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FYI, the shows aren't the sole moment of enrichment for tigers throughout the day, which is what you're inferring there. Bit my tongue for a hot minute there, will keep it short and brief: 1) Tigers can be as equally as enriched in a no contact environment as they can be with hands-on environment, it just takes a lot more effort. 2) Risk appetite and the current business plan are the two dictators for hands-on vs no-contact. This current Dreamworld has a low appetite for risk from both a comms and workplace safety perspective. The current Dreamworld hasn't placed animal exhibits high in their current business plan, hence why so many high-profile names have since left. Ergo, the transition to no-contact was inevitable. 3) I'd say 90% of folks out there get the handler/animal relationship and the inherent risk in the same way if you sign up for the Army you might anticipate being shot at. It comes with the occupation. There's a lot of benefits to that relationship, it's easier to enrich the animals (for example, animals can go beyond enclosures in a controlled setting, it also exposes them to foreign noises, smells, different environments and makes them more manageable), fostering litters is far easier, opens up opportunities for additional revenue for the program (photos etc.) which then in turn raises additional exposure in market to the cause, etc. etc. My belief is that it's too much risk mitigation, and the money spent transforming an entire compound that was never designed for no-contact would've been better spent in better PR and more education/comms about the benefits of the program and what DWF was doing for conservation. That money would've generated an ROI.

Any chance the mods can clean this up and give these people thier own thread to argue in?

All a matter of perspective. From a capital expenditure perspective perspective, these are a drop in the bucket in the business plan compared to other investments, and it's money spent on assets that were either being poorly utilised or were on the verge of falling over completely. I'd argue it's more prudent business practice to add to the asset list than it is a show of hand to suggest there's a proactive wildlife strategy at play. Hot reminder, you're making sweeping huge assumptions about how the organisation works based on what happened before and after the current CEO came along whilst forgetting the same majority shareholders have been proactively involved throughout. In this case, the board members throughout the last 7-8 years have contributed greatly a number of these calls. I'd therefore be mindful of drawing the correlation or insinuation that those who have since left care less about the wildlife. In fact, I'd argue the opposite was true, which was reflected in the business plan post incident. Which bits weren't up to current standards? Nah, the revenue generated from Tiger Island post-incident was essentially one of the very few profit houses keeping Dreamworld alive. Back of house tours at Polar Bear Shores is a tiny revenue stream comparatively. You're making sweeping statements with very little to back it up here. I've done interviews with wildlife heads which you can find online, and there's plenty of research that shows that the better the interaction is between animal and guest leads to a raft of better outcomes, including individual engagement in conservation plus revenue contributions towards park top-line and conservation donations. I even think I had the former head of life sciences at Sea World almost say a version of that, too. It's not the same in no-contact environments. And it's ultimately an early death knoll for Tiger Island as a whole - I have no doubt in five years someone might go "Jesus, it's not that popular anymore hey" and assume it's just waining popularity and not any of the other changes made and close it entirely.

Sorry to derail the thread back to the original topic, but the restaurant designs look great. The only thing I'm really keen to see more of is the menu and if they're going to theme the cuisine to the South American jungle theme also. I would love some unique flavours that aren't available elsewhere in the park - even if it's just a few signature dishes and some seasonal specials.

I agree stats are simply numbers. The Lex Luthor Drop of Doom is taller then the Giant Drop yet almost everyone who have ridden both have said Giant Drop is better. I have to be honset I dont know what you guys think but the name Jungle Rush in my opnion is a shit name. It doesnt need to be a Ip name as well. Just something that doesnt sound like a primary school kid named it. They are explaining their opinions even if they are disagreeing with each other, it is completely relevant to the topic and thread, and they aren’t arguing.