Atlas zoo announces the grand opening of Goodwin's hall.
named after Bernie Goodwin's this two story building houses a variety of animals ranging from the tiniest of spiders to the exceptionally rare chinese pangolin. One of our staff had the wonderful opportunity to interview the zoos founder Charlie Lockwood here are his responses to the question you are all wondering.
What inspired you too build a zoo?
"after travelling around the world for work and seeing all the beautiful and unique animals in the world I just sort of fell in love with wildlife and wanted to share that with the world my hope is to live up to the zoos name and truly create a zoo that represents the atlas. Im also using atlas zoo as a way to highlight the plights which many animals face and support conservation efforts along the way taking in many rescue animals for the zoos collection"
What sort of plights are you referring to?
"well there are many issues animal face daily from habitat fragmentation, pollution and climate change but the one that truly inspire atlas zoo was smuggling as I travelled the world I saw so many cases of animals being kept and sold in horrible conditions. As well as countless gruesome attempts to get them across international borders which solidified my want to help those animals and bring recognition to the issues they face."
You have some pretty rare animals in your collection doubly so given the zoos location how did you manage that?
"A magician never reveals his secret haha. In all seriousness I have many ties with the shipping industry and border forces globally especially around the pacific so once I got my zoo registered it was as simple as collecting them from failed smuggling attempts"
"Im hoping to build to build more connections not only within the shipping industry but also within the zoo world to be able to expand the zoos collection."
How did you build those ties?
"Well mainly nepotism. My father runs one of the biggest shipping companies in the world and for a while I worked alongside him so I built many connections early in life and that has helped me immensely in both funding this project, acquiring the animals and actually making sure they make it here safely."
What was the hardest animals for you to get here and what is the rarest?
"now that is a good question. When it comes to hardest there is two kinds of hard the paper work kind and the logistics kind. The hardest on paper was definitely Lutana my north island kiwi. New zealand is very strict on distributing them when one was found hidden inside a shipping container incoming to Australia I did a little sweet talking to the new Zealand government and managed to keep it since Atlas zoo was the closet accredited zoo. A similar story happened for Yenay our chinese pangolin"
"Now the rarest is definitely the titan beetle science still basically know nothing about this animal so it was extremely difficult for me to get ahold of, one somehow managed to stow away on a peruvian cargo ship bound for the US so I not so subtly asked to keep it no other zoo or research centre fought for it so I kept it. Unfortunately on of our biggest knowledge gaps on the species is how it breeds and since Atlas zoo only has one we are unable to see this happen at our zoo."
goodwin's hall walk me through how it was named?
It was named after Bernie Goodwin who was the main mentor and father figure for my head zookeeper, architect and mastermind behind the zoo Milurian. The statues you see in the front garden all gifts given to him for his work on previous zoos for his excellence. They are especially talented in rehabilitation efforts and veterinarian care so an excellent choice for atlas zoo.
I noticed that garden, at the zoos entrances what are you counting on the board?
"why the number of unique species of course. Unfortunately this number is mostly made up of animals either smuggled or accidentally transported across international borders hopefully once the zoo gets bigger and more funding we will be able to go through some normal channels rather than just whats available."
So your saying that all of the animals in your collection are from either accidental or intentional smuggling?
"precisely that which is why most of the animals in the collection are small and cheap to care for even though they are exotic."
Thank you for you time before I let you go mind telling us the future of atlas zoo?
"of course this interview has been a pleasure. Atlas zoo has recently come into possession of a few more animals including five unique butterfly species which are all going to have a large glasshouse built for them in the parks south west we are also expecting another resident of goodwins hall to arrive soon a hermann's tortoise our first tortoise at atlas zoo."
Here are some images taken at the zoo by an avid fans drone
The amazing view from the main dock I wonder what awaits
first habitat in the zoo the prairie dogs are seen here chasing each other around their circular home
carefully disguising the staff facilities this little quokka has alot of room to play and hide
A house facade for an animal commonly known for its urban presence the skunk feels right at home
Back at the entrance a crowd of people gather in front of Goodwin's hall
The inside of the hall feels spacious and modern
another angle of the inside of the hall show the variety of exhibit shapes, styles and sizes
The upper floor of Goodwins hall here is where most of the larger reptiles are kept