Memories of Zoos in the UK that no longer in exist

garyjp said:
I do wonder why some of the city /town zoos closed Cardiff, southampton, poole etc
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Poole Park Zoo closed in1994 because the council who owned the site started to put to many limitations and restrictions on them, there was also a very local and vocal anti zoo group that wanted the zoo closed down.
 
I would nominate Kilverstone, although I only visited once, in 1977, and so I don't have many memories. I wish that I had been able to take a few more photos, particularly of marmosets and tamarins. I found a photo of a sloth recently and saw to my surprise that it was a Hoffman's sloth - I didn't realise at that time that it was different from Linné's, as I had hardly had a good look at a sloth before.
The specialist collection I really liked was the Otter Trust at Earsham, near Bungay. The otter pens were sited along a side channel of the river Waveney, and held a variety of otter species and there was also a lake for waterfowl. Very simple and beautiful.
 
garyjp said:
I do wonder why some of the city /town zoos closed Cardiff, southampton, poole etc
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There were two zoos in Cardiff. The first one started in 1900, when there was an aviary and some domestics,although the term zoo wasn't used until 1906. The most notable animal was a polarbear cub that arrived in 1921,what became of it is anyone's guess. Over the years until it closed in 1941, it held mainly monkeys and birds with some Gazelle ?
The second one was opened in 1962 by two brothers, Hugh and George Palmer. By all accounts George thought himself as an action man(some other's thought he was a bit of a nutter) . I've got a Cardiff guide book which has a photo of him wrestling with a Leopard. I never visited the place but ,I knew someone who did and they thought it was a dump. The place closed down in 1980,mainly because it needed alot of work and they couldn't afford it. I believe that the Welsh Hawking Centre was built on the site.
 
I talked with a keeper at Kilverstone as we saw an olingo late in the day. He said that the father was kept with the daughter and the female with the son, as there were no other olingos in the UK.
 
garyjp said:
I do wonder why some of the city /town zoos closed Cardiff, southampton, poole etc
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Southampton zoo started in 1961 by the Chipperfield circus family on 1-25 acres. It held animals as large Elephants, Giraffes and even a Rhino . By 1980 it was getting constant criticism and in 1985 it closed
 
Pertinax said:
One of the family that owned the place, Peter Taylor, (I think he was a son-in-law) was a journalist by profession. He wrote a book 'Some of My Best Friends Are Animals' I think jt was called, about the place-the usual semi-humorous recolle ctions. He was probably the driving force behind all the publicity and promotions. Probably also behind the choice of the location for the filming of TTMB.
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Peter Spence wrote the book (it was "our" not "my", but I have the advantage of having a copy in front of me!).
 
I visited Ilfracombe with my parents around three weeks before its closure in 1973. At the entrance a notice said that on no account would any animals be sold, if good homes could not be found for them they would be euthanised. This did not really put us in a cheerful frame of mind for our visit but I did see the open-topped leopard enclosure I had read about.

Knaresborough was a place I visited a few times, but only once as an adult which was in September 1985 when the zoo was doomed. It was the only zoo in which I have not felt safe as many of the carnivore enclosures did not seem secure (a zoo professional friend of mine told me that when he went there he saw a brick against the gate into the lion enclosure).

I too have a Cardiff guidebook, although the zoo was in Barry.
 
Parrotsandrew said:
Knaresborough was a place I visited a few times, but only once as an adult which was in September 1985 when the zoo was doomed. It was the only zoo in which I have not felt safe as many of the carnivore enclosures did not seem secure (a zoo professional friend of mine told me that when he went there he saw a brick against the gate into the lion enclosure).
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The closure of Knareborough Zoo featured in an episode of 'Animal Squad' on BBC and the book of the same name by Sid Jenkins
 
Parrotsandrew said:
Knaresborough was a place I visited a few times, but only once as an adult which was in September 1985 when the zoo was doomed. It was the only zoo in which I have not felt safe as many of the carnivore enclosures did not seem secure (a zoo professional friend of mine told me that when he went there he saw a brick against the gate into the lion enclosure).
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Bridgemere was a bit like that!
 
Strathmorezoo said:
Southampton zoo started in 1961 by the Chipperfield circus family on 1-25 acres. It held animals as large Elephants, Giraffes and even a Rhino . By 1980 it was getting constant criticism and in 1985 it closed
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These were run as quarantine stations for animals imported largely from Africa for the safari-parks. They were close to the docks on the south coast, hence Southampton and another at Plymouth. The stock was ever changing as animals come in and out.
 
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