United Kingdom Memories of Belle Vue Zoo

[knie]

Having watched the video, the zoo enclosures do look brutal by today's standards (the gorilla pit, lion cage, elephant paddock and indoor monkey house were the worst IMO), but in 1976, I guess they were quite decent and Grayson did seem to have a genuine love for his beasts.

Jacobea, I think I know the video you refer to, and I think this predates 1976 by a good few years... I personally don't remember a gorilla pit, but I have vivid memories of the old lion house which had a row of indoor barred cages, with (if I remember rightly) a row of smaller cages above, which housed birds (or monkeys?)... this would be the early sixties.

But yes, even in the 70s some of the facilities were well out of date..... a very small, barred rhino enclosure adjacent to the giraffe house, the outdoor hippo pool which resembled a large "Belfast sink".

The last big cat enclosures at the zoo were respectable enough (if small by todays acceptable standards) with natural vegetation, and the great ape house was as good as many I have seen more recently in some of the major European zoos, with their sterile, tiled, somewhat sterile surroundings.

 

[Nisha]

Interesting article about the animals of Belle Vue
Who's who at the zoo? Dusty ledger found during Welsh house clearance reveals 33 years of Belle Vue animal history - Manchester Evening News

 

[Parrotsandrew]

That looks an interesting find. I am sorry I missed this thread but it was well before my internet days. I never visited Belle Vue, but I have all Clinton Keeling's books on the place plus some others, including Gerald Iles's "At Home in the Zoo" which I was lucky enough to obtain from the Bartlett Society's sale of surplus stock. One of Clin Keeling's books gives quite a few details about where things went - a few animals to Knaresborough etc. Hercules became quite famous when Cleethorpes closed and after his death a song about him was performed on regional television - it ended with him being a "Hippoposthumous".

 

[TARZAN]

Lots of info on here:
The Belle Vue Zoological Gardens

Thank you for this link, albeit a few years lateI have just spent an enjoyable time looking at the old Belle Vue circus programmes, best of all Captain Bailey Fosset's mixed group of lions, tigers and leopards from the fifties, this programme I have never seen before. For the record, when Belle Vue finally closed and was demolished, a housing estate was built on the site, Lockheart Close, on this development is named in memory of George Lockheart, Belle Vue's long serving ringmaster.

 

[TARZAN]

Interesting article about the animals of Belle Vue
Who's who at the zoo? Dusty ledger found during Welsh house clearance reveals 33 years of Belle Vue animal history - Manchester Evening News

An interesting and well recorded document by the look of it, good it has survived, if it has to go to auction however, I cannot see it realising a fortune, as the interest will be very much limited, considering its historic interest would it not be preferable for it to be placed in the care of a reputable zoological library, Chester's would be appropriate. From what I have read in the newspaper article, £50 was paid in the fifties for a lioness from Robert Brothers, not a fortune now but at the time this was a large amount of money.

 

[zoogiraffe]

An interesting and well recorded document by the look of it, good it has survived, if it has to go to auction however, I cannot see it realising a fortune, as the interest will be very much limited, considering its historic interest would it not be preferable for it to be placed in the care of a reputable zoological library, Chester's would be appropriate. From what I have read in the newspaper article, £50 was paid in the fifties for a lioness from Robert Brothers, not a fortune now but at the time this was a large amount of money.

Actually I would like to see it in the Bartlett Societys Library,as they already have historical records from Belle Vue in it!!!!

 

[FBBird]

Very interesting stuff. However, Nicholas the hippo did not so much 'arrive' at the zoo, as was born there.

 

[Pertinax]

I personally don't remember a gorilla pit, ..... and the great ape house was as good as many I have seen more recently in some of the major European zoos, with their sterile, tiled, somewhat sterile surroundings.

I think the reference to a 'Gorilla pit' refers to the outdoor enclosure of the 1960's Apehouse which was built for Gorillas, Orangutans and Chimps. Those were the only Gorillas kept at Belle Vue. The House was fairly unusual in that the indoor and outside enclosures were seperated by the visitor viewing area and the Apes' access was underneath the walkway. The house was of its time but the sunken concreted outdoor areas were very bare with e.g. a single 'tree' and a log cabin on legs being the only 'furniture' in the Gorilla one. Today it would be criticised in a similar fashion to Dudley's, which is from the same era.

 

[Tim May]

Very interesting stuff. However, Nicholas the hippo did not so much 'arrive' at the zoo, as was born there.

Sadly, about six years after he was born, the hippo 'Nicholas' killed his mother 'Gracie'.

It is interesting that this ledger book states 'Nicholas' died on 8th January 1967 as, according to the European Hippo Studbook, he died on 11th May 1965!

 

[Tim May]

Belle Vue is famous for its gerenuk but, although it was mentioned earlier in this thread that Belle Vue had the UK’s only gerenuk, this is not so.

Digressing from Belle Vue:-

The Zoological Society of London Annual Report for 1954 records that two gerenuks were received at London Zoo that year; gerenuk being listed as a species new to the collection. According to the Zoo Life magazine for Autumn 1954 the gerenuk were part of a consignment of animals brought back by John Seago and Reginald Bloom.

The ZSL Annual Report for 1956 lists the arrival of another gerenuk at London Zoo that year; Crandall records that this specimen arrived at London Zoo on 31st July 1956 died on 12th January 1961.

And the excellent book ”An Illustrated History of Bristol Zoo Gardens” (Brown, Ashby and Schwitzer) includes a photograph of a gerenuk taken in September 1956.

 

[gentle lemur]

Yesterday I posted scanned versions of 3 photos from my visit to Belle Vue, which I summarised earlier in this thread, in the UK - Other Gallery. I think these are the first actual photos of animals at Belle Vue on ZooChat. To check labels etc, I looked at the guidebook I bought on the day, and I discovered that I made a number of annotations, probably on the train home on the historic Liverpool and Manchester line. The date was 8th August 1973, when the zoo was in decline. I hope some of them are of interest. I have added some 2016 comments in italics.

Big Cats
1/2/3 lions, 3 tigers, 1/1 pumas, 1 black & 1 spotted leopards

Aquarium & Reptile House
Best exhibit: 3 very large batfish (Platax orbicularis) with cleaner wrasse

Note that aquarium technology was very primitive in the 1970s, and only the hardiest tropical marine fishes did well in captivity. Belle Vue was a pioneer with some of these species.

Tropical River House
2 common hippos (no pygmies), Malayan tapirs, crowned pigeons & various ibis

Monkey House In pairs or groups
cherry-crowned magabeys, grivet monkeys, Diana guenons, Sykes' guenons, talapoins,
crab-eating macaques, lion-tailed macaques (2 pairs), Moor macaques (male a very nice specimen), pig-tailed macaques, stump-tailed macaques,
male mandrill + female drill + hybrid? infant



Singletons
lesser spot-nosed guenon, Mona guenon, sooty mangabey, rhesus macaque,
Taiwan (Formosan) rock macaque, white-fronted capuchin

The rock macaque is a species I haven't seen before or since, so I hope it was identified correctly. I cannot add to what Pertinax has already written about the Monkey House and the Ape accommodation.
To be fair, the number of monkey species and the group sizes at Belle Vue that day would not have been very different from those at Chester in 1973, where the cages were more modern in appearance - but most were equally featureless and entirely indoors. Likewise the old Monkey House at Regent's Park, which had been demolished a few years previously, was not dissimilar except that all the animals had outdoor access.

In quarantine section
~40 Bactrian camels 1/1/1 sitatunga, 1/3 gemsbok, 1/3 sable antelope, 1/4/2 chamois, white-tailed gnu

The quarantine regulations for ungulates in 1970s aimed to prevent foot & mouth disease by keeping them far away from farm livestock for 6 months. Some city zoos like Belle Vue & Regent's Park were licensed as quarantine stations, and the animals could be viewed by the public. Chester had an off-show quarantine station beside the Halfway House pub in the middle of Birkenhead.
These animals were by far the most interesting ones at the Zoo, although some of the housing and fencing looked iffy. I had never seen sable or chamois before, or so many camels. I think most of them went to Blackpool, which opened the following year. The sables went to Marwell. I think some of the camels went to Blackpool, but many probably went to safari parks and/or circuses.





Alan

 

[Pertinax]

In quarantine section
~40 Bactrian camels 1/1/1 sitatunga, 1/3 gemsbok, 1/3 sable antelope, 1/4/2 chamois, white-tailed gnu

Alan

The large group of Camels were imported by Marwell, in some sort of deal with some other zoos/parks which received some of them, though a lot went to Marwell also.

The Gemsbok were probably for Marwell, maybe the Sable too, and in 1973 the W.T. Gnu were possibly for Blackpool- if the latter ever had them?

1973 was the year of my last Belle Vue visit also.

 

[Bwassa]

Thanks Alan for posting the info and photos. Do you have any others that you would be able to post?
I have seen photos of the tropical river house on google, including one of what I presume is the entrance via the elephant house, and one of a common hippo (possibly Hercules) getting a bit close for comfort to a seemingly unaware capybara......

 

[gentle lemur]

The large group of Camels were imported by Marwell, in some sort of deal with some other zoos/parks which received some of them, though a lot went to Marwell also.

The Gemsbok were probably for Marwell, maybe the Sable too, and in 1973 the W.T. Gnu were possibly for Blackpool- if the latter ever had them?

1973 was the year of my last Belle Vue visit also.

I am sure that Blackpool received the chamois and pretty sure about the gnu. I was wrong about the camels; Blackpool had quite a large group when they opened, but on checking I find that this was in 1972.
I think you're right about the gemsbok going to Marwell with the sable, they would have been a new subspecies for me, because I had previously seen Beisa oryx at Bristol and Chester.

Alan

 

[gentle lemur]

Thanks Alan for posting the info and photos. Do you have any others that you would be able to post?
I have seen photos of the tropical river house on google, including one of what I presume is the entrance via the elephant house, and one of a common hippo (possibly Hercules) getting a bit close for comfort to a seemingly unaware capybara......

I don't think I have any more that will scan properly. I didn't take any in the River House, it seemed dark and dirty to me. I couldn't get a decent pose from the sloth bear or any of the apes and most of the other cages had heavy fences or bars which made taking photos difficult. And as I said previously, I didn't want to use up too much film when I was about to leave on a tour from Hamburg to Amsterdam taking in 11 top-notch zoos

Alan

 

[Pertinax]

I am sure that Blackpool received the chamois and pretty sure about the gnu.

The Chamois were definately for Blackpool- they lived on what's now the Gorilla mountain.

The Gnu definately didn't go to Marwell as by 1973 they already had theirs, so probably Blackpool also.

 

[gentle lemur]

A few days ago I found another photo from Belle Vue. It shows the female gorilla 'Susie' in the indoor section of the Ape House. As Pertinax said earlier in this thread, the cage fronts were like the one in the Gorilla House at Bristol, and so I overlooked this photo because I thought it was taken at Bristol. I have just scanned it and posted it in the Gallery, because it may be of interest - although it is not a good photo.
In checking her details, I noticed that Susie's son Musashi died a couple of months ago in Tokyo. She gave birth to several infants after she went to Bristol, all sired by Samson, but Musashi was the only one to survive infancy.

Alan

 

[Pertinax]

She gave birth to several infants after she went to Bristol, all sired by Samson, but Musashi was the only one to survive infancy.

This was unfortunately the pattern with most Bristol gorilla births in that era. Susie had five, but the last three I think were non-viable( stillbirth, miscarriage etc). I've seen photos of the adult Reuben/Musashi posted when he died recently- he looked like Susie but one side of his face was rather slack , as if he had previously had a stroke. Sadly, he lived alone for much of his life and never bred, so Susie isn't represented in the captive population either.