South Lakes Wild Animal Park South Lakes / Safari Zoo Closure

alfiethetortois

alfiethetortois

Well-Known Member
10+ year member
South Lakes Safari zoo has announced closure at the end of September.

Taken from Facebook page:

"Good morning followers, we have some news which we know will be disappointing for many of you. The zoo will close to the public on 31.12.24

We hope you will come and celebrate or share your memories with us before we close and join us this December to visit your favourite animals be it Kofi , or Remi or even eyebrow.

When we took over in 2017 we did so because of our love and passion for the animals in our care and the wider world, when we look back - hand rearing Cupcake the parma wallaby, training Tibor the giraffe for his jugular blood sample, Remi the jaguar and his cancer removal, Wolfgang the snow leopard and his eye operation, hand rearing capybara, Eloise the giraffe’s pedicures, transforming the lives of Snoopy and the bears with their new enclosure. From day 1 when we opened the doors for free, to today when we will do the same for December, we cannot thank the 3million plus of you who have, over the last 7 years, visited us, supported our ventures and ultimately celebrated with us our amazing animal world.

One of our proudest achievements is the development of a K9 Anti poaching ranger unit in the heart of Africa. From small beginnings with Andy bringing his cute small brown and white spaniel using the zoo to train and heighten those sniffing abilities before being deployed out in the fight against poachers. Fast forward to 2024 where we fund 3 antipoaching k9 rangers, who together with their units are at the forefront of rhino protection in Zululand.

This is our legacy, as 2025 will see that protection extend even further, our way of ensuring White Rhinos remain in the wild, where they belong, for generations to come.

In 2023 we purchased a 120 acre site at Tebay. Stone Holiday Cottages situated right along the Lune Gorge, at the base of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Howgill fells on one side and facing the Lake District Valley of Borrowdale on the opposite side of the River Lune. Alongside the holiday cottages and farm animals the site is home to native wild flora and fauna full of biodiversity from grasslands, trees, Ancient Woodland, Pond, rivers, waterfalls, bluebells, and an array of plant life.

We all agree is that biodiversity matters and everything has an important role to play in the “circle of life” from the smallest bee pollinating the alfalfa plant to the tallest giraffe feeding on it, and in order to protect the biggest we have to look after the smallest.

In the short time we have been on the site we know it is home to bats, badger, breeding birds, woodpeckers, grouse, amphibians, Otter, Brown Hares, Lapwings, nodding birds, We know there are squirrels feeding on the hazelnuts in the forest, greys or red cameras will discover, but we also know with a little work it has the potential to support more.

We know putting families in touch with nature through animals - being able to meet and feed our flock of Valais Blacknose, Highland Coos, Pygmy Goats, help brush our donkeys or help with an enrichment session and giving them wonderful first hand experiences will help with our goals after all "In the end we will conserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand, and we will understand only what we are taught." Baba Dioum Seneglese engineer

Part of the site will welcome visitors in 2025.

For December Members are invited to join Kim and Beccaa on a zoo tour for a final time, details of which will follow later this week.

There will be lots of activities for everyone to get involved with or simply just pop along and say good bye to your old favourites - I know we certainly will be pleased to see you all.

❤️"
Click to expand...
 
alfiethetortois said:
South Lakes Safari zoo has announced closure at the end of September.

Taken from Facebook page:

"Good morning followers, we have some news which we know will be disappointing for many of you. The zoo will close to the public on 31.12.24

We hope you will come and celebrate or share your memories with us before we close and join us this December to visit your favourite animals be it Kofi , or Remi or even eyebrow.

When we took over in 2017 we did so because of our love and passion for the animals in our care and the wider world, when we look back - hand rearing Cupcake the parma wallaby, training Tibor the giraffe for his jugular blood sample, Remi the jaguar and his cancer removal, Wolfgang the snow leopard and his eye operation, hand rearing capybara, Eloise the giraffe’s pedicures, transforming the lives of Snoopy and the bears with their new enclosure. From day 1 when we opened the doors for free, to today when we will do the same for December, we cannot thank the 3million plus of you who have, over the last 7 years, visited us, supported our ventures and ultimately celebrated with us our amazing animal world.

One of our proudest achievements is the development of a K9 Anti poaching ranger unit in the heart of Africa. From small beginnings with Andy bringing his cute small brown and white spaniel using the zoo to train and heighten those sniffing abilities before being deployed out in the fight against poachers. Fast forward to 2024 where we fund 3 antipoaching k9 rangers, who together with their units are at the forefront of rhino protection in Zululand.

This is our legacy, as 2025 will see that protection extend even further, our way of ensuring White Rhinos remain in the wild, where they belong, for generations to come.

In 2023 we purchased a 120 acre site at Tebay. Stone Holiday Cottages situated right along the Lune Gorge, at the base of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Howgill fells on one side and facing the Lake District Valley of Borrowdale on the opposite side of the River Lune. Alongside the holiday cottages and farm animals the site is home to native wild flora and fauna full of biodiversity from grasslands, trees, Ancient Woodland, Pond, rivers, waterfalls, bluebells, and an array of plant life.

We all agree is that biodiversity matters and everything has an important role to play in the “circle of life” from the smallest bee pollinating the alfalfa plant to the tallest giraffe feeding on it, and in order to protect the biggest we have to look after the smallest.

In the short time we have been on the site we know it is home to bats, badger, breeding birds, woodpeckers, grouse, amphibians, Otter, Brown Hares, Lapwings, nodding birds, We know there are squirrels feeding on the hazelnuts in the forest, greys or red cameras will discover, but we also know with a little work it has the potential to support more.

We know putting families in touch with nature through animals - being able to meet and feed our flock of Valais Blacknose, Highland Coos, Pygmy Goats, help brush our donkeys or help with an enrichment session and giving them wonderful first hand experiences will help with our goals after all "In the end we will conserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand, and we will understand only what we are taught." Baba Dioum Seneglese engineer

Part of the site will welcome visitors in 2025.

For December Members are invited to join Kim and Beccaa on a zoo tour for a final time, details of which will follow later this week.

There will be lots of activities for everyone to get involved with or simply just pop along and say good bye to your old favourites - I know we certainly will be pleased to see you all.

❤️"
Click to expand...
This was bound to happen eventually, but it us definitely a shame that the current owners couldn't fully right the ship and continued to have problems. I do hope good new homes are found for the animals that aren't moved up to Tebay.
 
So is Tebay just going to be domesticated exotic pets? Hopefully the rest of the zoo animals will stay in the UK, shame that the site may go to waste(with some work it could be a haven for some bigger animals)

Anyone have a list of what animals are still at South Lakes
 
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a selection of cats i believe for starters. i think 2 tigers 2 lepoards 1 snow lepoard and a lion or 2.

this will add to the tiger problem as i believe there are still tiger cubs at highland and chester without homes and a lot of uk zoos only have 1 tiger but i asume they are waiting for them to pass on before accepting new mating pairs, yorkshire hertfordshire wingham for starters
 
Embu said:
So is Tebay just going to be domesticated exotic pets? Hopefully the rest of the zoo animals will stay in the UK, shame that the site may go to waste(with some work it could be a haven for some bigger animals)

Anyone have a list of what animals are still at South Lakes
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I agree, a real shame that there is no mention of exotics at the new site. Also, a a real problem for the staff, who more than likely are going to lose their jobs. The Antis will be jubilant.
 
Embu said:
So is Tebay just going to be domesticated exotic pets? Hopefully the rest of the zoo animals will stay in the UK, shame that the site may go to waste(with some work it could be a haven for some bigger animals)

Anyone have a list of what animals are still at South Lakes
Click to expand...
I don't have a precise list, but there should still be a fair number of animals there, though most of it is likely the various exotic waterfowl and other birds they have, along with the free-roaming lemurs and the mix of species sharing that one walkthrough exhibit (I imagine catching all of those prairie dogs will be a Herculean task).
I do remember an announcement a while ago that the two remaining tigers would be re-homed this year, but I don't know if this has happened yet. To my knowledge most of the other carnivores and hoofstock should still be there too.
 
I'm under the impression there is only 1 wildebeest and maybe 1 or 2 zebra but not sure
 
Embu said:
I'm under the impression there is only 1 wildebeest and maybe 1 or 2 zebra but not sure
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That's right, along with one nyala. I'm not sure how many giraffes and rhinos they have now, some rhinos were recently re-homed, but there should still be a few of them left.
 
Jambi said:
I do remember an announcement a while ago that the two remaining tigers would be re-homed this year, but I don't know if this has happened yet. To my knowledge most of the other carnivores and hoofstock should still be there too.
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I believe the tigers left a couple of months ago? It seemed fairly clear then that something new was afoot with the Park. It seems to have been bedevilled with problems ever since it opened.

I am not sure how many Spectacled bears(if any) they still have. IMO this was certainly one species they shouldn't have been allocated in the first place but hope that any remaining bears find a good new home (and the other animals too of course).
 
Pertinax said:
I believe the tigers left a couple of months ago?

I am not sure how many Spectacled bears(if any) they still have. IMO this was a species they shouldn't have been allocated in the first place but hope that any remaining bears find a good new home (and the other animals too of course).
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It should still be the two females, I haven't heard anything about them dying recently or being re-homed. While I do think the zoo did a decent job with the new enclosure they built for the bears, I always did think it was odd that the indoor viewing area was in the same building as a restaurant (albeit one that was never open every time I visited).
 
The zoo is closing but does this actually mean it won’t be reopened again under new management? The land lords seemed to have some arrangement with YWP previously?
 
The current species numbers are -

Andean bear (0,2,0)
Lions (1,1,0 - zoo-mix) - elderly
Black howler (0,4,0)
Blue wildebeest (1,0,0)
Brazilian tapir (1,1,0)
Canadian lynx (4,0,0)
Honey badger (1,1,0)
Grant’s zebra (1,2,0)
Kordofan giraffe (1,4,0)
Jaguar (1,1,0) - elderly female
Lar gibbon (2,1,0)
Maned wolf (1,1,0)
Nyala (0,1,0)
Red panda (1,1,0)
Siamang (1,1,0)
Spider monkey (1,6,0)
Snow leopard (0,1,0)
Southern white rhino (3,3,0)
Sumatran tiger (1,1,0)

Not to mention other species like lemurs, capybara, rhea etc hanging around the place.
 
Baringogiraffe12 said:
The current species numbers are -

Andean bear (0,2,0)
Lions (1,1,0 - zoo-mix) - elderly
Black howler (0,4,0)
Blue wildebeest (1,0,0)
Brazilian tapir (1,1,0)
Canadian lynx (4,0,0)
Honey badger (1,1,0)
Grant’s zebra (1,2,0)
Kordofan giraffe (1,4,0)
Jaguar (1,1,0) - elderly female
Lar gibbon (2,1,0)
Maned wolf (1,1,0)
Nyala (0,1,0)
Red panda (1,1,0)
Siamang (1,1,0)
Spider monkey (1,6,0)
Snow leopard (0,1,0)
Southern white rhino (3,3,0)
Sumatran tiger (1,1,0)

Not to mention other species like lemurs, capybara, rhea etc hanging around the place.
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That is a seriously large number to rehome, I wonder what the deadline is for them to all move.
 
Somehow I feel a tiny bit melancholy that this place is shutting down.
It was always the kind of place I kept on hearing about and had some weird desire to go to at some point to see how weird things truly were when I went. Or potentially get indoctrinated into the idea that having emus, kangaroos and lemurs roaming around at large was a totally fine and good thing to have.
The 'calamity' associated with zoos isn't really something you hear about much anymore... in the 20th century there was a fair bit of this - a lion escaped, an elephant in the kitchen, chimpanzee tea party goes haywire... now that zoos have more solid and secure ways of doing things this doesn't really happen much anymore. And I do think that is for the best.
But even so it does pain me a bit knowing that this weird little place will be only experienced by myself through photographs on the internet. But at least it doesn't pain me as much when RSCC closed having never been.
 
Embu said:
There's only 0:1 hybrid at London(Molly) the other 2 are Reticulated that are awaiting transfer to Europe
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Thanks for the explanation. I do wonder if London has enough space for five giraffes. As an outsider who has never visited it, it doesn’t seem too big.
 
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