£200k Dudley Zoo revamp to bring animals closer

Bosses at the Castle Hill attraction have revealed details of major work to develop homes for its breeding group of gelada baboons and the family of flamingos.

While the third project is to create an interactive walk-through exhibit where visitors can feed dozens of yellow-backed chattering lorikeets, birds which are vulnerable in the wild.

Zoo director Derek Grove said it was part of an on-going programme of renovation work to the animal enclosures aimed at making the most of the land available and giving the creatures more space.

"The improvements to these three enclosures are the next stage of our site development plan and will benefit both our animals and our visitors.

"The facilities for the geladas and flamingos will be extended which in turn provides visitors with an improved and more interesting experience.

"The plans focus on the bottom part of our 40-acre site and will provide additional animals and facilities, from the moment visitors step through the gate," he added.

The largest part of the project is the £120,000 planned work on the flamingo enclosure which will see a larger indoor area built with a viewing area and a much bigger pool.

The £40,000 scheme to extend the gelada baboon enclosure includes transforming a former shop building into a walk-in viewing area. The paddock, which is next to the zoo's vintage chairlift, will also be extended up the bank to provide more grazing area.

As part of the plans, the Sulawesi crested macaques would then move into the former baboon home next door and every few months the baboons and macaques would swap enclosures to enable the gelada to be able to graze both banks.

This in turn will enable the critically endangered yellow-breasted capuchins to move out of the small primate house into the old macaque exhibit, providing a larger more complex exhibit for these hugely active, highly intelligent South American primates.

Plans to replace the Monkey Tails walk-through exhibit with the lorikeet experience are estimated to cost £40,000. The current residents, which include titi monkeys and white-Faced saki monkeys, would be rehoused with other primates.

Mr Grove said: "Although the walk-through Monkey Tails attraction has always been popular with visitors, we believe

that this spacious exhibit would better serve free- flying birds."