'Elephantasia' (Australia's largest Elephant exhibit^[14]) around the back of the zoo near tiger temple).^[15]

There is a running space for kangaroos that you can feed^[16], and there is often an opportunity to pet a koala. The zoo's sponsored charity Wildlife Warriors also run a rescue operation and care station for any native wildlife who may be injured in accidents outside the zoo.^[17]^[18]

As of the end of 2006, the elephant enclosure is being expanded, the waterpool has just been completed and 'Elephantasia' officially opened on 26/12/2006. Furthermore, a construction of an artificial island (to represent the Island of Madagascar), began in 2006, which will accommodate African animals such as tortoises, lemurs and other species not yet represented. The South-East Asian Precinct will also be improved with the introduction of Orangutans, and transfer of the Komodo Dragons, which inhabit an enclosure near to the entrance to create a more complete Bio-Climatic Asian Region.^[19]

A number of high-profile people have contributed to or supported Australia Zoo, including Justin Timberlake^[20] and the Dalai Lama.^[21]

[edit] Criticism

In March 2008, the Zoo was accused of animal 'cruelty'^[22] and of breaking Australian law 13 times^[23] by not releasing koalas within their prescribed habitats. The Environment Protection Association said that they are now monitoring and investigating why the Koalas were not released correctly.