Zion Wildlife Gardens.html



Zion Wildlife Gardens
Location	Whangarei, New Zealand.
Number of animals	43
Number of species	6
Major exhibits	Rare and endangered species.
Website

Zion Wildlife Gardens is a private animal sanctuary in New Zealand that is dedicated to the preservation of big cats. The park houses many endangered big cats, mainly Lions and Tigers, and also houses a Black Leopard, two Cheetahs, two Servals and a Baboon. The park was established in 2003 from bare land situated on Gray Road, Kamo, Whangarei. The park is owned by Craig Busch, nicknamed the Lionman for his association with the park's big cats. While many of the cats kept are semi-wild, several of the cats have been hand reared by the park, and are tame enough for close interactions between Busch and others. The park is the location of the successful documentary series The Lion Man, which documents several events at the park and elsewhere.

Animals

The park has 39 Big cats, and four 'small cats', of five species, including:

• 13 Barbary Lions (Panthera leo leo)
• 10 White Lions (P. l. krugeri)
• 3 Barbary Cross White Lions (P. l. leo x P. l. krugeri)
• 4 Orange Royal Bengal Tigers (P. tigris tigris)
• 8 White Royal Bengal Tigers (P. t. tigris)
• 1 Black Leopard (P. pardus)

• 2 Serval Cats (Leptailurus serval)
• 2 Cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) (arrived from Africa in May 2007)

Preservation

Most of the big cats at Zion Wildlife Gardens are now extinct in the wild, or where never extant in the wild. It's estimated that there are only 120 Royal White Bengal Tigers, 150 White Lions and 100 Barbary Lions left in the world, all of which are in captivity. The white form of Kruger's lion - the white lion, existed wild in areas of South Africa, disappeared from the wild and exist only in captivity, in zoos or on canned hunting ranches. The last wild Barbary lion was shot in North Africa in 1922. Since then it has only existed in captivity. The white form of the Bengal tiger has never exited in the wild and is typically a captive-bred animal, the result of a recessive genetic abnormality, generally the result of inbreeding.

Zion Wildlife Gardens has an extensive breeding program with animal exchanges often being made with other parks and reserves around the world.

In 2007 they had two litters of white lion cubs born, the first ever in New Zealand.

MAF Enquiry¹

In early 2008, the New Zealand Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry investigated the park for claims of animal cruelty and animals being kept in unsanitary conditions. The results of their report were made public on 12 November 2008. The report indicates that the MAF inspectors were so concerned about conditions at Zion Wildlife Park that they considered having 40 big cats put down. This is disputed by the park's owners. Former Auckland Zoo boss Glen Holland has been appointed as a "licensed operator" as required by MAF, to be responsible for the animals. Mr Holland headed the Auckland Zoo for 7 years.

Funding

Zion Wildlife Gardens is a privately run animal sanctuary, and unlike a zoo, access to the public is available by a range of guided tours. As seen in the documentary series, walking tours accompanied by a guide with an actual big cat on a lead are available.

The park is funded through the tours, merchandise, donations. Additionally, funding and merchandising of the Lionman series, together with the use of some of the animals in television adverts and other promotions such as the British Lions tour of New Zealand, provide vital funding to the park.

All the money generated by the park goes towards the upkeep of the animals, their enclosures, and towards creating awareness of the importance to preserve these rare and endangered species.

External links

• Zion Wildlife Gardens web site

References