Sydney’s Taronga Zoo

Press, 19 December 1984, Page 52

Sydney’s Taronga Zoo

One of the most popular tourist attractions in Sydney is Taronga Zoo, which is on a beautiful hill site overlooking Sydney Harbour. The zoo, which is open every day of the year, has been on this site since 1916. Originally there were just a few hundred animals but over the years the zoo has developed to the point where it is regarded as one of the finest in the world. Now there are 4500 mouths to feed every day. The annual food bill is sAust3so,ooo. A lion devours more than skg of meat a day, and a fur seal can. consume about 6kg of fish. A staff of 150 is needed to run the zoo, and there are another 150 volunteer guides on call. The animal collection is maintained by 54 curatorial and keeping staff, and two very busy veterinarians. The zoo has its own fully equipped veterinary and quarantine centre, and a sewage treatment plant which prevents pollution of the harbour. Taronga Zoo is constantly changing. Many of the ornate and dilapidated buildings built in the 1920 s are being replaced by new ones of higher aesthetic and biological standards. About sAust4so,ooo has recently been spent on a 1.5 hectare waterhole for lions, barbary sheep, giraffes, antelopes, sitatunga, guineafowl, and tigers. All are in natural surroundings, very different from the cages and compounds of the older part of the zoo.

Photographs by ROD DEW, illustrations editor