Australia Zoo

Australia Zoo

Date opened	1970
Location	Beerwah, Queensland, Australia
Land area	100 hectares
Coordinates	-26.837512, 152.960844
Number of animals	2000+
Number of species	200+
Major exhibits	35+
Website	http://www.australiazoo.com.au/

Australia Zoo is located in the Australian state of Queensland on the Sunshine Coast near Beerwah/Glass House Mountains. It is owned by Terri Irwin, the widow of Steve Irwin, whose wildlife documentary series The Crocodile Hunter made the zoo a popular tourist attraction.

History

Australia Zoo was opened by Bob and Lyn Irwin in 1970 under the name Beerwah Reptile Park.^[1][2] Bob Irwin is a world renowned herpetologist, who is regarded as a pioneer in the keeping and breeding of reptiles. His wife Lyn was one of the first to care for and rehabilitate sick and injured wildlife in southeast Queensland.^[1]

Bob and Lyn passed on their love and respect for wildlife to their children, especially to their son Steve, who had helped his parents since childhood to care for crocodiles and reptiles and to maintain the growing number of animals in the zoo. Over a decade later the park was renamed to the Queensland Reptile and Fauna Park and the area was doubled with the purchase of another 1.62 hectares. In 1987 the Crocodile Environmental Park was opened in an effort to aid saltwater crocodile protection. By the 1990s the Crocodile Environmental Park had become very popular and was seen as unique for its display of crocodile feeding within the park.^[3]

In 1991 Steve Irwin overtook management of the zoo. In 1992 the park was renamed again, becoming Australia Zoo. Currently, the zoo maintains more than 2000 animals and over 600 staff.^[4]

Australia Zoo won the Australian Tourism Awards for 2003-2004 in the category Major Tourist Attraction.^[5] Australia Zoo Retail has also won the Tourism Retailing Award from Qantas Australian Tourism Awards.^[6]

On 16 March 2008 the Brisbane-based newspaper, The Sunday Mail, claimed there are plans to sell Australia Zoo to Animal Planet and create a $100-million Disney-style wildlife theme park.^[7]. However, these claims appear to be unfounded with Terri publicly announcing she has no plans to sell the zoo and in fact is looking to expand the park from 28 hectares to over 400 hectares. ^[8].

Animals

Zoo development

In the meantime, the zoo has encompassed a large area of 100 hectares,^[10] (this will be expanded to over 2 km² - 202 hectares - in due course), in which many animals live. In order to reduce long walks, a 'modified trailered bus' has been utilised, named Steve's Safari Shuttle, which operates on a bitumen roadway circuit.^[11]

At the zoo there is also a stadium, named the 'Animal Planet Crocoseum', which has a capacity of approximately 5000.^[12] At the time of its construction, it was the first in the world where snake, bird and crocodile shows were conducted. Australia Zoo calls these shows 'Wildlife Warriors 101'.^[12] Visitors can also view a crocodile feeding and participate in an elephant feeding (the elephant feeding can be participated in during the mornings on the roadway circuit at the first crossover to the internal section of the zoo or in the afternoons at 'Elephantasia' (Australia's largest Elephant exhibit^[13]) around the back of the zoo near tiger temple).^[14]

There is a running space for kangaroos that visitors can feed,^[15] and there is often an opportunity to pet a koala. The zoo's sponsored charity Wildlife Warriors also run a rescue operation and care station for any native wildlife who may be injured in accidents outside the zoo.^[16][17]

As of the end of 2008, the elephant enclosure and water pool has been completed and 'Elephantasia' officially opened on December 26, 2006. Furthermore, a construction of an artificial island (to represent the Island of Madagascar), began in 2006, which will accommodate African animals such as tortoises, lemurs and other species not yet represented, This section will open Mid 2009. The South-East Asian Precinct will also be improved with the introduction of Orangutans, and transfer of the Komodo Dragons and Otters, which inhabit an enclosure near to the entrance to create a more complete Bio-Climatic Asian Region.^[18]

Construction on the Australia Zoo Safari Lodge began mid 2008 and was due to be finished and operational by the end of 2009. However due to the economic situation, Australia Zoo decided to put all of its expansion plans on hold, as well as terminate employment of 26 staff members (mostly guest services staff).

A number of high-profile people have contributed to or supported Australia Zoo, including Justin Timberlake^[19] and the Dalai Lama.^[20]

Criticism

In March 2008, the Zoo was accused of animal 'cruelty'^[21] and of breaking Australian law 13 times^[22] by not releasing koalas within their prescribed habitats. The Environment Protection Association said that they are now monitoring and investigating why the Koalas were not released correctly. Zoo officials have defended their actions on the grounds that injured koalas found near busy roads or in urban developments cannot safely be released to the same areas.

Tiger Attack

In January 2009, a Senior Keeper was attacked by a male Bengal Tiger. The keeper suffered a deep bite wound to his left calf muscle tearing part of it, requiring 18 stitches.

A second incident two months later involving a Sumatran Tiger also saw a keeper taken to hospital. This attack was only minor, and the keeper only required two stitches.^[23]

See also

• The Irwin's Australia Zoo
• Steve Irwin
• Terri Irwin
• Bindi Irwin
• Wes Mannion

Gallery

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Australia Zoo

Sign near entrance to the zoo	Crocodile show in the Crocoseum at Australia Zoo	Aviary at the Australia Zoo	Harriet, the second oldest tortoise ever authenticated, lived at Australia Zoo
Guy Sebastian meeting one of the residents before his LIVE 'n' WILD concert [24]

References

Coordinates: 26°50′15″S 152°57′39″E / 26.837512°S 152.960844°E / -26.837512; 152.960844