Memories

[adrian1963]

I was having a chat with a friend and it brought some great memories back from the past
So I was wondering do you remember your very first day out at an animal collection
Mine would by Dudley Zoo (of course) in the early 70s the place was packed and very scruffy but the animals collection was great of what I can remember, the Polar Bears were my favourite jumping of that old ramp into the moat around the edge of the enclosure (I've been told by mum) and the little miniture Railway by the Bear Ravine was also great,.
Also the tropical house was a bit of a favourite of mine but the Old Ape House I was not thrilled with as people would just walk upto the glass and hit it has hard has they could to cause the gorilla to run and jump at it, sometimes the glass actually bowed as the Gorilla hit it.
The Whale and the Dolphins were great at the time but I now realise how cruel the pools were for the animals.
The cat collection was great with Tigers, African Lions, a Leopard, a Black Panther, a Cheetah and a Puma it's a pity they don't have a cat collection like this today.
Looking back on the size of the enclosures and the lack of enrichment I am so glad animals collections are now putting thier animals before anything else (in 99% of cases)
Dudley is now starting to improve at a much quicker rate then it has for a long time hope they keep it up.
I was wondering how the animal collections have improved or decreased since your first ever visit

This is not a thread about Dudley Zoo but about YOUR first ever day out at a zoo.

 

[Maguari]

I don't think it was necessarily my first zoo visit, but my earliest specific memory (of anything) is of Chester Zoo - I very clearly remember the old gorilla indoor area (now the large hornbill flights). I also have memories of the last brown bears and the polars but pretty sure these are from later visits (they do all flow together a bit!).

 

[Tim May]

My earliest zoo memory, is visiting London Zoo as a very small child in the 1950s, and seeing the hippos in the Hippopotamus House adjacent to the Giraffe House. (The old Hippopotamus House was demolished in 1960.)

 

[Pertinax]

I have a number from different zoos in the mid 1950's as I was already an avid zoo visitor by the age of about 8 and had already managed London and Whipsnade several times each by then and my first visit to Bristol was soon after.

Like Tim(above) I remember(just about) the old Hippo House at London, more particularly the terrible smell in there. But probably my very earliest clear memory is seeing the Indian Rhino pair Mohan and Mohini at Whipsnade chasing in and out of their pool and trundling around their paddock- probably courtship though I didn't know at the time.

 

[Pertinax]

the Old Ape House I was not thrilled with as people would just walk upto the glass and hit it has hard has they could to cause the gorilla to run and jump at

Believe it or not, that House was regarded as state of the art when it was first built about 1960. It was modelled on an earlier one at the Bronx Zoo in New York though that had larger rectangular yards, without the semi circular wall design of Dudley.

I first saw it circa 1963- 2 Gorillas, 2 Orangutans, 4 Chimpanzee. The rail in the indoor house was too close really so people could stand on it and reach over to knock on the glass. The inside was quite dingy even back then.