Council Run Zoos

Brum

Brum

Well-Known Member
10+ year member
I've been pondering council run zoos in the UK and the only two I can think of are Birmingham Nature Centre and Belfast Zoo. Are there any others that I'm missing?
And I also know that Newquay was - now owned by the Whitley charity and Blackpool which is now owned by Parques Reunidos(sp?). Are there others that have been sold off or turned in to charitable trusts?
 
Brum said:
I've been pondering council run zoos in the UK and the only two I can think of are Birmingham Nature Centre and Belfast Zoo. Are there any others that I'm missing?
And I also know that Newquay was - now owned by the Whitley charity and Blackpool which is now owned by Parques Reunidos(sp?). Are there others that have been sold off or turned in to charitable trusts?
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Depends what would be defined as a zoo, but Tilgate Nature Centre is run by Crawley Council & theres at least one run by a London Borough
 
Tropical World and Lotherton in Leeds.

Morecambe council used to operate Winged World at Heysham.
 
bongorob said:
Tropical World and Lotherton in Leeds.
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I just thought of them on my way back from the school run, I think another may be Sewerby as well?

Out of the four that are definites I'd say that they were worthy zoological establishments, so why don't more councils invest in their local zoo? Maybe give their constituents a bit of pride in their local collection and raise publicity for any such places?

pipaluk said:
Depends what would be defined as a zoo, but Tilgate Nature Centre is run by Crawley Council & theres at least one run by a London Borough
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I'd agree that Tilgate may be classed as a zoo now they have meerkats and otters but was unaware of a collection ran by any London boroughs?
 
Brent Lodge Park animal centre is ran by Ealing council and is Camperdown Wildlife Centre ran by Dundee Council?

Oh and Exploris aquarium is still owned by Ard Borough Council in Northern Ireland although its fate hangs in the balance!!
 
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easytigger said:
Brent Lodge Park animal centre is ran by Ealing council and is Camperdown Wildlife Centre ran by Dundee Council?

Oh and Exploris aquarium is still owned by Ard Borough Council in Northern Ireland although its fate hangs in the balance!!
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Golders Hill Park zoo is owned by the City of London
 
The old GLC used to operate zoos in Battersea Park (still there, privately owned) and Crystal Palace (closed). Tim May might remember the latter; I think Raymond Sawyer was Superintendent.
 
IanRRobinson said:
The old GLC used to operate zoos in Battersea Park (still there, privately owned) and Crystal Palace (closed). Tim May might remember the latter; I think Raymond Sawyer was Superintendent.
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I went to Crystal Palace a few times in the early 70s as a young child. I can't remember much about it though other than they had a lone chimp youngster.
 
Brum said:
I just thought of them on my way back from the school run, I think another may be Sewerby as well?
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Sewerby is indeed operated by the East Riding of Yorkshire Council.

At the time Geoffrey Schomberg wrote "The Penguin Guide to British Zoos" Raymond Sawyer was superintendent of both Battersea and Crystal Palace.
 
IanRRobinson said:
........ Crystal Palace (closed). Tim May might remember the latter; I think Raymond Sawyer was Superintendent.
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Although I did visit the Crystal Palace Zoo several times, I only went very rarely and my visits were many years ago; consequently I really haven’t much to add.

As both Ian and Andrew have previously mentioned, the late Raymond Sawyer was superintendent there at one time. Sawyer was, of course, a renowned aviculturist so, presumably, his influence explains why a relatively small collection had some choice birds (both cock-of-the-rock and oropendola immediately spring to mind).

Perhaps the most surprising thing about this small zoo was that the bull African forest elephant ‘Jumbo’ was housed there for a while, in the early nineteen seventies, before he was sent to London Zoo (where he was held on the Cotton terraces) and then subsequently sent to Whipsnade.
 
Tim May said:
Although I did visit the Crystal Palace Zoo several times, I only went very rarely and my visits were many years ago; consequently I really haven’t much to add.

As both Ian and Andrew have previously mentioned, the late Raymond Sawyer was superintendent there at one time. Sawyer was, of course, a renowned aviculturist so, presumably, his influence explains why a relatively small collection had some choice birds (both cock-of-the-rock and oropendola immediately spring to mind).

Perhaps the most surprising thing about this small zoo was that the bull African forest elephant ‘Jumbo’ was housed there for a while, in the early nineteen seventies, before he was sent to London Zoo (where he was held on the Cotton terraces) and then subsequently sent to Whipsnade.
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It's very interesting to know that a small and council-run collection held some very unusual bird species along with Jumbo, I couldn't even imagine the possibility of somewhere that size housing any type of elephant these days, let alone a bull loxodonta cyclotis. :eek:
 
Brum said:
It's very interesting to know that a small and council-run collection held some very unusual bird species along with Jumbo, I couldn't even imagine the possibility of somewhere that size housing any type of elephant these days, let alone a bull loxodonta cyclotis. :eek:
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Well, he wasn't full-grown at the time!
 
IanRRobinson said:
Well, he wasn't full-grown at the time!
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I did gather that but I just can't imagine any council allowing an elephant (whatever size) to be kept on a small council ran site nowadays. Belfast is the obvious exception because it's considerably larger than the others that are mentioned in this thread.
 
Since my post I have remembered the existence of the Animal Education Centre in East Park in Hull, run by the city council. There are still aviaries in West Park too, despite the proximity of the KC Stadium, although these cannot really be said to constitute a zoo unlike the AEC. There used to be aviaries in Pickering Park as well, but someone did tell me these were no longer there.

Does Leeds City Council operate a small collection in Pudsey Park? A few years ago Lotherton was holding a number of British finch species with signage saying the birds were going to Pudsey Park.
 
Parrotsandrew said:
Since my post I have remembered the existence of the Animal Education Centre in East Park in Hull, run by the city council. There are still aviaries in West Park too, despite the proximity of the KC Stadium, although these cannot really be said to constitute a zoo unlike the AEC. There used to be aviaries in Pickering Park as well, but someone did tell me these were no longer there.
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The aviaries in Pickering Park are still present - I visited a couple of weeks ago. Similar groups of animals are on display at West Park and at the AEC, so if one constitutes a zoo, why doesn't the other? (I'm not sure either have zoo licences)
 
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