Opening of Lion Paddock

Interesting advert which details some of the animals they had managed to acquire, including lions. Where would the new Lion Paddock have been? I thought they only had one Lion at that time which was kept in a cage within a paddock near the original gated entrance. Also note that the Zoo was open every day from 10.00am until Dusk.

This must have been the paddock that housed Arabian Gazelles in the 1970s and was the site of the Sarus Crane paddock until fairly recently. That is certainly the first Lion paddock I remember, but that would have been around three years after this advert. I do like this advert - a real "showman's" style one - "Giant Parrots" and "Giant Water Rats" for example. The latter would be Coypus which were common enough in zoos at the time. Interesting too is the comparison with Whipsnade, by then open for thirty years but still "the" country zoo and dwarfing the infant Flamingo Park in acreage. Vistors probably got a better look at most of the animals at Flamingo Park than they did at Whipsnade though.

I don't think much of the coach excursions if they left Scarborough at 2 p.m. and got back at 5.30! Hardly worth going.