Visit Singapore Zoo: 2011

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Misusing the name of President

Wildlife Reserves S'pore apologises to President

Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS) has apologised to President Tony Tan for using his comments when announcing the decision to cancel its award-winning Halloween event.

Chief executive Isabella Loh said in a statement on Saturday, "I would like re-emphasise that (the) President had nothing to do with Wildlife Reserves Singapore decision to cancel Halloween Horrors.

"I would like to apologise for bringing in his comments from the Mid Autumn Festival 'Moon Night' celebrations into this issue," she was quoted as saying by The Straits Times.

Reiterating that the decision was due to feedback and "not due to any religious beliefs", Loh added, "The decision to review and reset the calendar of events was discussed and decided even before Moon Night."
 

While previous media reports quoted sources saying she called the activity "devil worship" and online forums speculated that she cancelled the event because she was a Christian, Loh clarified to The Sunday Times she is a Buddhist.

She said when she took over from Fanny Lai in July, she already felt Hollaween Horrers did not fit in and there were not enough family activities.

After visiting the haunted house, which was part of the spook fest, she felt "uncomfortable with the idea because it was too scary".

While explaining to some members of the team why the event did not fit into a family theme, she said in an e-mail that it's "a lot of money spent on an infrastructure (Haunted House) of devil worship".

"That's the context of my remarks," she said, adding that she also alerted the team to controversies about the 31 October festival, where some U.S. schools even ban Halloween events.

Loh also issued a clarification on WRS' Facebook page on Saturday, repeating her apology to the Singapore Polytechnic students involved in the planning of the event.

Meanwhile Principal Private Secretary to the President Tan Eng Beng issued a statementon the president's Facebook page on Saturday evening.


"The president's comments were made in the context of a visit to the Zoo's Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations," the statement said.

"Wildlife Reserves Singapore is an independent company. Its operations and programming decisions rest with its management and board without external intervention."

In last week's announcement, Loh said WRS agreed with comments made by Tan that "WRS' parks should have more family-bonding and wholesome activities".

Tan made the comments last Sunday at the Singapore Zoo while celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Halloween Horrors, an annual Night Safari event since 2006, was supposed to be held on weekends between 30 September and 30 October.

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Bring back Halloween Horrors: Not fair to cancel it when many fans have bought tix

You call this fun?

STOMPer Isaac is calling for the reinstatement of the Halloween Horrors event which has suddenly been cancelled after being held in the Night Safari for the last five years.

Said the STOMPer:

"Going by recent reports in the media, the new CEO of WRS is not a very popular person right now.

"She suddenly cancelled an event that had ran for the last five years at the Night Safari, upsetting many people in the process, particularly people who has purchased tickets for the event and people linked with the event in one form and another, some going back months.

"The apparent reason given by her was: 'The Halloween Horrors event is cancelled because of the negative feedback received from corporations, the public and the media about the event, especially over it relevance in relation to conservation.'

"If this is the case, what has the WRS board been doing for the past five years apparently endorsing this event under the previous CEO?

"Ms Loh was reported to have also to link President Tony Tan's comment made at the Singapore Zoo's Mid Autumn Festival 'Moon Night' celebrations to the decision to close Halloween Horrors but had to back down with an apology.

"In my view, Ms Loh has the right to change the direction of a corporation that is not moving in the 'right' direction but to do it a manner has caused some much consternation certainly leaves a bad taste in most people mouths.

"I would think the right thing to do under the present circumstances is for WRS to reverse the decision and re-instate the event and make an apology for Ms Loh 'mistake'.

"WRS could make a graceful exit by not holding the event next year without the negative publicity!"

Monday, September 19, 2011

Night Safari management cancels Halloween Horrors event last minute

Halloween Horrors, a highly successful event that has been running for six years, was to be held at the Night Safari on September 30th, but the Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS) management decided to to yank it 2 weeks before launch.
The event is run by students from Singapore Polytechnic's Diploma in Events and Project Management as their final year project.
Seven months of hard work, almost $1 million dollars spent, 1000 tickets sold, all down the tubes.
Apparently, the new CEO, Isabella Loh, said that there was negative feedback from "corporations, friends of the zoo, the public and the media about the event, especially over the relevance in relation to conservation".
CEO Isabella Loh also said that it would focus on more multi-cultural family bonding events, and that the Halloween event was canceled because it clashed with a Deepavali event in October.
What was particularly disturbing was a report from the SP team that someone in the senior management said, in response to why the event was canceled, 'We should not worship the devil. We can be creative and turn the bad for good."

Sunday, March 20, 2011

KungFu Panda!

MEET “KAI KAI” (凯凯) AND “JIA JIA” (嘉嘉) – SINGAPORE’S GIANT PANDAS

WILDLIFE RESERVES SINGAPORE ANNOUNCES NAMES CHOSEN FROM NATIONWIDE SEARCH
After a six-month-long nationwide contest, the names of Singapore’s two most highly anticipated soon-to-be ‘permanent residents’ have been selected from nearly 1,000 entries submitted by the public last year. A distinguished judging panel has picked “Kai Kai” (凯凯) and “Jia Jia” (嘉嘉) as the new names for the two Giant Panda cubs as they bear special significance of the close relationship between Singapore and China. The names “Kai Kai” (凯凯) and “Jia Jia” (嘉嘉) won by a clear majority of the judges’ votes.

The seven-person judging panel consisted of representatives from different agencies and organisations, namely Mr Chen Jiang, Cultural Counsellor, Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Singapore; Professor Tommy Koh, Ambassador-at-Large, Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Ms Aw Kah Peng, Chief Executive, Singapore Tourism Board; Professor Wang Gungwu, Chairman, East Asian Institute, National University of Singapore; Mr Liew Mun Leong, President and CEO, CapitaLand Group; Ms Jennie Chua, Chief Corporate Officer, CapitaLand Limited; and Ms Claire Chiang, Chairman, Wildlife Reserves Singapore.

“Kai Kai”, the name for the male giant panda, was chosen as it means ‘victorious’ in Chinese (as in 凯旋, 凯歌) and is a testament to the 20 triumphant years of Sino-Singapore relations. For the female giant panda, ‘Jia Jia’ which means beautiful and fine, is a reflection of the excellent ties between Singapore and China. On another level, the Chinese character ‘Jia’ (嘉) was used in the old Chinese reference for Singapore (星嘉坡) and the phonetic pronunciation of ‘Jia’ is equivalent to the Mandarin pronunciation of the Chinese character ‘加’, which is not only an integral part of Singapore’s current Chinese name (新加坡), but also means ‘to add’ – representing the wish to expand the giant panda family in Singapore through a successful breeding programme at WRS.

“We can refer to our giant pandas by name, and that is an exciting development for us, especially since these names were submitted by Singaporeans. These are meaningful and beautiful names, chosen to reflect the symbolic ties we have with China, and the future these pandas will have in Singapore. People here have shown tremendous support for our giant panda conservation programme and we hope the community will continue to demonstrate their commitment to wildlife conservation,” said Ms Claire Chiang, Chairman, WRS.

Added Mr Chen Jiang, Cultural Counsellor, Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Singapore: “The bond between Singapore and China is one that is built on mutual trust and respect, and the two giant pandas are an expression of that close friendship. They also mark the commitment to conserve and safeguard the existence of these endangered animals.”

Mr Lim Chin Beng, Chairman of CapitaLand Hope Foundation, the philanthropic arm of CapitaLand, said: “These symbolic names reflect the strong bilateral relationship between Singapore and China over the last 20 years, and will further strengthen the close friendship and economic ties between the two countries going forward. The Giant Panda collaborative programme will raise cultural exchange and understanding between Singapore and China, and also promote wildlife conservation education among the young. It is against this backdrop that CapitaLand, as a responsible corporate citizen in Singapore and China, is proud to be the Presenting Sponsor and Conservation Donor of the programme.”

The duo – a three-year-old male and his two-year-old female companion – will arrive in Singapore next year, as part of a joint collaboration between WRS and China Wildlife Conservation Association (CWCA) to raise awareness for the conservation of these gentle creatures, and the development of a breeding programme for these critically endangered animals. The pandas also represent the close diplomatic relations between Singapore and China. Singapore is the seventh country to receive giant pandas from China since 1994.

The person whose entry was picked by the judges is a 38 year old Singaporean, Ms Angeline Fong, who will receive a complimentary three-night stay at any Ascott serviced residence worldwide, an exclusive preview of the giant panda exhibit when it opens in 2012, and other attractive prizes.

The two furry black and white envoys are due to arrive in early 2012 and will be housed at WRS’ upcoming attraction, the River Safari, Asia’s first river-themed park. Visitors at the River Safari will be able to observe the giant pandas up close in an environment similar to that of their natural habitat, naturally landscaped with a lush bamboo forest, shallow streams, trees and boulders for the animals to explore and play.

Giant Pandas are among the rarest bear species in the world with less than 1,600 left in the wild. They are classified as endangered under the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List of Threatened Species. The population of giant pandas in the wild continues to dwindle due to the loss and destruction of their natural habitat.

For more information, please visit www.riversafari.com.sg