Dudley Zoological Gardens Dudley Zoo news 2025

British explorer said:
In the castle creatures house they have Egyptian fruit bats, Seba's short-tailed bat, medicinal leech, European house mouse, common house rat, either African giant land or garden snails I think they have a few spiders in there but I can't rembember the species and I don't know if they're still housed there but there are flies. I can't really say or remember what species are housed in the lorrikeet walkthrough as it was under maitenance on my last visit but I can remember in the farm house there are axolotle either garden or African giant land snail, lesse siren some leaf and stick insects and according to Zootierliste there are Guinea pigs, West African pygmy goat, chinchilla, domestic rabbit and Cameroon sheep. Enjoy your visit.
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Does the zoo have anymore Black rats inside Castle Creatures or have they all gone?
 
British explorer said:
In the castle creatures house they have Egyptian fruit bats, Seba's short-tailed bat, medicinal leech, European house mouse, common house rat, either African giant land or garden snails I think they have a few spiders in there but I can't rembember the species and I don't know if they're still housed there but there are flies. I can't really say or remember what species are housed in the lorrikeet walkthrough as it was under maitenance on my last visit but I can remember in the farm house there are axolotle either garden or African giant land snail, lesse siren some leaf and stick insects and according to Zootierliste there are Guinea pigs, West African pygmy goat, chinchilla, domestic rabbit and Cameroon sheep. Enjoy your visit.
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Thank you so much!
 
Mckenzie2000 said:
Hi all,

I’m planning on going to Dudley Zoo for the first time in over a decade. I’ve kept up to date with what species they hold but know that the website is likely not an exhaustive list. Could someone on here please tell me what species are in the lorikeet house, farm barn and castle? Thank you :)
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Going off memory from my last visit in August:
- The main attraction inside the Farm Barn building is the guinea pig enclosure, which is set up to look like an adorable little castle. There are also terrariums with axolotl, stick insects, tarantulas and poison dart frogs (I'll see if I have a detailed list of individual species written down anywhere). In the little area outside there are usually pigs, goats, geese and chickens.
- In Castle Creatures, last time I went they had mice, rats, snails, and both Seba's short-tailed and Egyptian fruit bats (though unfortunately the bats were a no-show at the time). There's also terrariums for spiders and leeches, but they are often very hard to spot, I for one have never seen them.
- Other than the rainbow lorikeets, the lorikeet house also has Victoria crowned pigeons, yellow-backed chattering lories, and a few other birds I can't remember the names of. Roul-Roul partridges were held in there at one point, but they might have been moved to one of the other aviaries, I don't quite remember. as well as some carp in a couple of ponds, and an enclosure that during my last visit had red-eared terrapins in it, but has been home to a few different things in the past.
 
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Jambi said:
Going off memory from my last visit in August:
- The main attraction inside the Farm Barn building is the guinea pig enclosure, which is set up to look like an adorable little castle. There are also terrariums with axolotl, stick insects, tarantulas and poison dart frogs (I'll see if I have a detailed list of individual species written down anywhere). In the little area outside there are usually pigs, goats, geese and chickens.
- In Castle Creatures, last time I went they had mice, rats, snails, and both Seba's short-tailed and Egyptian fruit bats (though unfortunately the bats were a no-show at the time). There's also terrariums for spiders and leeches, but they are often very hard to spot, I for one have never seen them.
- Other than the rainbow lorikeets, the lorikeet house also has Victoria crowned pigeons, yellow-backed chattering lories, and a few other birds I can't remember the names of. Roul-Roul partridges were held in there at one point, but they might have been moved to one of the other aviaries, I don't quite remember. as well as some carp in a couple of ponds, and an enclosure that during my last visit had red-eared terrapins in it, but has been home to a few different things in the past.
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Thank you. Knew it had changed a lot since the early 2010’s but didn’t realise how much lol! So excited!
 
Strathmorezoo said:
I will never understand why the visitor numbers are so low considering the zoo’s location
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A few suggestions; Its not a wealthy area, its not on any tourist trail, its very steep-going. Its big plus is that its centred in a huge conurbation, but I suspect many West Midlanders who want a 'day out at the zoo' prefer to head out into the country instead and go to WMSP or Twycross, both country locations. Just some ideas.
 
Pertinax said:
A few suggestions; Its not a wealthy area, it’s not on any tourist trail, its very steep-going. Its big plus is that its centred in a huge conurbation, but I suspect many West Midlanders who want a 'day out at the zoo' prefer to head out into the country instead and go to WMSP or Twycross, both country locations. Just some ideas.
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I’d definitely agree with a lot of that. Even for people living in other parts of the Black Country, and for brummies, it’s a bit of a hassle to get to given the minimum 1/2 hour walk from the nearest train station (and likelihood of having to change trains just to get to the Dudley area). Likewise, I’ve spoken to a lot of people who’ve been to Dudley 10+ years ago, and it’s surprising how many people haven’t been back because of the poor welfare and state the zoo was in back then.
 
pendraig_milnerae said:
I’d definitely agree with a lot of that. Even for people living in other parts of the Black Country, and for brummies, it’s a bit of a hassle to get to given the minimum 1/2 hour walk from the nearest train station (and likelihood of having to change trains just to get to the Dudley area). Likewise, I’ve spoken to a lot of people who’ve been to Dudley 10+ years ago, and it’s surprising how many people haven’t been back because of the poor welfare and state the zoo was in back then.
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I would be very interested to what was the poor welfare that you referred to
 
Strathmorezoo said:
I would be very interested to what was the poor welfare that you referred to
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I’m generalising a bit, but the main things (from my impression at least) were the Asiatic black bears in the old lion pit, the orangutan complex pre-expansion, and some of the older cat set-ups. I think the general vibes of the place come into it as well, like a lot of the enclosures being in not-great condition, and I know it was enough to stop several people (both normal people and people more into zoos) from going for many years.
 
Pertinax said:
A few suggestions; Its not a wealthy area, its not on any tourist trail, its very steep-going. Its big plus is that its centred in a huge conurbation, but I suspect many West Midlanders who want a 'day out at the zoo' prefer to head out into the country instead and go to WMSP or Twycross, both country locations. Just some ideas.
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Having worked there and spoken to the management your ideas have been mulled over alot. However, as you said the zoo is located within a huge conurbation and there must be a huge amount of people with their own transport and with the cost of fuel, I would expect that alot of them would have preferred a shorter distance to travel especially when you think of all the extras that are incurred for a day out. If I'm honest though, Dudley has never promoted itself as well as it could have done. The zoo in the last years since Covid has done enormous amount of building work and in my opinion is just as good as Twycross or West Midlands Safari park.
 
pendraig_milnerae said:
I’m generalising a bit, but the main things (from my impression at least) were the Asiatic black bears in the old lion pit, the orangutan complex pre-expansion, and some of the older cat set-ups. I think the general vibes of the place come into it as well, like a lot of the enclosures being in not-great condition, and I know it was enough to stop several people (both normal people and people more into zoos) from going for many years.
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Can't disagree with your comments about the Orang and cat enclosures,however, at the time it was decided to use the old lion enclosure for the bears, it was considered the best option due to the ages of the animals and the limited areas available for them to be housed. You are also right about people's perceptions about Dudley over the years but, because of the large amount of rebuild in recent years, I would very much hope that these perceptions will change.
 
Strathmorezoo said:
The zoo in the last years since Covid has done enormous amount of building work and in my opinion is just as good as Twycross or West Midlands Safari park.
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Tend to agree but we have the views of Zoo enthusiasts. For a general visitor WMSP offers a very different experience, all the drive-throughs and general 'fun' experiences in the rest of the place. Twycross yes, its no better and perhaps they get less folk from Birmingham area and more from e.g. Coventry, Leicester etc, I don't know. I remember Dudley from back in the 60's and then again when I went a lot more recently. There have been a lot of improvements I noticed but essentially the same zoo and the 'quiet' atmosphere seems to be the same too, on my last visit a few years ago I hardly saw another soul.
 
Strathmorezoo said:
Can't disagree with your comments about the Orang and cat enclosures,however, at the time it was decided to use the old lion enclosure for the bears, it was considered the best option due to the ages of the animals and the limited areas available for them to be housed. You are also right about people's perceptions about Dudley over the years but, because of the large amount of rebuild in recent years, I would very much hope that these perceptions will change.
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Agreed on that latter point, Dudley has massively improved itself over the last few years and it’s really nice to see their work to upgrade the spaces for their present species where possible. For instance, I’d say the new developments on the orang complex have rendered it possibly the best orangutan enclosure in the country (certainly the best where it comes to encouraging proper climbing).

Likewise I’m hoping a lot of people’s perceptions change, especially given how recently so many of the upgrades have been. I certainly do what I can to try and convince people to go where possible.
 
Actually,in terms of the recent past,Dudley`s attendances are quite good...if we look at the 1990s 140/150,000 visitors was the usual figure. For the last 10 years theyve been around double that.
 
I do still go about once every 2 years these days, but have found that a lot of local people won't visit due to old memories of the zoo from the 70's and 80's.
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Strathmorezoo said:
Can't disagree with your comments about the Orang and cat enclosures,however, at the time it was decided to use the old lion enclosure for the bears, it was considered the best option due to the ages of the animals and the limited areas available for them to be housed. You are also right about people's perceptions about Dudley over the years but, because of the large amount of rebuild in recent years, I would very much hope that these perceptions will change.
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People in the area also need "word of mouth" talk about the current state of the zoo! PR and communication can perhaps be improved upon ... (allthough, I have no info to back this up). The Dudley Zoo of today is a huge difference from Dudley Zoo in the 2010's even ... I guess locals do have a way with overcoming their preconceptions...too.
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
People in the area also need "word of mouth" talk about the current state of the zoo! PR and communication can perhaps be improved upon ... (allthough, I have no info to back this up). The Dudley Zoo of today is a huge difference from Dudley Zoo in the 2010's even ... I guess locals do have a way with overcoming their preconceptions...too.
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Not related to Dudley but preconceptions can go far back, I've spoke to multiple older people about Chester and have heard people bring up the old polar bear enclosure a lot and how awful it was despite that being well over 30 years ago now. I've also met a few people who think keeping polar bears in zoos is banned in the UK, obviously not true.
 
Tim Brown said:
Actually,in terms of the recent past,Dudley`s attendances are quite good...if we look at the 1990s 140/150,000 visitors was the usual figure. For the last 10 years theyve been around double that.
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Indeed the numbers seem to contradict the idea many people go somewhere else or stay away - numbers have been going up again since Covid and not dropping off. Apart from winter days I've found it pretty busy in comparison to most places I visit (not as busy as say Whipsnade or YWP or CWP but up there with the others and the car park is usually full on weekends).

Having visited both (Dudley more often simply because I like it more) I'd say Dudley makes for a far better day out than Twycross with the new developments and investments in enclosure improvements around the whole site, but that's a personal view. If you look at the zoo today however it seems to be doing pretty well.
 
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