From Facebook:
"We apologise for the short notice, but with immediate effect we will be closing for the next few weeks while we make some on site adjustments.
As some of you may know, we have had a bit of trouble meeting our firearms requirement this year. This has been somewhat caused by a change of personnel in January 2020, then new staff could not complete their training as firing ranges closed down, along with most of the rest of the world for much of the rest of 2020. This put us in breach of one of the conditions put on us by the council and they served a closure notice on us, which we contested in court today.
They could have closed us down completely, but we managed to come to a compromise. Unfortunately we will have to say goodbye to our cats for a short time. Our lions, lynx and serval will all have to be moved to other facilities in the next few weeks. It is because we look after these category-one, dangerous carnivores that we must have at least three members of staff that live on site to have fully trained firearms capabilities. We have five members of staff that all live on site and are undergoing training. These five staff members will replace our current off site firearms cover who cannot always guarantee the required response times needed in the event of an escape.
The facilities that the cats will be going to are yet to be finalised, but in the past three years we have made some really good connections in the zoo community and we hope the cats will be taken on loan. We came into this profession with the aim of making a difference and we wanted to help spread the word on protecting and saving wild species. We wanted to bring Borth Zoo up to modern day standards and provide a fantastic facility for the people of Mid-Wales and we are so close to doing that. We know that much of the local community are behind us, but it heartens us even more to see the zoo community giving us their support. They know that we all have the same ultimate aim in raising animal husbandry standards and helping wildlife and I’m confident we can find a place that will treat our cats well.
Once the cats are temporarily re-homed we will be opening to the public once again as we still have many other amazing animals for you to learn about. We will take this opportunity to make improvements not only to safety but also to the comfort of our animals. We have recently commissioned heavy duty steel framed beds for both Zulu and Wilma. You need something special when your cats are nearly 30 stone! We can also develop new enrichment areas and training areas to the cat enclosures.
Our new managers Sam and Dave have helped us so much this year and it’s been the sort of year that many people would have thrown in the towel. With their help we are aiming to impress the council so much that, come next February during our next annual inspection, we can re-apply to have Category-one animals re-instated to our licence and then we can welcome our cats back!
This is not the end. It is a new beginning. We thank you for your continued support and I do hope that; if you get the chance, please visit us over the winter. It’s been a really tough year and it is only your support and the incredible dedication from the keepers and staff that work here that has got us through 2020.
We will keep you updated on the animal moves, we will keep posting videos and photos on social media to keep you entertained and fully informed and we will let you all know when we open again.
Sincerely, Dean, Tracy and all at Borth Wild Animal Kingdom"
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"We apologise for the short notice, but with immediate effect we will be closing for the next few weeks while we make some on site adjustments.
As some of you may know, we have had a bit of trouble meeting our firearms requirement this year. This has been somewhat caused by a change of personnel in January 2020, then new staff could not complete their training as firing ranges closed down, along with most of the rest of the world for much of the rest of 2020. This put us in breach of one of the conditions put on us by the council and they served a closure notice on us, which we contested in court today.
They could have closed us down completely, but we managed to come to a compromise. Unfortunately we will have to say goodbye to our cats for a short time. Our lions, lynx and serval will all have to be moved to other facilities in the next few weeks. It is because we look after these category-one, dangerous carnivores that we must have at least three members of staff that live on site to have fully trained firearms capabilities. We have five members of staff that all live on site and are undergoing training. These five staff members will replace our current off site firearms cover who cannot always guarantee the required response times needed in the event of an escape.
The facilities that the cats will be going to are yet to be finalised, but in the past three years we have made some really good connections in the zoo community and we hope the cats will be taken on loan. We came into this profession with the aim of making a difference and we wanted to help spread the word on protecting and saving wild species. We wanted to bring Borth Zoo up to modern day standards and provide a fantastic facility for the people of Mid-Wales and we are so close to doing that. We know that much of the local community are behind us, but it heartens us even more to see the zoo community giving us their support. They know that we all have the same ultimate aim in raising animal husbandry standards and helping wildlife and I’m confident we can find a place that will treat our cats well.
Once the cats are temporarily re-homed we will be opening to the public once again as we still have many other amazing animals for you to learn about. We will take this opportunity to make improvements not only to safety but also to the comfort of our animals. We have recently commissioned heavy duty steel framed beds for both Zulu and Wilma. You need something special when your cats are nearly 30 stone! We can also develop new enrichment areas and training areas to the cat enclosures.
Our new managers Sam and Dave have helped us so much this year and it’s been the sort of year that many people would have thrown in the towel. With their help we are aiming to impress the council so much that, come next February during our next annual inspection, we can re-apply to have Category-one animals re-instated to our licence and then we can welcome our cats back!
This is not the end. It is a new beginning. We thank you for your continued support and I do hope that; if you get the chance, please visit us over the winter. It’s been a really tough year and it is only your support and the incredible dedication from the keepers and staff that work here that has got us through 2020.
We will keep you updated on the animal moves, we will keep posting videos and photos on social media to keep you entertained and fully informed and we will let you all know when we open again.
Sincerely, Dean, Tracy and all at Borth Wild Animal Kingdom"
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