Hello ZooBeat members

B

Bele

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
I discovered ZooBeat by chance last week and have spent hours finding answers to lots of questions I had about UK zoos .

I have been visiting UK and some Continental zoos for over 50 years , including many collections now long gone .

I enjoy all types of exhibit but particularly primates , breeding elephants , okapis , clouded leopards amongst others .

Today I have been to Pembrokeshire and visited Manor House Wildlife Park - closed still but i was let in for a look around , Silent World in Tenby ( my first sight of dwarf seahorses ) and Begelly Gardens and Monkey Sanctuary . Let me know if you want more information on these .
 
Welcome to Zoobeat. I'm a zookeeper in the US caring mostly for Australian animals. There are lots of people here with a great deal of knowledge to share. I hope you continue to learn from this group!
 
Welcome Bele

I have been zoo visiting for 40 years in the UK. The last 10 of which have included the rest of Europe (since the cheap flights). I am joint webmaster for < Zoo History >. Many of our members have likewise been visiting UK zoos for decades.

Is the Welsh Hawking Centre on Barry Island still doing okay ?
 
Welsh Hawking Centre

Hello Zoospud

I believe the Welsh hawking Centre is still open . I have been meaning to make a trip there for ages .

I knew the place better as Barry Zoo , a trip there at Easter was a regular trip with my family . I have some old guide books somewhere . Many of the old enclosures were still in use - adapted - on my last visit , including the Elephant House .
 
Treasure those guides.

Barry Zoo guides are not common. We know of a Leopard cover from the 1960s and a Puma cover from the 1970s. Any better guesses as to their dating would be appreciated !

The former Barry Zoo elephant house is still standing. Though now the building is only used for storage.
 
Barry Zoo Guides

Hello Again Zoospud

I have checked my zoo guide boxes and found 2 Barry Zoo guides . The first has a sketch of a leaping spotted big cat -probably a leopard . The second a picture of a leopard's head . The text is identical in both but the second has adverts on inside sheets at front and back and a central 4 page insert with map of zoo , printed key to numbered exhibits and a map of the area showing the site of the zoo .

There is no date on either but the text states the elephant was purchased in 1964 and was now 7 , I think she was very small on arrival so I would guess late 1960's . The new lion enclosure and sealion pool do not feature , nor pumas and mandrill .

Incidentally the chimp Melody that lived at Barry Zoo and is featured in the guides ended up at Twycross and was there until fairly recently though I suspect no longer .

I also have a colour guide to the Welsh Hawking Centre printed in 1983 , lions were still present then .
 
Bele

Many thanks.

Our society's master list of UK guides has been compiled from 40 separate, significant, guidebook collections. We very seldom learn of 'new' old guidebooks. Yet no-one has previously mentioned the 'Leopard head' version that you have. Excellent. :)

We are visiting Twycross this Sunday and will ask about Melody.
 
zoospud said:
We are visiting Twycross this Sunday and will ask about Melody.
Click to expand...

'Melody' has been dead for quite a while now...

She was the last of a group of chimps that went to Barry Zoo from (I think) Chessington. It was good that Molly Badham saved her from her solitary existence at Barry, and got her into a group situation at Twycross (she lived in the main 'chimp colony' building there).

Melody was a very unusual looking chimp- very small and slender with a totally bald head and dark skin and a long face. I used to say she was 'half Bonobo' (though not really) At least her later years at Twycross were happier.
 
'New' Barry Zoo Guidebook

Zoospud

Wow - that is quite exciting . So the leopard picture edition with map is previously unknown . I could make a copy if you are interested .

I do not classify myself as a proper guidebook collector as I merely keep guides from visits or some I have written to the collection for in the past . I have accumulated a lot over the years though , mostly from the 1970's onwards . Another early one is of Ilfracombe zoo which would probably go back to a visit with my Gran on the boat from Swansea in the 1960's !

Also regarding Pertinax's comments on Melody , she was indeed an unusual looking little chimp . Whenever I saw her at Twycross she was on her own in one of the small pens within the Chimp House . The Barry guide states they lost 5 chimps through being given unsuitable food by the public . I have a vague memory that Melody used to smoke at Barry , not certain on that though .
 
Bele said:
Melody was indeed an unusual looking little chimp . Whenever I saw her at Twycross she was on her own in one of the small pens within the Chimp House . The Barry guide states they lost 5 chimps through being given unsuitable food by the public
Click to expand...

I'm pretty certain the six (?) chimps came from Chessington Zoo originally & Melody was the last survivor. I went to Barry Zoo once and saw her alone there- a very sad sight.

At Twycross she was sometimes in one of the small pens but I also saw her several times in the main group- though she was very quiet she seemed to have integrated okay.
 
Melody

I dug out a 1992 Chimpanzee Regional Studbook and am confused by the following entry for Chimp no. 155 , F - Melody
W. Africa born 1957
Dudley 1977
Westcliff 1980
Twycross transfer 1 December 1985

I assume this means she went to Dudley from Barry or this entry could be wrong ? The zoo did not change hands until about 1980 when it became the Welsh Hawking Centre .
 
Bele said:
I dug out a 1992 Chimpanzee Regional Studbook and am confused by the following entry for Chimp no. 155 , F - Melody
Click to expand...

I have an even older one 1987. It says; 'originally from Cardiff(?) & Barry. Arrived at Twycross from Monkey Sanctuary. Dec.1985'.

So I deduce that 'Westcliff' was a Monkey Sanctuary where in 1980 she went from Barry Zoo( the reference to Cardiff must be Barry) and in 1985 then on to Twycross.

I think the original group(at Barry) came from Dudley, not Chessington(whose old ones went to Blair Drummond Safari Park in Scotland)) thought I'm not clear exactly when they were sent to Barry. But it was long before 1977 as Dudley had had a new younger chimpanzee group of 1.3 for some years before then.
 
sooty mangabeys?

Bele said:
Begelly Gardens and Monkey Sanctuary . Let me know if you want more information on these .
Click to expand...

What can you tell us about this place? I've been trying to discover for a long time what happened to the Sooty Mangabeys that used to be at Penscynor, near Neath, after it was closed. Perhaps they came here? The group at Penscynor were originally a breeding group from London. Manor House at Tenby also had an elderly pair that later went to Newquay zoo(they aren't there anymore) but they weren't the same animals as were at Penscynor. Not sure how many Penscynor had but it was several.
 
Sooty mangabeys

I have often wondered what happened to the Penscynor mangabeys when it shut down . Thay had a very big breeding group - probably at least 12 -with the ZSL animals , at least one rescue animal and I have a vague feeling that some zoo-bred stock was imported from the States . I knew Rob Colley the curator but have not been in contact since Penscynor's closure . He is still in the area but no longer working in zoos . His name came up recently on a Bat and Owl Survey that he had carried out for a planning application . I tried to contact him with the e-mail address shown but the address was not valid . I will try again . The Penscynor gibbons and chimps together with their cage ended up at Cefn-yr-Erw .

Begelly certainly did not get the mangabeys . Their web-site is www.begellycountrysidegardens.co.uk - Home , this gives details of the monkeys they have . I do not think the current owners of the gardens have been there long and probably brought the patas and marmosets with them . Larger enclosures are planned for the rhesus and Barbary macaques but not open-top . I had an interesting discussion with the owner who is against the use of basic open-top enclosures due to the risks of escapes . The setting of Begelly's sanctuary is very peaceful and totally different to the much bigger Cefn-yr-Erw .
 
sooty mangabeys.

I'd be really interested if you can find out what happened to that Sooty Mangabey group. I can only presume they were exported after Penscynor, as there's no sign of them in any of our other zoos.....
 
I've just looked at the Begelly website and wonder if anyone who is more knowledeable about monkeys than me can confirm that the patas are different subspecies?
 
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