I really wanted to like Wellington zoo. I even got good weather for my visit. First impression was good-the staff were incredibly friendly. However, after the first 10 minutes the only animals I’d actually seen were the peccaries. Otters: off display, supposedly with some blue penguins in their place, but not that I could see. Gibbons: off exhibit. Then the nocturnal house, but with no visible kiwi, indeed it was dark to the point of being a health hazard. There were apparantly rats in a display, but they were all hiding.
Finally, monkey island had some life to it, and a keeper gave an ok talk which involved getting everyone involved stuffing pinecones with popcorn and raisins. There was a mix of spider monkeys and capuchins on the island. In the exhibit opposite were apparently agoutis, cotton top tamarins and several parrots, though the only animal visible was one tamarin. Beside this was a display explaining the planned renovations and upgrades to the zoo, which looked good.
Next was a row of aviaries, which contained very little, but included one of bantams(?), a few empty ones, a few water birds, and a pair of Cape Barren geese (at least you could see these!). Further up were a few free standing reptile enclosures, mostly empty, one with native skinks (all hiding) and another with a few dragons in it. Back the other way was an aviary with Kea, and a relatively small enclosure with black and White lemurs, curled up asleep.
Next I watched the ‘Amazing Animals’ display. The theatre was a good design and completely enclosed. Two keepers did the show, both wearing microphones. First they brought out a black cockatoo, who did a few laps and returned to the keeper. Next was a serval, who they showed leaping after a toy, and fishing food out of a tank. A beautiful animal, calm and unphased by the audience. She was followed by an otter, who dived through the water to demonstrate it’s waterproofing. Then they brought out the first cockatoo along with a female to illustrate the sexual dimorphism. They flew them back and forth a few times. In all, it was a fairly basic show, but they showed several natural behaviours, explained a bit about the animals, and gave a conservation message about keeping cats inside at night.
Walking up the steps from the theatre, there was an enclosed pool with two australian ducks on it, then the reptile house. You could look in at animals through a window, all in fairly small cages. These included a bearded dragon, blue tongued skink, day geckos, frog, and various spiders (Goliath, Chilean, Red knee with a very bald bum, Zebra knee). Round inside the building, which was the old elephant house, were 6 or 7 small exhibits with geckos and skinks, including several native species. There was also a group of flying foxes.
Outside was a typical meerkat exhibit, with a few healthy looking individuals pottering around. Down the hill was another exhibit that appeared empty. Much more impressive was the ‘Nest’, the zoo’s working animal hospital which could be viewed through large windows. This was relatively new, and very modern. It included a saltwater pool, warm room (complete with a noticeboard to tell the public what animals were being treated for) lab and operating theatre. The next talk was outside this building and titled ‘How to be a vet in 5 minutes’. The keeper gave a very good demo of how clicker training works using 3 kids, both amusing and really showed how the concept works. Then they brought round a dingo who was ‘examined’ by 2 kids, before they explained how they’d discovered she had hip dysplasia, and got us to vote on the options (operate/medication) then explained what they’d chosen to do and why. The dingo was very relaxed and evidently used to the contact.
The red pandas had a lovely open exhibit full of trees, and were clearly visible. Round the corner was another exhibit with a few birds in it, but with dense vegetation so it was very hard to see. The cheetah had a small and quite bare enclosure. Opposite them was the chimpanzee enclosure. There was a fair sized group of them, including a small 3 year old, and an alpha male who was born a day before me! The keeper threw food to each individual and told us about them, and passed round a cast and print of their hands. They had large indoor areas complete with ropes and hammocks.
Around from the chimps was the large giraffe enclosure, housing 3 individuals, plus 2 female ostriches, several antelope and a brolga crane. There was plenty of room for these animals to choose their own space, though I was surprised there wasn’t a warning about the brolga-he did his best to stab me!
There was a group of kangaroos in a very bare enclosure, a large emu enclosure, then a good sized enclosure for a group of Hamandryas baboons. The tiger enclosure was a moderate size, but with no tigers visible, with lions next door in a smaller compound. Round one side of the giraffe enclosure was a whole village of huts with words of wisdom painted on the Walls and traditional drums hanging up-very nice! There was a small porcupine enclosure and a llama enclosure, both basic but adequate. The sun bears had an average enclosure, and were very active, play fighting and ripping wood apart. They appeared very healthy, which was good to see as one was a rescue from Malaysia.
Back in the theatre, there was another show with a one legged kiwi and a tuatara. After the two keepers had given a talk, fairly informative, everyone was allowed down the front. The tuatara looked fairly calm but the kiwi spent the entire time trying to hide.
Overall, Wellington zoo gave me the impression of a place with big dreams, but a poor selection of animals, outdated enclosures and a lack of space. It would be interesting to see it after the planned renovations. However, the animals appeared healthy and I didn’t actually see any stereotyping. As they say, “Building the best little zoo in the world” – they just have a lot left to build.
Posted in Travels
