New digs for the tallest blokes in town

Friday, 18 October 2024

Enclosure revamp needed for animal welfare of giraffes at Hamilton Zoo

Giraffes are in the top three animals visitors to Hamilton Zoo seek out, however without a new barn they quite possibly wouldn’t be there.

Hamilton City Council has approved a $2.5 million upgrade of the infrastructure, therefore allowing the large African animals to continue to be a main attraction.

Zoo director Baird Fleming said if they couldn’t do the upgrade they would have to get out of giraffes.

“You can't move them, and because you can't move them, that means you have to euthanise them. So we desperately need to do this.”

The current giraffe barn is not fit for purpose,.

The current barn is about 20 years old and falling down around them. Made out of plywood which is rotting away, it doesn’t have doors, electricity and isn’t fit for purpose.

“There’s no heat and it's cold here [for giraffes]. The poor little guy from Auckland when he came here, we would come in the mornings and he was shivering.”

The money has been earmarked from the council's Long-Term Plan, and with a functional structure it means they could increase their giraffe tower from three.

Artist impressions of the new giraffe barn at Hamilton Zoo.

“What we're switching to isn't fancy, it just meets modern zoological standards.”

Hamilton Zoo has created a bachelor group of giraffes that assists other zoos in the country.

“Auckland Zoo was saying we need to send you guys our baby male giraffe, and Wellington was saying the same thing. Auckland was in a bit of a panic, they thought they were going to have to ship them over to Australia.”

Instead Auckland gave Hamilton Zoo money required to ship the giraffe as long as they upgraded their husbandry settings.

The new barn will have two storeys so keepers can work with giraffes at head level.

“We are cash strapped, but we are good at what we do with our animals. We knew exactly what we needed to do, we were able to do it super fast. We made changes to the fencing, but the part that's still missing is the barn.”

With help from a professional zoo designer in the US they’ve come up with concept designs which will see the barn moved slightly from its current spot.

There’ll be additional stalls and multiple entry and exit points.

“One of stalls we could convert into like a medical stall because one of the biggest dangers or risks that we have here is when we need to anaesthetise a giraffe.

A render of the new rhino enclosure at Hamilton Zoo.

“To be honest, in the old days, it used to be a 50/50 as to whether they would wake up or not.

“Or worse if you anaesthetise them, that's a very tall animal. So in that drop, you can actually lose them, they can snap their neck or something like that.”

The padded stall will help ease that situation.

“But, you’re also talking about putting in fans, drinkers, feeders, lights and heating. There has to be a certain amount of ventilation and stuff, air turnover is really important.”

The barn will have a second story so keepers can be at eye level with the giraffe.

“You can work on their heads. You can say, hey, can you open your mouth? Can I look at your teeth? Do you need a dental? Let me look in your ears, all that kind of stuff.

“There's a lot of diagnostics that you can do when you have that accessibility to them.”

Fleming has also acknowledged the rhinos require more room and there are plans beginning for a new barn and enclosure for them.

The area has also been given the go ahead, but due to commercial sensitivity Fleming’s not in a position to confirm the cost.

Construction on the giraffe barn should begin in May and is expected to take around nine months, and work on the rhino enclosure should start a month or so later.