Malvern Wildlife Park

Yes, as far as I know Mole Hall is still there. And still pretty awful. The chimpanzee enclosure in particular is just horrible. It makes me laugh when I read that this place specialises in otters – it conjures up an image of some sort of otter paradise. The reality on my last visit – ten years ago – was of ‘pools’ that looked like drinking troughs for cattle. And Basildon! Just totally awful. I can’t think of a single redeeming feature about the place. No loss at all when that one closed down.

Trigger - you said your place has its faults. What is your place?

Went to Molehall last year. yes they had a lot of otters, their enclousres were not fab. and the chimp enclsure was ..well...just not good. my little place is Gentlehsaw widlife centre, it's tiny and space is a big issue, it really bugs me when these places have such a lot of space and it's not used for the animals. I would kill for the room they have at molehall.
 
Did you ever go to Southam?.....

i went to Southam a few times as a kid.
I remember the owner giving my mum 2 puma cubs to hold and said 'just bring them up to the cafe when you get bored'... poor little things must've only been about 2-3 weeks old!
There was an old chimp(in his 40's) there called Joe, all alone and was terrified every time he heard the owners voice....
Its a housing estate now...probably for the best!!
 
Does anyone have any photos of the Molehall chimpanzees?
 
Wingham is pretty bad. Quite frankly I don't understand how it passes is zoo inspection. Then, of course, there is Cefn-yr-erw which I am not sure ever acquired a license in the first place. Auchingarrich used to be pretty ramshackle, as did Black Isle, but I'm not sure how these two are now.
 
Wingham isn't exactly amazing. Elsewhere on this forum Amazon World has been mentioned too. Brean down bird gardens are also pretty dire.
 
Southam was a bad zoo, but so was Guilsborough Wildlife park, it did have some rare species, ne ne, lechwe and clouded leopard, bad enclosures especially for small mammals ie fruit bat, aviaries were basic and small for sacred ibis etc , no house under cover etc, potentially it could have been a good collection, nice setting, lakes,woodland etc .
 
Im pretty sure that the two male chimps went to Cfen-yr-erw its a real sham they didnt go to monky world or even another zoo.
It turns out Garrick Green used to be just outside the town in which i live in! Was it really as bad as you say?
regards
 
Having never visited Basildon, Southam or any of the others mentionet i cant say however they all look/ sound horrible. Glasgow was picked on a lot aswell and some of the enclosures at Dartmoor were very bad, actually no, a lot of the enclsoures at Dartmoor were bad.
The worst zoo i've visisted though is a zoo which i dont think a lot will have heard of. The Animalarium at Borth, it's been a while since my visit since i only visited once for obvious reasons. The collection was of fairly common zoo animals. Lemurs, Capuchins, Monkeys, Parrots, Llamas, Domestic Aniamals, Racoons, Reptiles, a small cat species and probably a few others aswell. Tiny enclosures especially for primates, the cages and housing was so tiny it was unbealiable. Visitors were also allowed to feed animals. There was a set list of which animals to feed and which not to. Do you think the public listened?
Off course not and lemurs and monkeys were begging for food throughth cage mesh. Awful place.


Even their Ocelot and Leopard were pets. They also take animals from pet shops and zoos when they can no longer keep them. They also take animals from the RSPCA, reptile rescue centres and animals found abandoned or injured wild animals.:confused:
 
I hope to god they expanded the site if they have a Leopard then

I applaud them for taking in all these animals of course, but i stick by what i said that most of the enclosures were in a bad state on my visit. Looking back this could of course be due to a complete lack of money etc i guess.

The website's gone down recently, is the place still open?
 
Im pretty sure that the two male chimps went to Cfen-yr-erw its a real sham they didnt go to monky world or even another zoo.
It turns out Garrick Green used to be just outside the town in which i live in! Was it really as bad as you say?
regards
They have indeed gone to Cfen-yr-erw but at least they have got a home where they will be cared for and looked after,as for Monkey World i`m glad they haven`t gone there after the way they treated the owners of Southport Zoo when it had to close down saying yes they would take the Chimps on Camara but as soon as filming had stopped saying no they wouldn`t not very nice thing to do that,which is one reason why i will never be a fan of the place and will probably never visit the place again as a result.
 
They have indeed gone to Cfen-yr-erw but at least they have got a home where they will be cared for and looked after,as for Monkey World i`m glad they haven`t gone there after the way they treated the owners of Southport Zoo when it had to close down saying yes they would take the Chimps on Camara but as soon as filming had stopped saying no they wouldn`t not very nice thing to do that,which is one reason why i will never be a fan of the place and will probably never visit the place again as a result.

The Chimps have indeed gone to Cfen-yr-erw The Welsh Monkey Sanctuary. Due to the very poor diet the chimps had been fed on over the years they were 50% - 100% over weight. This meant that sedating them and forcing them to endure a 10 - 15 hour transfer to Mona in spain was not an option. As it was one stopped breathing during the sedation and transfer and it was only due to the expertise of the vets on the day that he survived.

They are now happily settled in wales and both are enjoying improving health due to better diets and daily enrichment, which was sadly lacking at Molehall when we were asked to close it down and re-home all the animals.

Due to Joey's and Tubman's health issues and ages I believe they have certainly moved to the best place to live out their days.
 
southam zoo

Remember going to Southam as a kid most of their animals were used for advertising and films, it was dire as was Guilsborough, a bird garden behind the pheasant pub in Charlecote near Stratford On Avon, and LLanerch Park Zoo in north wales,good guide but poor badly presented collection.
 
MALVERN HILLS CHILDRENS ZOO

Hi All, In the mid 90's I went to look at this Zoo which was for sale. The price quoted was £399,00.00 inc the train which ran around the grounds. It was well over-priced and Mr. Cox would not come down so my colleague Neil and I didn't go ahead. Just for interest.

Brian (reptile1517)
 
Hi All, In the mid 90's I went to look at this Zoo which was for sale. The price quoted was £399,00.00 inc the train which ran around the grounds. It was well over-priced and Mr. Cox would not come down so my colleague Neil and I didn't go ahead. Just for interest.

Brian (reptile1517)

Hi Brian, out of interest did you go on to buy anywhere else?
 
MALVERN HILLS CHILDRENS ZOO

Hallo,
We did look at one or two inc an awful place in Cleethorpes called The Jungle. I could have made something of it but I had a stroke of the central brain stem soon after looking, so that postponed my Zoo Career for many years. There are some I saw which I can't mention for various legal reasons. The RSCC which was very close to me, got rid of all their stock before closing. I would have liked the chance of buying that and putting my own stamp on it. That is really about it.
 
Hallo,
We did look at one or two inc an awful place in Cleethorpes called The Jungle. I could have made something of it but I had a stroke of the central brain stem soon after looking, so that postponed my Zoo Career for many years. There are some I saw which I can't mention for various legal reasons. The RSCC which was very close to me, got rid of all their stock before closing. I would have liked the chance of buying that and putting my own stamp on it. That is really about it.

Sorry to hear that ill health has prevented you from achieving your goals so far...I for one would be interested in an update should you secure somewhere in the future.
 
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A bit late to add to this one, but I have only just seen the thread.

I visited Malvern in about 1997. It was one of the worst places I have seen in Britain in recent years - its only real rival being Carrick Green (?), a place behind a garden centre in Hertfordshire or Bedfordshire, with lost of ex Howletts primates. But that's another story.

Malvern had all the usual things you'd expect - rheas, for example, in a paddock so muddy that their feet were entirely covered in a Somme-like glue - as well as lar gibbons in a disgusting wood and wire mesh cage. Thye thing which sticks in my mind is the house in the middle of the zoo, where one entered a sort of garage in which, alongside some pretty crappy 'educational' displays, was a racoon curled up in a dog basket.

I drove for several hours to get to this place - I think I'd heard the news stories about the escaped capybara, and was curious about the zoo - but it took about 20 minutes to see, before leaving in horror. Unfortunately, no photos.

What I can never understand is how somewhere so awful can ever get off the ground?
A bit late to add to this one, but I have only just seen the thread.

I visited Malvern in about 1997. It was one of the worst places I have seen in Britain in recent years - its only real rival being Carrick Green (?), a place behind a garden centre in Hertfordshire or Bedfordshire, with lost of ex Howletts primates. But that's another story.

Malvern had all the usual things you'd expect - rheas, for example, in a paddock so muddy that their feet were entirely covered in a Somme-like glue - as well as lar gibbons in a disgusting wood and wire mesh cage. Thye thing which sticks in my mind is the house in the middle of the zoo, where one entered a sort of garage in which, alongside some pretty crappy 'educational' displays, was a racoon curled up in a dog basket.

I drove for several hours to get to this place - I think I'd heard the news stories about the escaped capybara, and was curious about the zoo - but it took about 20 minutes to see, before leaving in horror. Unfortunately, no photos.

What I can never understand is how somewhere so awful can ever get off the ground?
Those comments are so unfair, but thank goodness just your opinion.
Malvern Zoo was very small, but it was a lovely place. Lots of people were always there when I visited which was 2 or 3 times a year.
It was the owners dream to create the zoo and he was building it up little by little. It was terrible news when he died as there was no one to continue his work.
I remember talking to him. He was a lovely man and he loved his animals.
Such a pity it is mo longer there, but I have very happy memories.
 
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