Well that's damn stupid. Why did these animals even need to be named, anyway, if they were going to be shipped back to bovine university after well under a year? Between this disgraceful act of deception, and this so-called zoo having pretty much no proper zoo animals beyond one or two lesser monkeys, perhaps this hell-hole should have been shut down after all.
This seams overly harsh for a zoo with people I know though working there 1. lots of zoos will often swap out domestic/pet animals once they get too big/old. zoos in NZ do it all the time so its not too out of place 2. they do have meerkats, cape porcupines, red rumpled agoutis, cotton top tamarins, black and white ruffed lemurs, pygmy marmosets, and Green iguanas as "proper" zoo animals, along with other rare breeds, companion animals and a few natives 3. they do breed and release programs for SI kaka and Yellow crowned kakariki and take part in plenty of conservation projects, which i think even some bigger zoos in NZ need to be doing more off
From Wellington Zoo’s 2023 annual report – four additional Red-rumped Agouti have been imported from the National Zoo and Aquarium, Canberra: https://wellingtonzoo.com/assets/Resources/Annual-Report-2023-VFINAL-WEB.pdf
Pouakai Zoo no longer have generic tigers: Pouakai Zoo no longer have generic tigers, following the passing of their tigress (Kala) on 03/05/2023: Log into Facebook | Facebook
Six male Emperor Tamarins have arrived at Butterfly Creek from Auckland Zoo: Log in to Facebook | Facebook
Hamilton Zoo now have Caracal: Hamilton Zoo have imported a male Caracal from Darling Downs Zoo. I caught a glimpse of him on my visit today. A new (albeit returning) species for the region!
Pouakai Zoo have reported that their two Meerkats have died, leaving them without the species. Interestingly, they posted a video a few months ago in January showing that their White-handed Gibbon is mixed with a Black-handed Spider Monkey.
