Wellington Zoo

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Wellington Zoo
Wellington Zoo's Logo
Two otters in their enclosure at Wellington Zoo
Date opened	1906
Location	200 Daniell Street, Newtown, Wellington, New Zealand
Land area	13 ha
Number of Animals	500+
Number of Species	100+
Accreditations/ Memberships	ARAZPA
Major exhibits	Chimpanzee, Lion, Sumatran Tiger, African Savannah, Red Panda, Malayan Sun Bear
Website

Distinguished from the fictional Wellington Zoo near the Forest of Dean in England in the Primeval (TV series).

Wellington Zoo is the only zoological garden in Wellington, New Zealand and is the country's oldest zoo, being first founded in 1906. The Wellington Zoo is notable within the New Zealand conservation community for being one of the leading zoos in regard to breeding animals; indeed several lion and Sumatran tiger cubs, in addition to other species of animals, have been born in the zoo.

1 History
2 Breeding and conservation
3 Current Zoo
4 Future Plans
5 Footnotes
6 External links

[edit] History

Founded in 1906, Wellington Zoo is New Zealand's oldest zoo and recently celebrated its 100th birthday.^[1] The Zoo was originally created when a young lion was presented to the late Prime Minister Richard Seddon by the Bostock and Wombwell Circus. Seddon created the Zoo from this single specimen and the lion was later named King Dick in the Prime Minister's honour. Over time the Zoo was expanded and upgraded and was committed to a future in conservational education by bringing animals and people closer together.

Historically, Wellington Zoo operated under the auspices of the Wellington City Council. However, in June 2003 the Zoo became a charitable trust and it is now governed by a board of six trustees with the Wellington City Council as principal source of funds.

[edit] Breeding and conservation

Wellington Zoo is involved with managed breeding programmes and has had many notable successes with numerous animals having offspring within these programmes.

It works co-operatively with other zoos around the world through studbook keepers who are responsible for maintaining relevant data on a particular species within a programme to ensure genetic diversity. Wellington Zoo is a full institutional member of the Australasian Association of Zoological Parks and Aquaria.^[2]

In addition to breeding programmes, the Zoo is involved in a number of community conservation projects, including the Kereru Discovery Project together with Karori Wildlife Sanctuary, Te Papa and Pukaha (Mount Bruce). This project aims to make Wellington a better place for kereru, the native wood pigeon.^[3]

[edit] Current Zoo

The Historic Elephant House now serves as a reptile house after the last elephant at the Zoo died.

The zoo's exhibits are not specifically grouped either taxonomically or by biome, however this has been changing over the last 20 years. Features of the zoo are:

African Savannah - The main feature of this exhibit is the new giraffe house. This mixed species exhibit houses antelope species as well as zebra, ostrich and giraffes. Additionally most of the zoo's African species including cape hunting dogs and hamadryas baboons are kept at the rear of the zoo near to the African Savannah exhibit.
Monkey Islands - Close to the zoo's entrance are two purpose built islands which house the zoo's capuchin monkeys and gibbons.
The Twilight - The zoo's nocturnal house which features mainly native species such as the kiwi and tuatara.
Reptile Houses - Two reptile houses can be found at the zoo. One is purpose built and the other is the Historic Elephant House which has been renovated for this use.
Lion Exhibits - Two groups of lions are held.
Sumatran Tiger Exhibit - Cubs of this rare subspecies have been born at the zoo.
Malayan Sun Bear - Three sun bears call the zoo home with a cub being born in September 2006.
Other Animals - The zoo also exhibits a large number of other notable species including bats, cheetahs, red pandas and Asian small clawed otters.

Visitors can also get up close to exotic animals at the Zoo as part of its "Close Encounter" programme. Animals that are part of the programme include the cheetah, red panda, giraffe, lion and tiger. One can also spend all day with a member of the Zoo's training team visiting all the animals that are part of the conditioning programme.

The open style of the Zoo is primarily due to its special daily events where visitors can experience the animals up close. Allocated feeding shows and tours, along with the "Close Encounters" programme have increased the popularity of the Zoo. Every day at 1:15pm, visitors can meet the Zoo's one-legged resident 'advocacy' kiwi, Tahi (meaning 'one' in Māori), up close. Tahi's leg was amputated after he was caught in a trap set by farmers for possums, and has since become an unofficial mascot for the Wellington Zoo.

[edit] Future Plans

Wellington City Council has recently agreed to support the Zoo's redevelopment with a NZD $21 million "Zoo Capital Programme". The Council will provide two-thirds of the funding, the Zoo Trust will need to raise one-third itself. The zoo plans to develop three educational themes to encourage a message of sustainability, these are:

Islands In Isolation - This theme will explain what happens when animals evolve in isolation using New Zealand, Australia and Madagascar as examples. The focus of will be The Twilight exhibit at the zoo.
Forests Will Flourish - This theme will show how Flora and Fauna depend on each other and stress the need for sustainable use of resources.
Wildlife For Sale - This theme will show how human exploitation is pushing some animals toward extinction using the zoo's Sumatran tigers, chimpanzees and Malayan sun bears as examples.