Interview With Lorraine Spence - Tygerberg Zoo, Endangered Wildlife Breeding Centre

Image by DanieVDM via FlickrBy Celeste Maxine Yates

Lorraine Spence, the Director of the Tygerberg Zoo, met up with me to chat about the park. Before she comes to greet me though, she stops at one of the enclosures, chats to a small antelope and gives it a rub on the head. She informs me that currently the Zoo is undergoing a number of exciting changes, including creating new signs for the enclosures.

"We used to employee a teacher to give educational tours through the Zoo," she explains, "however we couldn't keep her during the 'off season' months." The new signs will assist in giving the public educational knowledge about the animals and species at the Zoo. They are also currently moving animals around while they pull down enclosures and create new ones. When asked when the new changes will be complete, Lorraine chuckles.

"Never!" She exclaims. "Maintenance is never finished - it is an ongoing progress. Only phases of maintenance are finished - this one I'm hoping to have done before peak season starts."

Tygerberg Zoo has been very successful in their breeding achievements over the years. A couple of years ago their tigers had a few cubs, which I remembered very well and asked Lorraine what happened to them. She told me they grew up and were sold to another facility. Tigers are solitary animals so she was unable to keep them at the Zoo.

Currently she's looking for homes for her racoon babies. All movements of endangered animals and their offspring are kept on record through a program called ISIS. ISIS is a non-profit organization that maintains computer-based information systems used by the worldwide Zoological community. ISIS members use the basic biologic information (age, sex, parentage, place of birth, circumstance of death, etc) collected in the ISIS system to manage genetic and demographic programs for their animal collections.

Lorraine tells me she's applying for a particular marmoset from China for the Zoo, but doesn't want to share too many details about her application until has come through, however she's very excited about it.
She says only happy animals are breeding ones so special care is taking to each individual species with regards to their diet, closure and habitat. Each employee is trained in which animals receive what food and when. She also swops and exchanges certain species with other animal facilities in the Western Cape to ensure that the Zoo stays fresh and new for frequent visitors.

They are also involved in a lot of research and programmes both in South Africa and internationally. Lorraine tells a wonderful story about one of their storks that had a radio transmitter attached their leg to document its migration route for a research program. Unfortunately on-route home, the stork stopped over and was arrested as a possible terrorist due to its transmitter. Even after a phone call to the police to explain the situation, the bird was remained imprisoned for quite a while.

While there are many animal facilities in the Western Cape for monkeys, birds, lions and cheetahs, the Tygerberg Zoo is really one of its one of a kind and offers a variety of species ranging from reptile to bird, from hornbill to leopard, and marmoset to gorilla. They need local, national and international support to keep their good work going.

Read more articles on South Africa and biodiversity at South African Biodiversity.

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