Closed Zoos

adrian1963

adrian1963

Well-Known Member
I would like to know why the following zoos or collections closed and where the animals from them where re housed.

The list maybe long but this may help other members as we seem to have the odd thread or reply about the closed collections.

It would be great to get information on these zoos and also on the animals within their collections.

I know thier maybe some answers already in other threads but I thought we could put all the answers into one thread?

Blean Down Bird Park
Bridgemere Wildlife Park
Causeway Safari Park
Clacton Pier Dolphinarium
Lambton Lion Park
Lenwade Zoo
London Butterfly House
Plymouth Zoo
Riber Castle Wildlife Park
Southampton Zoo
Southport Zoo
Stanley Zoo
Wellplace Zoo
Windsor Safari Park
 
Riber Castle closed (as I understand it - I did some voulnteering there not long before the end) mainly for financial reasons - the upkeep of the Castle folly itself was a major drain on resources. Some of the animals were rehomed directly but others were sold off (bizarrely) at auction.

I've been back to the site since (it hosted a car boot, so I took the opportunity for a nosey about), and in the old cafe you could see the lots from the auction chalked up on the old menu boards.

You can see the site post-closure in the Shane Meadows film 'Dead Man's Shoes' - but be warned this is quite a graphic gangster revenge-themed film.
 
adrian1963 said:
I would like to know why the following zoos or collections closed and where the animals from them where re housed.

The list maybe long but this may help other members as we seem to have the odd thread or reply about the closed collections.

It would be great to get information on these zoos and also on the animals within their collections.

I know thier maybe some answers already in other threads but I thought we could put all the answers into one thread?

Blean Down Bird Park
Bridgemere Wildlife Park
Causeway Safari Park
Clacton Pier Dolphinarium
Lambton Lion Park
Lenwade Zoo
London Butterfly House
Plymouth Zoo
Riber Castle Wildlife Park
Southampton Zoo
Southport Zoo
Stanley Zoo
Wellplace Zoo
Windsor Safari Park
Click to expand...

Could we add Belle Vue to the list?
 
If you look up "London Butterfly House" on Wikipedia it tells you exactly why it closed – apparently a hotel complex has been built there, and some of the animals went to the Butterfly and Wildlife Park in Long Sutton, Leicestershire. The keeper now runs the butterfly walkthrough in London Zoo, I believe.
 
Belle Vue

Javan Rhino said:
Could we add Belle Vue to the list?
Click to expand...

Belle Vue had a fantastic animal collection, it was a 'major' UK zoo in its time. Maguari mentions above how some of Riber Castle's stock was auctioned off- so I believe was Belle Vue's though I don't know if they had a 'sale day' and zoo directors and other would-be purchasers just turned up on the day and bid for the animals, or if it was done through 'sealed bids' etc.

I've mentioned on here before that the Orangutans were purchased from Belle Vue by Gordon Mills and went to his Weybridge home.

Their adult nonbreeding Gorilla pair 'Jojo' & 'Susie' were purchased by Bristol Zoo, who only really wanted the female- so they arranged for the male Jojo to go to Chester on a breeding loan but he died a few months after the transfer. There was also critisism over them being split up.

I believe the Chimpanzees may have gone to Belfast Zoo.

I don't know where any of the extensive collection of Monkeys or other animals went.
 
Ahh cool, thanks for the info Pertinax :).

I wished I could have seen Belle Vue, with Chester being my home [and favourite] zoo and, of course, Belle Vue being so important in Chester's history.
 
The Zoo History Website (run by the Bartlett Society) has built up enormous information base on UK zoos (and later those of the USA and other countries) with a whole section dedicated to closed UK zoos.

Zoo History - Content

If the address above doesn't work, go to www. zoohistory.co.uk and click on 'Content' to the left.
 
Wellplace was a shoddy home-built affair; I don’t have my note with me right now so this info is off the top of my head. The zoo was part zoo, part garden centre, part pet shop, you could buy rabbits and guinea pigs and garden ornaments. In fact I got the impression that if you offered enough money, they’d have sold you anything.
Animal wise there were red squirrels, squirrel and capuchin monkeys (housed in a large cage with lots of baby toys scattered about), serval, meerkats, short-clawed otters, rhea and lots of owls. I could give more info if you want it but I’d have to dig out my notes. There was also a big model elephant which was featured on their leaflet (I thought this was perhaps a little misleading as the illustrations were hand drawn and the elephant was set amongst other animals making it look a little as if they kept elephants).
 
Just for Javan Rhino this was taken from the zoo history website

1837 May - Belle Vue Gardens opens.
1847 Name changed to Zoological Gardens, Belle Vue and now held exotic animals such as, silver fox,rhesus monkeys and raccoons.
1850's New monkey house built, collection expanded. Now keeps jaguars, llamas, zebra amongst others. A bear pit is constructed. Later a secondary pit housed polar bears.
1861 First elephant purchased by the zoo for 270 pounds, but dies not long after.
1872 799 pounds paid for a baboon, nylghau, a pregnant lioness and an elephant called Maharajah.
1877 New elephant house and giraffe house were built.
1881 A new monkey house built. Around this time a camel and dromedary house was built, as was a seal house, whuich later became a sea-lion show.
1893 The first chimpanzee was purchased, named Consul.
1928 "Rocky Mountain Enclosure" built for ibex.
1933 Elephant house modified, aquarium added to reptile house and a rhino enclosure built.
1955 A children's zoo built costing 15,000 pounds, incorporating lakes, streams and an aquarium.
1957 Original monkey house replaced by an open air monkey pit.
1960's Marsupial house, small mammal house(from the old penguin enclosure), amd in 1963 a great ape house were built.
1970's New bear terraces created.

After 140 years of operating within the confines of an amusement park, the zoo closed on 11th September 1977.


Hope this helps
 
Zoo history web site is great I use it quite a bit but the thing I have a problem with is it hardly gives any information about the animals that are relocated.
I think hearing from people who visited the now closed collections is much better as they give a more personnel view point

Many thanks for the replies so far hope there are more to come as this gives people a better insite into the unfortunate closed zoos history
 
adrian1963 said:
Just for Javan Rhino this was taken from the zoo history website

1837 May - Belle Vue Gardens opens.
1847 Name changed to Zoological Gardens, Belle Vue and now held exotic animals such as, silver fox,rhesus monkeys and raccoons.
1850's New monkey house built, collection expanded. Now keeps jaguars, llamas, zebra amongst others. A bear pit is constructed. Later a secondary pit housed polar bears.
1861 First elephant purchased by the zoo for 270 pounds, but dies not long after.
1872 799 pounds paid for a baboon, nylghau, a pregnant lioness and an elephant called Maharajah.
1877 New elephant house and giraffe house were built.
1881 A new monkey house built. Around this time a camel and dromedary house was built, as was a seal house, whuich later became a sea-lion show.
1893 The first chimpanzee was purchased, named Consul.
1928 "Rocky Mountain Enclosure" built for ibex.
1933 Elephant house modified, aquarium added to reptile house and a rhino enclosure built.
1955 A children's zoo built costing 15,000 pounds, incorporating lakes, streams and an aquarium.
1957 Original monkey house replaced by an open air monkey pit.
1960's Marsupial house, small mammal house(from the old penguin enclosure), amd in 1963 a great ape house were built.
1970's New bear terraces created.

After 140 years of operating within the confines of an amusement park, the zoo closed on 11th September 1977.


Hope this helps
Click to expand...

Thanks Adrian :). I must admit, I thought that it closed much earlier than that (sometime between 1930 and 1950 would have been my guess, dunno why but there ya' go :p).
 
I think Clin Keeling's books about Belle Vue give quite extensive details about where the animals went. I don't have them to hand so can't be more precise.
 
adrian1963 said:
Zoo history web site is great I use it quite a bit but the thing I have a problem with is it hardly gives any information about the animals that are relocated.
Click to expand...

It often seems a difficult task to find where animals have been relocated to after a collection closes, especially if you are researching it at a later date..

A modern example is Cricket St Thomas that closed last year- though in that case a pretty comprehensive list has recently been posted on that thread.
 
adrian1963 said:
1957 Original monkey house replaced by an open air monkey pit.
Click to expand...

I don't think that is quite correct-(afaik) the large Monkey House was still in use until the Zoo closed. There was also a more modern open 'pit' for a small group of Olive baboons, a comparatively recent addition which I think is referred to here.
 
Regarding Stanley zoo, Co. Durham, I only ever visited once on a half day school trip in the very early seventies, cant remember a great deal about it apart from there was a baby Asian elephant on the premises, I don't think I could have been to impressed by it as I cannot recall ever requesting to go back, unlike many of the others. When it closed I think the stock would have been dispersed amongst the owners other parks,i.e. Associated Pleasure Parks, who also at the time Flamingo Park, N . Yorks. What perhaps finished Stanley off was the opening of the new Lambton Lion Park just a few miles away in 1972. This was initially a joint venture between Jimmy Chipperfield and Lord Lambton, this partnership lasted for three years, the Lambtons taking over on their own from 1975. Jimmy Chipperfield departed taking allot of animals with him including the African elephants and the baboons. In his book, "MY WILD LIFE", Jimmy Chipperfield states that after the initial novelty of the park wore off, business became disappointing, even though there were large urban areas of Tyneside and Tee side surrounding. In 1975 the park reopened as Lambton Pleasure Park, the plan was slightly altered where by in the middle they created a walk around area where you could view certain animals on foot including the two new Asian elephants, Duchess and Millie,who were waked around this area by their keeper. My first visit to Lambton was in its first year of coarse on a Northern General bus trip,my father being reluctant to take his new Vauxhall Victor in case the baboons damaged it, later a junior school trip and when my mother passed her driving test we went regular in the Morris Marina. One happy memory I have is I think in 1977 myself and my friend went with two girls on the bus , when we got there the park staff kindly took only the four of us around in a double decker, looking back for what we paid at the door it was hardly worth their while, a memorable day in more ways than one, marvellous. 1980 would be the final season for the park, unfortunately I remember reading in the Evening Chronicle that the lions were put to sleep as no body wanted them, Duchess the elephant I understand died after eating broken glass, Millie however ended up at Cricket St. Thomas via Woburn, what happened to the other animals I do not know. It was a shame when it closed considering all the other ex Chipperfield parks are still going strong to this day, incidentally the closed park still remains virtually in tact to this day, even after thirty years, the roads, fencing, giraffe and elephant houses are all still there. Although not a great information for you here I hope it is of interest and help to you in some small way. I have some old Lambton guide books somewhere in the house, if you like I'll get them and give you a list of the animals present in its final year, I will be pleased to do so.
 
I read Jimmy Chipperfield's book some years ago (don't have it at hand right now) and seem to recall him saying that Lambton was a venture of his brother, whose name I don't remember, not himself.
 
Baldur said:
I read Jimmy Chipperfield's book some years ago (don't have it at hand right now) and seem to recall him saying that Lambton was a venture of his brother, whose name I don't remember, not himself.
Click to expand...

No it was Mr. Jim who was involved with Lambton, his brother Mr. Dick was involved with Stapleford lion park
 
adrian1963 said:
I would like to know why the following zoos or collections closed and where the animals from them where re housed.

Clacton Pier Dolphinarium
Windsor Safari Park
Click to expand...

The last dolphin at Clacton Pier was called “Squeak” caught in Florida in 1972 she left when dolphin show finished at the Pier in 1979 and went to Rio Safari Elche, Alicante in Spain then later to Garadaland in Italy. She had one calf in 1998 which is still a live. She has since died but I don’t have the date to hand; it was a couple of years ago.

Windsor eight dolphins went to Harderwijk Marine Mammal Park in 1993.

Wild Caught
Smartie, 1963 alive
Honey, 1967. alive
Lulu, 1967. - died 2001
Prince, 1974. alive

Born at Windsor
Juno, 8th June 1984. alive
Neptune, 22nd June 1985. alive
Apollo, 24th June 1989. ?
Miai, 30th October 1989. ?

At least 4 of the above animals are still alive and the two mature females cited had further successful birth at Harderwijk.

More detail HERE
 
John Dineley said:
The last dolphin at Clacton Pier was called “Squeak” caught in Florida in 1972 she left when dolphin show finished at the Pier in 1979 and went to Rio Safari Elche, Alicante in Spain then later to Garadaland in Italy. She had one calf in 1998 which is still a live. She has since died but I don’t have the date to hand; it was a couple of years ago.

Windsor eight dolphins went to Harderwijk Marine Mammal Park in 1993.

Wild Caught
Smartie, 1963 alive
Honey, 1967. alive
Lulu, 1967. - died 2001
Prince, 1974. alive

Born at Windsor
Juno, 8th June 1984. alive
Neptune, 22nd June 1985. alive
Apollo, 24th June 1989. ?
Miai, 30th October 1989. ?

At least 4 of the above animals are still alive and the two mature females cited had further successful birth at Harderwijk.

More detail HERE
Click to expand...
Am I correct in remembering the glamorous Miss Yasmine Smart presenting the dolphin show for a while after the closure of her family' circus?
 
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