New facilities open at Victoria's Halls Gap Zoo

A new giraffe and ostrich attraction has been officially opened at Halls Gap Zoo, the largest zoo in regional Victoria.
The facilities were funded by the Zoo's owner-operators Greg and Yvonne Culell backed by $48,600 through a T-QUAL Grant from the Australian Government.
Speaking at the official opening of the facility this week, Federal Minister for Tourism, Martin Ferguson said the additions would provide visitors a closer encounter with the zoo's animals, including a new platform for hand-feeding giraffe Sumari.
Minister Ferguson stated "the new complex will help lure more visitors to the local area, which attracted 840,000 visitors in 2011-12, with spending worth $136 million"This is the latest in a long line of improvements by the zoo's operators, with the investment in new infrastructure worth $750,000 over the past four years."
Halls Gap Zoo is also a major contributor to conservation, participating in captive breeding programs for 12 endangered species, including the brush-tailed rock wallaby and orange-bellied parrot.
The Zoo's grant was one of 18 awarded in Victoria under the T-QUAL GrantsTourism Quality Projects program in 2011, to a value of $1.3 million.
The program is run through a competitive merit-based process and offers matched funding of between $15,000 and $100,000 for smaller scale projects that can lift the quality and variety of Australia's tourism experiences.
For more information on T-QUAL Grants - Tourism Quality Projects go to

http://www.ret.gov.au/tourism/business/tq/Pages/default.aspx