Questions hang over zoo’s future
From its early days as a game farm to its emergence as a world-class visitor attraction, Hamilton Zoo has held strong to one quality: a sense of intimacy. Whether it’s a meerkat sentry dutifully eyeballing passersby, or a strutting peacock displaying its iridescent plumage among lunching visitors, the zoo has brought generations of city-dwellers closer to nature.
It’s a place where curious animal admirers can observe creatures big and small in verdant surrounds.
A Hamilton success story, dubbed ‘‘the zoo with personality’’, it attracted a record number of visitors last financial year.
The visitor upsurge was largely attributed to the arrival of the zoo’s new Sumatran tiger cubs, Kembali and Kirana.
And the zoo’s family continues to grow and births are celebrated with naming competitions.
But on Sunday, the zoo lost a muchloved member of its family.
Curator and mother-of-two Samantha Kudeweh was fatally attacked by one of the zoo’s Sumatran tigers inside an enclosure.
The event captured headlines around the world and prompted a zoo shutdown.
Few details of the attack are known – only that Kudeweh was carrying out routine duties at the time.
Nobody witnessed the attack and the public’s safety wasn’t at risk.
Much now hinges on three investigations into the attack.
The obvious question is: where to from here for Hamilton Zoo?
The site reopened on Thursday, but the rawness of Kudeweh’s death remains etched on staff faces.
Inside the reception area, the front counter is festooned with flowers and condolence cards.
Two colourful drawings of a tiger hang beneath the floral tribute.
Council chief executive Richard Briggs says messages of support from the public and global zoo community have helped staff get through the past week.
On Wednesday, more than 50 staff and zoo supporters attended a blessing at the site where Kudeweh was killed by Oz the tiger.
Briggs describes the event as ‘‘very emotional’’.
Staff are pleased to have the zoo reopened and are striving to return to normality, he says, but healing their heartbreak will take time.
‘‘As you can imagine, this is a very difficult time for Sam’s family and friends, including her team here at at the zoo,’’ Briggs says.
‘‘We’re working through this one day at a time.’’
Kudeweh was well-known to many. The curator was always willing to give media and their audiences a greater insight into conservation and breeding initiatives.
On one occasion, she helped highlight the danger loom bands posed to the zoo’s meerkats. The colourful rubber bands had found their way into the animals’ enclosure and the meerkats ate them. Evidence of the contraband was found in their droppings.
Kudeweh granted access into the enclosure for the report and photographs, but only after a thorough safety briefing.
Meerkats look cute but possess sharp teeth and shouldn’t be touched, she warned. Safety and animal welfare were her priorities.
Big cat commentator Dr Bhagavan Antle, from South Carolina-based institution The Institute of Greatly Endangered and Rare Species (Tigers), says the findings of investigations into In Brymer Rd on the outskirts of Hamilton and covers 25 hectares. Founded in 1969 and bought by Hamilton City Council in 1976. Now home to more than 600 native and exotic animals.
Popular attractions include the Sumatran tigers, the chimpanzee exhibit, the American Plains bison and a large collection of savannah animals.
Features New Zealand’s largest free-flight aviary as well as a rainforest walkway, reptile house and a parrot court.
The city’s second most-popular tourist destination after Hamilton Gardens, it attracts 120,000 visitors a year.
Has New Zealand’s largest collection of endangered species. Kudeweh’s death will have a significant bearing on the zoo’s immediate future.
If the investigations conclude human error led to the fatal tiger attack, the public will no doubt rally around the zoo.
‘‘If the investigation into this death finds that it was simply an accident, it may put the zoo at the forefront of people’s minds and people will want to help make things better,’’ Antle says. ‘‘However, if this death occurred because of negligence, then everything’s in trouble.’’
In March 2013, a keeper found herself in an enclosure with a five-year-old female tiger after a gate was mistakenly left open.
Antle says that incident raised red flags and WorkSave NZ sent investigators to examine circumstances surrounding the event.
It’s a sentiment shared by Allan Halse, a former city council staffer and Public Service Association (PSA) convener of delegates. Halse says key lessons were missed back in 2013 and he has made himself available to WorkSafe NZ investigators looking into Kudeweh’s death.
He was briefed about the 2013 tiger encounter and says it was misleading to simply attribute the incident to human error.
‘‘I don’t know the circumstances around the fatal attack on Sunday, but I do know that, across council, staff are asked to do more and more with the same amount of resourcing,’’ Halse said. ‘‘Both tiger incidents involved very experienced staff and that in itself raises red flags with me.
‘‘Whatever happened after 2013 wasn’t enough to stop a tragedy from happening.’’
Antle joined the chorus of voices urging the council not to euthanise Oz in the wake of the attack, saying it could turn the public against the zoo.
And on Monday, the council announced Oz would not be put down.
Like the rooster that challenges the sunrise, the overwhelming consensus is Oz was simply acting on instinct.
In 2014, the city council revealed plans to reinvent the zoo, including proposals to host luxury camping, or glamping, on the zoo grounds, to build a cafe or function centre overlooking the entire site, and to create a shared entranceway with nearby Waiwhakareke Natural Heritage Park.
There was also a proposal to reintroduce lions.
Former Hamilton mayor Russ Rimmington campaigned to bring pandas to the city in 2001 and says the zoo’s point of difference is its collection of endangered animals, such as tigers and white rhinoceroses.
The zoo has New Zealand’s largest collection of endangered species.
Rimmington says it would be a tragedy to scale back the zoo in the wake of Kudeweh’s death, but does believe safety processes need to be improved.
‘‘Twenty-five years ago, there was a collective decision to focus on endangered species and it’s proven to be the right decision. The council is on the right track and they’ve been doing a great job with the zoo,’’ he says.
Rimmington says petting zoos have limited appeal and are difficult for councils to sustain. Hamilton Zoo is a city asset and needs its supporters to rally behind it.
‘‘At the moment, the zoo’s critics are coming out and making a noise and you’d expect that. But it just needs to keep its focus and examine its processes and get better. We don’t have animals burrowing under fences or climbing fences and roaming around Dinsdale. It’s about ensuring best practices are in place.’’
Councillor Angela O’Leary chaired the working party that developed the draft zoo master plan with assistance from United States-based planning and design firm Studio Hanson Roberts.
The draft plan is expected to be presented to councillors in December. Public consultation is timed for the summer holiday period.
O’Leary says zoo staff contributed to the document and didn’t believe Kudeweh’s death should prompt a rethink of the plan.
‘‘The plan is about the future direction and development of the zoo. It doesn’t talk about technical issues around health and safety. Hamilton Zoo is such a special, unique zoo and people feel a strong connection to the zoo. We need to embrace what we’ve got and enhance that.’’
One of the master plan’s goals is to highlight the conservation work the zoo does, such as adding to the biodiversity of endangered species.
‘‘I know that was a message Sam definitely wanted to put out there and she would want the plan adopted,’’ O’Leary says.
‘‘The zoo isn’t just about animals in cages or a fun day out with the kids, it’s got an important environmental and sustainability role.’’
Hours before the first visitors file through the zoo’s gate on Thursday, much appears normal.
The smells of life and richness burden the air as the warmth of the spring morning is replaced by cold rain.
Inside the Sumatran tiger enclosure, Sali and her young offspring, Kirana and Kembali, patrol the perimeter fence, occasionally glancing at their human observers.
Next door at the tiger observatory, Mencari moves silently between the bamboo glades. The tiger’s large U-shaped pool is empty save for a few half-submerged buoys.
As to the zoo’s future, perhaps comfort can be drawn from the animals themselves and their capacity for survival and connection.
Antle hopes tigers will remain part of the zoo’s family.
‘‘It’s essential that tigers can be seen and zoos exhibit these incredibly animals.
‘‘They are the greatest calling card of conservation and their physical form has the capacity to change people’s lives.
‘‘The ancient calligraphy of their phenomenal stripes has to be God’s greatest paint job. I certainly hope the zoo can recover.’’