Do rich people still have private zoos?

DavidBrown

DavidBrown

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
I was recently reading about William Randolph Hearst's private zoo at his massive estate in San Simeon, California. In the 1930s he had a large zoo with many antelope species, giraffes, an Asian elephant, tapir, polar bear, lions, etc. It was considered to be one of the best zoos in California until it was dismantled in the late 1930s when he felt the pinch of the depression. You can still see his old bear and lion grottoes if you tour Hearst Castle. More info on Hearst's zoo is here: Hearst Castle Private Zoo

The most famous private zoo in modern times might be Michael Jackson's zoo which at one time had giraffes, Asian and African elephants, orangs, chimps, tigers, and a reptile house.

Do rich people still have lagre private zoos where they keep megafauna like giraffes and elephants, big cats, primates, etc. or was that largely a practice of bygone days?

Clearly some rich people have turned their private zoos into public ones, as John Aspinall did.
 
Not that long ago a Colombian cocaine-baron was in the news which had a privat zoo. If I remember rigth his hippo's escaped or were released and are now free-living in Colombia !
 
During the 1970s, the Moroccan leader had a private zoo. Don't know if it still exists.
 
I do wonder if eccentrics still have menageries, with all the animal rights groups, treaties banning trade and the deviation from capturing wild animals. That, in my opinion is a good thing, as the world has largely moved away from keeping animals for spectacle and amusement.

Having said that, I am sure that in many developing countries (think Indonesia and Malaysia, for example) there must be many barons with menageries.
 
There was once a guy who lived in Texas who owned a snake ranch. His name was W. A. King. Though everyone called him Snake or Snake King. He would take some specimens from his collection on tour throughout the state and sometimes into other states. On one occasion, King took a trip to New York and ended up buying a hippo. He then tried to sell it for a profit. He eventually expanded his menagerie to include mammals and eventually became an animal trader.
 
Uday Hussein had a menagerie with cheetahs and lions. I think some of their descendants live in the Baghdad Zoo now.
 
In Mexico, Profepa has confiscated various animals from private zoos of narcs, mostly birds of prey and felines. They were distributed to different zoos. I recall the press accounts that the animals were adequately housed but had recieved incorrect diets.
What had they been fed ?
I also remember that in the bunny magazine various centerfolds were photographed with different animals, i supposed from HH's collection. Sadly, my wife destroyed all my
PB collection so i do not remember which sets.
 
Loads of oil money + above the law if you're in the right family = many private "zoos" in the Middle East. Several times I've been entirely confident that some species wasn't in captivity anywhere (at least outside its native range) only to discover that it was at a private facility in the Middle East. It's likely that many of these will remain questionable, but a few, including the famous Al-Wabra (Qatar), have turned into some of the most professional captive breeding and conservation facilites in the world.
 
I have not heard anything recently, but the owner of the greyhound race track in Tijuana, Mexico, has (or had) a large collection of big cats. The white tiger that was originally at the San Diego Zoo and then moved to San Diego Safari Park was confiscated at the border and I think it belonged to him?

Interesting that some of the animal grottoes are still at Hearst Castle, I did not know that (I have never been or was too young if I did go as a child to remember). What I do know is that the zebras were set free and have been breeding ever since and can sometimes be seen on the hills surrounding the estate.
 
There is at least one such "private zoo" in NZ, owned by billionaire Alan Gibbs, although the collection is currently limited to Giraffe and Zebra, although additional ungulate species are likely in the future, as are smaller mammals.
 
A couple of other European ones;

Prince Ranier of Monaco. It was called an 'Acclimatisation Centre' - he had Gorillas and Orangutans at one stage. Also Big Cats/Bears? Now closed/defunct?

Kronberg Zoo near Frankfurt. Owned by George Von Opel Kept (and bred)African Elephants, also Persian Fallow deer etc. Was open to the public at one time- still?

In UK Maidstone Zoo(Kent) was a private collection owned by Sir Garard Twyhritt-Drake(name spelling may be incorrect.;) ) When it closed some animals like Asian hoofedstock went to the nascent collection at nearby Howletts.
 
Pertinax said:
A couple of other European ones;
Kronberg Zoo near Frankfurt. Owned by George Von Opel Kept (and bred)African Elephants, also Persian Fallow deer etc. Was open to the public at one time- still?
Click to expand...

The one also called Opel-Zoo? Yes. It's even one of the most visited zoos in the country.
 
Kadyrov the Chzechen leader has a private zoo, mainly with big cats. So does Gago Tsarukyan. His zoo is actually known for feeding live donkeys to his big cats. The current PM of Georgia Ivanishvilii has a private zoo as well mainly with birds although he also have lemurs and a zebra.
 
Oh yes, Arizona Docent mentions the private zoo of one of meixco's most controversial public figures. Jorge Hank Rhon, millionare, ex - mayor of Tijuana, owner of the greyhound racing track in that city,owner of the Caliente chain of gambling casinos, known animal smuggler, said to be friend of the narcs, who also has a private zoo of mostly large felines and predators. The U.S. has banned his entry into that nation. The white tiger confiscated at the border was his illegal purchase. Attempts to jail Jorge Hank Rhon in Mexico have failed. His latest achievement was building a soccer stadium in Tijuana and creating a soccer team, the Xolos. (From Xolocuintles, the aztec hairless dogs, which Jorge Hank Rhon breeds). In their first season, Xolos actually went on to win the mexican national soccer tornament, giving Tijuana it´s first prize winning sports team.
Jorge Hank Rhon is now popular as ever in Tijuana. Surreal and disgusting.
 
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