New zoo focuses on native fauna
Questions about the suitability of the site of Australia’s newest zoo – Sydney Wildlife World – have been comprehensively answered by the zoo’s Life Sciences manager, Craig Sowden.
Sydney Wildlife World opened late last month at Darling Harbour amid a storm of controversy about the suitability of the site for its proposed 6000 native Australian animals – it’s small size, proximity to tall buildings that could block the sun, and exposure to noise from fireworks and planes.
However Sowden says these are old accusations, dating from the original proposal put forward in 2002, and all have been dealt with in the planning and design.
“In NSW we are probably the most highly regulated zoo/aquarium industry in the world,” he says. “The Department of Primary Industry governs us through its Animal Welfare Unit, under the Exhibited Animals Protection Act and they oversee the regulations regarding space, number of animals per square metre, species mix and so on. We’ve worked with the DPI to design the enclosures and in all case have met and even exceeded the requirements. The only one we couldn’t meet was for dingos – we couldn’t provide enough space – but as dingos are not genuine Australian native fauna we decided not to bother with them.”
In the same way the objections to lack of sunlight and wind tunnel effects from tall buildings was dealt with early in the design process. “We are too far away from any tall buildings for them to have effect.”
What about noise problems? Sowden says the open air enclosure on Level 1 has a four metre high concrete wall which acts as a sound attenuation barrier, and the very fine stainless steel mesh that encloses it permits airflow but blocks out “anything a small as a fly”, also attenuating noise. As for fireworks — “we’re well away from most of the major fireworks sites, and there are only 7-10 fireworks days a year.” Nevertheless, provision has been made for animals that might be made nervous by fireworks. The built-in routine management areas are all sound-proof, “so if there are going to be fireworks, we do the routine vet checks then – in fact, it forces us to do more vet checks!”
Sowden points out that Sydney experiences20+ thunderstorm days a year which make at least as much noise as fireworks displays. “Most animals aren’t bothered by thunder and lightning, they just see it as normal,” he says.
Sydney Wildlife World features nine different habitats for Australian native fauna only ¬– butterfly house, invertebrates, reptiles, Flight Canyon (birds), nocturnal, semi-arid grasslands, rainforest, wallaby cliffs and koala sanctuary. The facility is over 7,000 metres square and comprises two floors of exhibits, with the upper level open to the elements under a mesh roof. This design means that part of the displays, including the rainforest canopy and greenery will be able to be seen from outside the building. Around one kilometre of glassed-in, air-conditioned walkway space will allow visitors to see the exhibits without disturbing the animals.
Sowden who trained as a zoology technician at Sydney University, and worked there for several years, has also been a keeper for the past 20 years at the Sydney Aquarium. There are 30 animal care staff working at the facility, including the vet, Sam Gilchrist and the veterinary nurse. A vet from the Taronga Park Zoo also visits about twice a week.
All of the animals, “apart from the bull ant nest which we dug up ourselves” were acquired from native fauna wildlife parks or registered breeders. They were looked after by SWW staff in the wildlife parks for a few months before being transferred to the new facility. “It’s better for the animals if they’re hand-reared or captive-bred; they are already used to people,” Sowden explains. “From an animal welfare angle, and from the ease of acquiring them, it’s better to get captive–reared animals; getting them from the wild is pretty much a thing of the past.”
Gilchrist had been the vet and a keeper at the Koala Park Sanctuary at West Pennant Hills, NSW for many years, and the veterinary nurse is also a keeper by trade. “That’s important,” says Sowden. “They understand the needs of the animals in a way that dog and cat vets don’t.”
The most demanding animal in terms of maintenance “would have to be the thorny devil” which eats large quantities of live ants of a specific species each day. “We have an invertebrate keeper in the culture rooms breeding up ants, so we have a reptile keeper for the animal and an invertebrate keeper looking after its food.”
Butterflies also need continuous care, and are prone to illness or death from virus infections and other diseases. It is possible to identify viral infections, Sowden says, but generally after the insect, or several of them have died.
“Then it’s a matter of seeing what we can do to change the environment so more of them aren’t affected,” he says. “We need more vets specialising in invertebrates. I’m trying to get Sam Gilchrist to specialise in butterflies.”
Australia needs more vets who can treat butterflies, like this Monarch