Former elephant paddock, September 2022

The fence around the paddock has been removed. The giraffes are due to go in here at some point.

What happened to their elephant program? Did they send their elephants away?

@DavidBrown The elephants they had from1977 were African female, Duchess, and Asian female, Gaye. They came from a circus. Gaye died in 2010 and Duchess in 2019. The enclosure was not suitable for keeping more than the two females so the zoo decided not to carry on with them.

It seems to have got very overgrown in recent years, presumably from nothing using it?

@Gigit
From what I recall; the elephants came from Longleat, though seemingly Gay spent some time at a circus before moving to Longleat [and then, before moving to Paignton].
Speaking of, I was curious as to why you would not use the official 'spelling' of Gay's name? In Paignton Zoo material, it was always Gay, not Gaye.

@dillotest0 As far as I know, they were both at a circus in Ireland. I misspelt Gay's name probably because I wasn't concentrating.

@dillotest0 As a matter of interest, I've noticed on Paignton's FB group 'Memories of Paignton Zoo' that several people, including keepers, refer to Duchess's companion as 'Gaye'. In the dim and distant past I had a schoolfriend with that name and spelling.