Georgie's Blog - What would you do with a million?

When I walked into the office to get ready for my talks today it was a hub of excitement, with zookeepers and education department having a quick 'tea break'- they had already been here since the crack of dawn looking after the animals.

I had happened to walk into a 'If I won a million pounds I would....' discussion.  You know the type; we've all had them and of course at the zoo after we've done all the 'normal' things like looking after our families, buying a house, car boat etc.... we all fantasize about having our own zoo collection with some of our favourite animals.  So, it got me thinking of an idea for this week's 'Georgie Blog'.  At the beginning of the lemur talk (12 noon every day)  us Zoo Hosts like to explain why our zoo has its unique and eclectic collection mix of mainly big cats and lemurs (amongst other interesting animals too numerous to mention here!)

The Isle of Wight Zoo has been owned by the Corney family since 1976, when Jack and Judith Corney brought the zoo and moved to the island with their young family.  Jack added the first of what was to be many big cats to the zoo in the early 80's, offering permanent homes to many unwanted cats that were from circuses and zoo surplus lists to name a few.  At one time there were 22 tigers residing at the zoo!  In the 90's his wife Judith went to Madagascar to find out more about the plight of the native lemur species, and on her return was determined to help the endangered animals and so added several species of lemurs to the family collection.  So in short, the privately owned Isle of Wight Zoo has a history spanning in excess of 35 years, with the family caring for animals in part of the collection which not only have amazing conservation and educational value, but also happen to be some of their most favourite animals on the planet.

 

So, if we collectively 'won the lottery' some time soon, I asked the team to choose two of their most revered creatures to be part of our zoo. These are some of the interesting choices they said....

 

African bullfrog,  domestic dog,  drill,  Waldrapp Ibis,  aye aye,  Asian short-clawed otter,  orangutan,  humming bird,  lar gibbon,  clouded leopard,  bonobo, southern ground hornbill,  leaf insect,  binturong,  grizzly bear,  black-tip reef shark,  miniature horse, sloth,  giraffe, cheetah and, of course, tiger, lion, jaguar and leopard.

 

What an amazing zoo that would be!!  Think we'll need a few million for that one!

 

Thanks for reading this,  I'm here every Monday!