Gentle Giant
Well-Known Member
Sadly, Mole Hall Wildlife Park has closed due to the terminal illness of the owner, Douglas Johnstone.
Mole Hall Wildlife Park Mole Hall Wildlife Park closes
- Thread starter Gentle Giant
- Start date
zoogiraffe
Well-Known Member
Thats a pity with a bit of money the place could have been quite a reasonable small collection.Also sorry to hear about the owner.
zoogiraffe
Well-Known Member
Unless someone buys it that has alot of money think it will be best off closing for good,as on my last visit it was like stepping back in a time warp to the late 60`s early 70`s.
zoogiraffe
Well-Known Member
A visit to Mole Hall yesterday reveal that many of the animals have already been dispersed after the park's official closure a fortnight ago.
There is nothing more depressing than an empty, closed zoo.
Oban Sealife Centre, Slimbridge, Shepreth, Exmoor Zoo, Rodbaston College and others are all taking on animals. The Chimps look set to head to Spain.
The dispersal of the stock has been coodinated by Matthew Ford of Specialist Wildlife Services. Does anyone know about this organisation? I was unfamiliar with it until now. Specialist Wildlife Services - About Us
There is nothing more depressing than an empty, closed zoo.
Oban Sealife Centre, Slimbridge, Shepreth, Exmoor Zoo, Rodbaston College and others are all taking on animals. The Chimps look set to head to Spain.
The dispersal of the stock has been coodinated by Matthew Ford of Specialist Wildlife Services. Does anyone know about this organisation? I was unfamiliar with it until now. Specialist Wildlife Services - About Us
zoogiraffe
Well-Known Member
Very intresting website seem to have re-homed alot of stuff strange that we have never heard of the place before.
Wow, that was fast!!!
Does anyone have much idea of what animals Mole Hall had immediately prior to closure? I'm particularly interested in what species may have gone to Exmoor - not been there for a few years but I really liked it, very nice friendly small zoo, and it seems to have progressed quite a lot since then with the addition of more large mammals.
About 10 Canadian Otters, 2 Asian Short-clawed Otters, Eagle Owls, Snowy Owls, a dozen or so Flamingos, herds of Red, Fallow and Formosan Sika Deer, 2 Chimpanzees, 7 or more Brown Capuchins, Common Marmoset (maybe Lemurs and squirrel monkeys too), Red-necked Wallaby, Guanacos, Muntjac, Sarus Crane, a whole host of waterfowl and many domestic animals. Thats a rough idea.
The male Sarus Crane went to Exmoor.
The male Sarus Crane went to Exmoor.
Mole Hall Rehoming
It is true that Mole Hall has closed its gates for the final time.
There was never any chance of a 'rescue' package as the zoo has lost money 41 years out of 43 years of opening. The park was in a general state of decline with 90% of the caging requiring replacing / modernising to bring it up to modern zoo standards, hence the reason for the rapid dispersal of the livestock.
The last of the animals should be re-homed within the week, with the exception of the 2 chimps. They are heading for sunnier weather at the Mona sanctuary in spain to live out their final days.The 2 chimps were originally saved from the lab trade in the late sixties by the owner of the park.
Once everything has left and I have tied up all the loose ends with the paperwork, I am producing a short article for the BIAZA newsletter. If there is any interest I can post it on this site for those who are not BIAZA members to see.
Just to clarify Rodbaston Animal Zone have 4 Capuchin with the 3 young males going to run as a batchelor group at Battersea Park Zoo who have recently lost their old male.
It is true that Mole Hall has closed its gates for the final time.
There was never any chance of a 'rescue' package as the zoo has lost money 41 years out of 43 years of opening. The park was in a general state of decline with 90% of the caging requiring replacing / modernising to bring it up to modern zoo standards, hence the reason for the rapid dispersal of the livestock.
The last of the animals should be re-homed within the week, with the exception of the 2 chimps. They are heading for sunnier weather at the Mona sanctuary in spain to live out their final days.The 2 chimps were originally saved from the lab trade in the late sixties by the owner of the park.
Once everything has left and I have tied up all the loose ends with the paperwork, I am producing a short article for the BIAZA newsletter. If there is any interest I can post it on this site for those who are not BIAZA members to see.
Just to clarify Rodbaston Animal Zone have 4 Capuchin with the 3 young males going to run as a batchelor group at Battersea Park Zoo who have recently lost their old male.
skoop102
Well-Known Member
They'd either be attacked by other chimps, die of snakebite or starvation or succumb to one of a million other dangers like disease etc.
A real concern for the chimps
Mole Hall has badly ran their zoo for so many years. Now with its closure, all the animals had to be re-homed immediately. The two elderly chimpanzees, Joey and Tubman, were initially going to sunny Spain to the MONA Foundation sanctuary where they would live out the rest of their lives with the sun on their backs. But after several weeks of campaign by the Cambridge based charity, MONA-UK, the Johnstone family who owns Mole Hall suddenly changed their minds and decided to transfer the chimps to a sub-standard facility in Wales (cefn-yr-erw). This is very worrying. If you do a search for "Joey and Tubman" on Google, you will see the amazing public campaign started by MONA-UK. Has anyone ever visited Cefn-yr-erw? From the Welsh website, they don't seem to have money for the upkeep of their animals, nor do they have money for enclosures of their chimps currently in quarantine. Also the park looks really dilapidated. Is there anyway we can stop this from happening?
Mole Hall has badly ran their zoo for so many years. Now with its closure, all the animals had to be re-homed immediately. The two elderly chimpanzees, Joey and Tubman, were initially going to sunny Spain to the MONA Foundation sanctuary where they would live out the rest of their lives with the sun on their backs. But after several weeks of campaign by the Cambridge based charity, MONA-UK, the Johnstone family who owns Mole Hall suddenly changed their minds and decided to transfer the chimps to a sub-standard facility in Wales (cefn-yr-erw). This is very worrying. If you do a search for "Joey and Tubman" on Google, you will see the amazing public campaign started by MONA-UK. Has anyone ever visited Cefn-yr-erw? From the Welsh website, they don't seem to have money for the upkeep of their animals, nor do they have money for enclosures of their chimps currently in quarantine. Also the park looks really dilapidated. Is there anyway we can stop this from happening?