Enquiry about two former zoos

C

chimpman

Well-Known Member
10+ year member
I'm just wondering if anyone has any general information about Basildon and Gatwick zoos:

What size (acres/hectares) were they?
What were their animal collections like?
Were they well staffed or run on a shoestring?
Besides animals to see did they offer much else: education, gift shop, café, etc.?

Plus any other information you'd like to add about either one or both of these closed zoos.
 
Both were typical small British zoos - finances certainly appeared to be tight in both cases, and although it is sad to have zoos disappear I don't think the world is a radically poorer place for the absence of either collection.

GATWICK
Mainly birds, a few primates, a few other (easily available) mammals: muntjac, wallaby and so on. Zootierliste suggests they once had a leopard there, although I find this hard to believe. It very much had a crowded, back garden, home-made feel to it. Visitor facilities were pretty basic. Size? I'd guess that it was 4 or 5 acres, maybe less. They tried hard, I'm sure, but it just wasn't really striking enough, or good enough, to make much of a mark.

BASILDON
I only visited this place once, and I didn't linger. It was pretty horrible. They did have a leopard here (is it the one that is now at Borth? I think it may be), and a lion as well. I remember a pretty filthy otter enclosure as well. Porcupines on concrete. It had an air of neglect to it all, brought about, I'm sure, not by a lack of care but by a lack of resources. It was pretty small, and visitor facilities were basic-to-non-existent.
 
Gatwick.

Gatwick was very well run,always clean and tidy, the owner very pleasant.. reason for closure i belive was due to the owner retiringand moving.I know of 2 ex Marwell keepers from days gone past that worked at the collection.. Basildon... very small and if money could of been spent could of become a resonble collection for smallish mamals, birds and primates and felines..always felt it needed a darm could clean.
 
hantslad said:
Gatwick was very well run,always clean and tidy, the owner very pleasant.. reason for closure i belive was due to the owner retiringand moving.I know of 2 ex Marwell keepers from days gone past that worked at the collection.. Basildon... very small and if money could of been spent could of become a resonble collection for smallish mamals, birds and primates and felines..always felt it needed a darm could clean.
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Yes, Terry and Sheila Thorpe, the owners, retired to Scotland taking some of their parrots with them. It closed 2nd September 2002.
 
sooty mangabey said:
Both were typical small British zoos - finances certainly appeared to be tight in both cases, and although it is sad to have zoos disappear I don't think the world is a radically poorer place for the absence of either collection.

GATWICK
Mainly birds, a few primates, a few other (easily available) mammals: muntjac, wallaby and so on. Zootierliste suggests they once had a leopard there, although I find this hard to believe. It very much had a crowded, back garden, home-made feel to it. Visitor facilities were pretty basic. Size? I'd guess that it was 4 or 5 acres, maybe less. They tried hard, I'm sure, but it just wasn't really striking enough, or good enough, to make much of a mark.

BASILDON
I only visited this place once, and I didn't linger. It was pretty horrible. They did have a leopard here (is it the one that is now at Borth? I think it may be), and a lion as well. I remember a pretty filthy otter enclosure as well. Porcupines on concrete. It had an air of neglect to it all, brought about, I'm sure, not by a lack of care but by a lack of resources. It was pretty small, and visitor facilities were basic-to-non-existent.
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Basildon closed in March 2002, a male spotted leopard called "Rajah" was born at Basildon, but then went to a private collection, he was then confiscated by the RSPCA and ended up at Borth and is still there. Basildon had a breeding pair, one of which was melanistic, several cubs were produced and were often sold to private collectors etc.., they had a pair of lions, and once tried to sell the lioness to a private keeper ( which was actually filmed undercover for a tv programme), after which time the zoo closed down.
Gatwick never had a leopard but they did have leopard cats at one point.
 
I visited Gatwick Zoo a couple of times. The impression I got was of a well-run collection, managed by people who were genuinely interested and knowledgeable in the subject. I felt, and still feel, its closure was a loss to the zoo community. Birds were the specialty at Gatwick, though there were other animals, including a nice Spider monkey island. I was very impressed by the member of staff who took my money at the ticket office, because he was energised and even wished me an enjoyable visit. This made for a very good first impression.

I visited Basildon Zoo only once, in 1988, and that was enough for me. I went there after watching a negative TV programme about the place, but wanted to see for myself if it was quite as bad as the programme depicted. It was. I remember only two things about that visit. Many of the enclosures, as well as being too small, were overgrown with nettles and other weeds (not always a bad thing, of course, as the animals may like the security that lavish undergrowth provides, but in this case it was seriously limiting the space where some of the big cats and other animals could walk). The other thing that is still deeply etched in my memory is that one of the chipmunks on show had a large open wound to its flank, possibly inflicted by a cage companion.

According to Anthony Smith ("Animals On View", 1977), both Basildon Zoo (a.k.a. Basildon Wildlife Park or Vange Zoo) and Gatwick Zoo were five acres.
 
I never went there, but as a newly-qualified vet my girlfriend was sent to Basildon Zoo in the late 1980s to take a thorn out of a lion's paw (yikes). Luckily the cat in question had the paw resting against the wire and she pulled it out from the other side no problem without the need to sedate. Pretty grim place, she thought.

Sorry if it's a 'lame' story, but it's all I've got!
 
Sounds like they were approximately Southport Zoo size. I would have liked to go to Gatwick Zoo from what I've read. It seems a shame that it's now gone. I think it's now been built over by new housing. I think I'm glad I never got to Basildon. It seems small zoos are a dying breed.

Since some folks on here have good memories of long gone zoos does anyone remember anything about Bideford. I've got a cousin who moved there and when I googled Bideford I found it had had a zoo. Wasn't it something to do with a lady called Katherine Tottenham (have I got her name right?). Was it in Bideford or in the nearby countryside? How big was it? I read somewhere (can't remember where now) that it was 32 acres. Does anyone know what animals it had in its collection? From what I've discovered so far it only lasted a couple of years from, I think, the end of the '60s just into the '70s.
 
chimpman said:
Wasn't it something to do with a lady called Katherine Tottenham (have I got her name right?). Was it in Bideford or in the nearby countryside?
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I paid one visit here during the brief years it was open.

You have the owner's name correct, or very close anyway. It was situated in the countryside about one mile South of Bideford on the main road, up a steep driveway. Just a piece of farmland and a large country house from memory. I don't remember exactly what animals were kept but it was pretty ramshackle. The whole area may not have been developed either- there weren't 32 acres full of animals, I am sure of that. There were some dilapitated runs with Monkeys and they had a red-eared(?) Guenon among some more common species.

I think the owner lady wrote a small book about it. I had the guide book(it was very slim, probably my thinnest guidebook ever)a white cover with a monkey(barbary ape?) on the front, which I bought during my very short visit- there wasn't much to see-but I sold it along with others.
 
Enquiry about....

I never went to Bideford Zoo, but I read Katherine Tottenham's book 'Wild Company'. She wrote about Himalayan Bears, a Llama, and Talapoins among other mammals.
 
FBBird said:
I never went to Bideford Zoo, but I read Katherine Tottenham's book 'Wild Company'. She wrote about Himalayan Bears, a Llama, and Talapoins among other mammals.
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I believe one of the Himalayan Black Bears went to Poole Park Zoo from Bideford.
Also I think I am right in saying that Chessington`s old female Chimp called "Cressida" came from Bideford originally?
 
Enquiry about....

I remember in the book she talks about the bears being 2:1 and having to re home the spare male. Before she had them, they had been used to 'advertise a well known breakfast cereal'.
 
FBBird said:
I remember in the book she talks about the bears being 2:1 and having to re home the spare male. Before she had them, they had been used to 'advertise a well known breakfast cereal'.
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Yes, the animal that went to Poole Park was a male, he is pictured in an old Poole guidebook, I forget his name for now.
 
chimpman said:
I would have liked to go to Gatwick Zoo from what I've read. It seems a shame that it's now gone. I think it's now been built over by new housing. I think I'm glad I never got to Basildon.
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The structures of the old Basildon Zoo are still there. I drove past it a couple of weeks ago.

When it closed, it turned into a pet shop / garden centre. It still operates as such today - though rather ramshackle. All the old zoo is still out the back - almost completely taken over by vegetation..
 
Paradoxurus said:
The structures of the old Basildon Zoo are still there. I drove past it a couple of weeks ago.

When it closed, it turned into a pet shop / garden centre. It still operates as such today - though rather ramshackle. All the old zoo is still out the back - almost completely taken over by vegetation..
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It was Gatwick Zoo to which I was referring that had been built over.
 
chimpman said:
It was Gatwick Zoo to which I was referring that had been built over.
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I know.

Since you brought up the subject of the former Gatwick Zoo site, I thought I would point out, for anyone interested, what became (or didn't) of the Basildon Zoo site.
 
Paradoxurus said:
I know.

Since you brought up the subject of the former Gatwick Zoo site, I thought I would point out, for anyone interested, what became (or didn't) of the Basildon Zoo site.
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Are the owners of the pet shop/garden centre at the former Basildon Zoo site the former owners of said zoo?
 
Gatwick zoo was a small collection with the appearance of a bird garden, with aviaries, enclosures and a small lake set in front of a small mansion. Most of the bird species were available in private aviculture at the time, though not necessarily common in zoos. I believe they had sunbirds for a while in the entrance exhibit. The most interesting enclosure was the mixing of spider monkey and squirrel monkeys on a large island, with a mature living tree in the centre which they could climb. Both were fairly large groups, seemed compatible, and were breeding.

Gatwick was the recipient of some of the 'dowries' paid by Windsor Safari Park's receivers on its closure for rehoming various species. I believe Gatwick received Windsor's penguins to join their own small group, as well as possibly flamingos, again to join their own, and pelicans (which they had not previously kept AFAIK). There may have been other species too. From the money they received, Gatwick were able to build several new themed exhibits - such as a desert beach habitat for the penguins, and possibly new enclosures for their existing meerkats and otters, which were the first such exhibits in a garden of aviaries and very simple enclosures. The David Taylor book on Windsor's closure is my source for this.

When Gatwick closed, I believe the white-throated capuchins and spider monkeys went to Chessington. I think the remainder/descendents of the spider monkey group are still at Chessington today.

Gatwick seemed very much someone's private hobby that happened to be open to the public. I rarely saw contributions in IZN or other publications so am unsure whether they had notable success in the breeding or husbandry of any of the species they held.

The gallery on this site has a few photos, others are to be found here:

http://www.etcp.co.uk/piccys/gatwickzoo/
 
Nanook said:
I believe one of the Himalayan Black Bears went to Poole Park Zoo from Bideford.
Also I think I am right in saying that Chessington`s old female Chimp called "Cressida" came from Bideford originally?
Click to expand...

I don't remember the Himalayan Bears there but that's not say they weren't there when I went. I vaguely remember Llamas. I believe she had two chimps( mentioned in the book?) referred to as 'Cressy' (Cressida) and 'Jane' so you're no doubt correct about the one moved to Chessington.
 
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