Belle Vue Zoo 1976

I saw an image of a malayan tapir at Belle vue with a ayoungster. It was at Belle vue that George Mottershead decided to make his zoo without bars. Chester zoo.
 
Writhedhornbill said:
I saw an image of a malayan tapir at Belle vue with a ayoungster. It was at Belle vue that George Mottershead decided to make his zoo without bars. Chester zoo.
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Belle Vue Zoo was was a fascinating place, with a very good animal collection in mostly antiquated surroundings and 'classic' zoo buildings.
 
I can vaguely remember my last visit in September 1971. I was interested to see some paddocks with animals destined for Marwell which were in quarantine. Common Nyala and Scimitar-horned Oryx were two, plus I think Water Buffalo. Apart from that I don't remember much else.

On an earlier visit possibly in the mid-60s, I can remember seeing a Tigon.

On 25th June 1964 Belle Vue obtained 3 Marine Iguanas, one died on 27th June, and the other two lasted another three weeks. The reptile staff could not get them to eat.
 
bongorob said:
I can vaguely remember my last visit in September 1971. I was interested to see some paddocks with animals destined for Marwell which were in quarantine. Common Nyala and Scimitar-horned Oryx were two, plus I think Water Buffalo. Apart from that I don't remember much else.

On an earlier visit possibly in the mid-60s, I can remember seeing a Tigon.

On 25th June 1964 Belle Vue obtained 3 Marine Iguanas, one died on 27th June, and the other two lasted another three weeks. The reptile staff could not get them to eat.
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Yes, they quarantine a number of species for Marwell because it was within an urban area(Belle Vue) Other species inclued camels and Giraffe.

the tigon was called' Maud'

The monkey House had a fantastic array of species including Stumptailed macaque, Cherry crowned Mangabey, Lion tailed Macaques, Guenons etc all in very antiquated but roomy indoor cages.

They had a pair of Black Rhino but these never unfortunaely didn't breed.
 
I can not believe that Monkey room, it's like a living museum. I almost quite like it in a way- to see such variety in one place. I doubt they'll ever make anything like it again though!
 
^Chris^ said:
I can not believe that Monkey room, it's like a living museum. I almost quite like it in a way- to see such variety in one place. I doubt they'll ever make anything like it again though!
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It was amazing, a real postage stamp collection. I think there may have been some outside cages on one side- but perhaps not, certainly the monkeys in the central area of the house only had indoor cages.
 
I only visited Belle Vue once, in the early 70s (I'd have to find the photos in my slide collection to check the date). I saw sable antelope in quarantine for Marwell and chamois, which went to Blackpool.
I also remember sloth bears, a rather dirty tropical house with a few aquariums and pygmy hippo, and a small ape section with indoor enclosures and small grassed paddocks on opposite sides of the public walkway. I'll be interested to watch the videos.

Alan
 
gentle lemur said:
and a small ape section with indoor enclosures and small grassed paddocks on opposite sides of the public walkway.

Alan
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The Ape House was one of the last buildings constructed at Belle Vue in the early 1960's. It housed Gorillas(one pair) Orangutans(trio) and Chimpanzees. Both Chimpanzees and Orangutans bred in it.

The inside and outside areas were divided by a covered public walkway. The Apes passed through tunnels underneath this to reach the outside areas. THese outside areas were concreted, rather than grassed, and with high semicircular brick walls(similar in design to Dudley's similar aged house, still in use) The inside areas, viewed through glass, were very small but the outdoor yards were quite spacious, though bare.

When the zoo closed in 1977, the apes were dispersed as follows;
Gorillas(JoJo and Susie) Jojo sent to Chester- died within six months.
Susie sent to Bristol- bred twice, later died. One living offspring in Japan.
Orangutans.(Bornean-Harold, Bobo and Janie) went to Gordon Mill's private collection in Surrey. The original trio was two males and one female- but the Sumatran male 'Adam' wwas exchanged with Bornean female 'Janie' from Flamingo Park. He later went to Colchester for many years- then to Bristol and finally died a couple of years ago in Spain(Santillana Zoo)
Chimps- Robert, Katja and ?? - were transferred, I think, to Belfast Zoo.
 
He was the manager of the singer Tom Jones. In the 1970's he became interested in keeping animals after getting friendly with JOhn Aspinall. He lived in a large mansion in Weybridge, Surrey, and aquired Tigers, Gorillas (not from Aspinall though) and Orangutans(from the BElle Vue Zoo closure) which he kept in the( very large) garden. As he was very short on gorilla females, he also persuaded Dudley Zoo to part with their only female- for a very high price,- but she died under anaethsetic before the transit...

He didn't breed any gorillas, I can't remember if he bred the Orangutans or tigers either though the Orangutans had bred previously. Later Mills moved to the USA. He deposited the Gorillas with San Diego Zoo and the current silverback males at both the Zoo and the Wildlife Park(Moemba and Winston) were both once his. Longleat got their three original gorillas from him too.

He probably only had the animals in Surrey for about five- ten years.
 
Chlidonias said:
how sad was that gorilla pit in the first video?
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Yes, it looks worse than I remember it... The wooden 'house' was the chief piece of furniute in it- the two Gorillas, JoJo and Susie would sit on top of it. This video shot in 1976 shows Jojo as already a full silverback. He was a fine male with a very red crown.

When the zoo closed, I believe the animals were actually 'auctioned off' to interested zoos. Bristol Zoo bought the Gorilla pair, but only wanted the female 'Susie' in order to add to their group. As they didn't want 'Jojo' they arranged for him to go 'on loan' to Chester to try and breed with their female 'Gogal' Splitting Jojo and Susie made bad press. However, although Jojo and Chester's Gogal were put together okay, it never really got off the ground and Jojo soon became ill- he died after only six months at Chester.

Susie fared better at Bristol, where she had several babies but only two survived- one is(or was recently) still alive in Japan. Sadly, she died at Bristol Zoo some years after her transfer there.
 
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