United Kingdom Memories of Belle Vue Zoo

Bwassa

Bwassa

Well-Known Member
Does anybody have any memories or photos of Belle Vue Zoo in Manchester, which closed in 1977 ? I have a guide book form circa 1975, but have no memory of visiting, being only 3 years old, or there-abouts.
 
I visited a number of times. I can remember, with varying shades of clarity, the following;

Great Apes building.
Monkey House.
Cat Enclosures.(vague)
Bear 'Castles'.
Black rhino outdoor enclosure.
Waterfowl(central) enclosures.(vague)
Baboon enclosure- Olive Baboons? It had hexagonal concrete rocks.

There must be many other exhibits I can't recollect at all...:(
 
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I only visited once. I can remember the bears including the first sloth bear I ever saw, the river house, a bit of the monkey house (which had vertical piano wires at the front of the cages, I think) and the rather strange ape accommodation. The other animals I remember were in quarantine - chamois which went to Blackpool and sable antelope for Marwell (I think). I probably still have one or two photos somewhere.

Alan
 
It was situated in a rather grim area, with a large cinder carpark and a Speedway Stadium(?) next door. But once you were inside the Zoo it was actually quite pleasant, though naturally being an urban location there was a lot of concrete everywhere.

The Monkey house was amazing. Piano-wire fronts to all the cages, and ornate brightly painted wood surrounds. Very tall ceiling. There were cages on two sides of a central block, and on one perimeter wall. No outdoor cages at all.. I can remember the following species; Mandrill, Lion tailed Macaque, Cherry crowned Mangabey, Stump-tailed Macaque, Diana Monkey(?) De Brazza's, there would have been others too as this was a major 'postage stamp' collection. There was also a small modern open air exhibit housing a small number(about 9) of Olive Baboons. The 'rocks' were hexagonal blocks similar to the Giants Causeway in N. Ireland.

The Ape House(opened circa 1966) was rather strange with underground tunnels connecting the (narrow) indoor cages with semi- circular concrete areas outside (a bit like Dudley's) They appear in the 'You Tube' video. The visitors viewed both areas from a covered central passageway. The indoor cages had 'Spanish grille' fronts- copied from Bristol's gorilla house. There are good photos of it in one of the earlier Yearbooks (circa 196?)

It held 1.1 gorillas(Jojo & Susie) originally 2.1 Orangutans (Harold, Bobo & Adam) which later became 1.2 as Adam* was swapped for a female* from Flamingo Park. Also 1.1 or 1.2 Chimpanzees (Robert, Katja & ?) Robert was a fine male and later went to (I think) Belfast.

*Adam went to Flamingo Park- Colchester- Bristol- Santillana where he died.
*The female from Flamingo Park was 'Janey'- she was later the mother of Wareham's 'Amy' who was born after G. Mills bought the Belle Vue orangutans and transferred them to Weybridge.
 
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ive heard it was a much missed zoo, but never got the chance to visit :(
 
All my relatives say it wasn't a nice zoo. Very small, with cramped 'cages', rather than enclosures. But they did breed many of the animals, including pygmy hippos and polar bears. Does anyone remember Hercules the common hippo? Apparently, he was moved from the Tropical River House because he was eating the free-flying birds!! There's a nice mention of him in "Zoovet" by David Taylor.
 
from Anthony Smith's "Animals On View" (1977):
This extremely old commercial zoo, opened to general visitors in 1836, used to be in the countryside lying to the south-east of Manchester. It has since been overtaken by considerable urban development, by the subsequent decay of much of that development, and by extra commercial pressures even within its territory. The Belle Vue complex contains a speedway, ghost train, beer hall, roller-skating, water-chute - and all the animals. Nevertheless it has maintained its position as a premier zoo within the country.

It is premiere largely in the sense of possessing a great quantity of animals which represent a wide variety of species. There are the three Big Apes, very many kinds of Monkey (more than at London), Lions, Leopards, Tigers, Pumas, several Bears, Camels, Zebras, Elephants, Sealions, Rhinos, quite a few small mammals, Penguins, Cranes, Pelicans, Cassowaries, Wolves, Wallabies, several ungulates, Pygmy Hippos, Tapirs, Ostriches, Rheas and many inhabitants of the aviaries and the aquarium and reptile house. In terms of both numbers and of species it is particularly rich.

In terms of buildings it has plainly had money to spend from time to time. The Pygmy Hippo building may currently have a rich, fruity atmosphere, but the structure is novel and gives visitors an interesting angle over its inmates. The Monkey house is substantial and does possess a very considerable number of cages. The Zebras have an interesting adobe-style enclosure. The Ape house must have cost a bit. There is also a nice walkway up in the trees over some well-made dinosaurs.

But the zoo, and therefore the animals, seem to have lost much of the original zest. Perhaps the association of amusements has been too hard to bear. (If zoos and amusements are mixed no one can complain if people treat the animals as amusements. Similarly, if the amusements make more money, more money will be spent on them, and less on the animals). Perhaps vandalism has helped to exhaust the management. Perhaps pollution has not helped. (The Polar Bear was whiter than the Brown Bear, but nowhere else did this comparison come to mind). Belle Vue has even had regular firework displays in its time, about as unsuitable an activity for a zoo as can be found this side of an actual war. It certainly points up that conflict of priorities. Or possibly the lack of conflict, with the amusements winning almost every time.

The urban zoos, however cramped, used to be the only places where we could see exotic animals. Now there are scores of bigger, cleaner and more suitable wildlife areas within the countryside, and we can reach them by the open road that is now at our command. It must be hard for an urban zoo to shut up shop, call it a day and send its animals to the countryside which is where - at Belle Vue - it all began. Whatever the rights and wrongs of the case, and whether or not the Manchester animals still bring in a pound or two, these thoughts did come most readily during a visit to that zoo.
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most zoos back then had small enclosure, just been looking at the dedication site for it, good collection they had shame it had to close :(
 
Tigerlemurguy;73111 good collection they had shame it had to close :([/QUOTE said:
When it closed in 1977, they auctioned the animals (or at least some of them) off. This was in the days before EEP co-operative breeding programmes so the stock was 'owned' by Belle Vue Zoo.

The Gorillas were bought by Bristol Zoo; male being sent on loan to Chester while the female joined their own group.
The Orangutans went to Gordon Mills's private collection at Weybridge,Surrey.
The Chimpanzees(or at least one of them) may have gone to Belfast Zoo.

Does anyone know which zoos or collections any of the other animals went to?
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I remember Belle Vue very well, from the 60s to when it closed... For all its faults, such as the urban location, pollution and the speedway stadium, the dog track (which is still in operation today), the fun fair etc., it still had many good points.... I especially remember the bear terraces (polar bears bred here), some nice big cat enclosures, the reptile house where alligators laid eggs (don't know if they hatched), the ungulate paddocks etc. The Tropical River House was quite a good development for its time, attached to the Elephant House. They had Malayan Tapirs and Pygmy Hippos - I think Hercules was present right up to the zoo closing and he went to Cleethorpes. I don't think they moved him out because of his habit of devouring birds.

The end was very sad - I remember seeing Ellie May inside the Elephant House one winter, most of the zoo was shut down. No other zoo wanted to offer her a home.

In later years, my brother worked as a surveyor, and went to survey some of the new homes built on the site - a workman told him that during the building works they had dug up bones of animals such as a giraffe.... I find this hard to believe, largely because they would not be allowed to bury animals in the grounds for health and safety reasons, and also because there wasn't much undeveloped land which would accommodate such burials.
 
knie said:
In later years, my brother worked as a surveyor, and went to survey some of the new homes built on the site - a workman told him that during the building works they had dug up bones of animals such as a giraffe.... I find this hard to believe, largely because they would not be allowed to bury animals in the grounds for health and safety reasons, and also because there wasn't much undeveloped land which would accommodate such burials.
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Depends - they might be Victorian remains, and they didn't really have such scruples. What I find odd is that the remains (when they were first buried) weren't sold anywhere, especially if they were Victorian.
 
Having watched the video, the zoo enclosures do look brutal by today's standards (the gorilla pit, lion cage, elephant paddock and indoor monkey house were the worst IMO), but in 1976, I guess they were quite decent and Grayson did seem to have a genuine love for his beasts.

Had it survived, no doubt Belle Vue Zoo would resemble our other theme-park/zoo hybrids, like Chessington, Drayton, etc.
 
I don't think there are any rules against burying dead animals - I remember when they built legoland they dug up remains from windsor safari park, and if you go to dartmoor zoo they have an animal graveyard, and headstone for a lion.
 
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