Paignton Zoo Paignton Zoo news 2025

gentle lemur said:
I had an interesting visit today. I saw the cassowary chick through the vegetation and the very active skunks for the first time - although @bongorob and I must have walked past the skunks without noticing when we visited earlier this month :)( sorry Rob, my fault, I should have found out where they were beforehand). One piece of good news to report: 3 red river hog piglets were born on Sunday 15th and they seem to be thriving.
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Thanks for that gentle lemur, however what is more disappointing than not seeing any skunks is that we didn't see any Bongos.:( It was still a good day out though. Glad you got to see the Cassowary chick at last.
 
Torbay Lib Dem MP Steve Darling has launched a plea to the government to step in and save zoos. He says zoos like Paignton are facing a growing crisis. Post Brexit restrictions on animal movement the UK faltering economy and the pressure of National Insurance hikes are increasing a perfect storm. He has written to the Environment Secretary asking her to convene an urgent summit to save British zoos and Aquariums. He also says "zoos are being held back by delays in animal transfers, moves that once took weeks are now taking months or even years, threatening vital breeding programmes. The current impasse around animal movement Post Brexit is no longer a matter for conservationists it is a crisis affecting tourism and local economies. "He also said " Paignton Zoos ability to thrive is being held back by by Post Brexit red tape on animal transfers and conservation work. "
Personally, I hope that many more MPs join with this man and hopefully start to get a positive outcome.
 
FBBird said:
I never saw this coming, always thought Newquay would be sacrificed first. Sad times for ‘the king of zoos’.
It’s surely time that UK zoos were supported out of public funds, as they are in more civilised countries
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Maybe that’s what they’re trying to initiate / or just trying to gain extra support via this method.
 
polarbear said:
Zoo for sale!

Owner puts struggling Paignton Zoo on the market
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Extremely sad & surprising news especially for those of you that have grown up visiting Paignton. However I guess we shouldn't be so shocked as from what I gather(off here mainly) that Paignton have been struggling for a long time.
I really hope someone steps in to buy it but whoever it is I hope & pray that they either have a genuine interest in zoos.

With this announcement today do we know what individuals are owned by Paignton or are owned by other collections?
 
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FBBird said:
I never saw this coming, always thought Newquay would be sacrificed first. Sad times for ‘the king of zoos’.
It’s surely time that UK zoos were supported out of public funds, as they are in more civilised countries
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The Wild Planet Trust Charity owns the land at Newquay, Paignton and Slapton Ley.
 
I don’t understand this, in that, if someone ‘buys’ the zoo, are they purchasing it as a business which includes the land, buildings etc as an ongoing concern with responsibility to maintain the employment of current staff and the husbandry of the animals, or, as investor donors, in a sense sponsoring its development to make a profit?
Adding middle to high end accommodation seems sensible, but they don’t have the money to invest.
They currently have empty exhibits all over and now probably can’t afford to put the new underfloor heating in the rhino house as is now expected under new zoo licensing, before bringing new animals in.
The hot, dry and sunny summer didn’t help as tourists flock to the beaches and competing water parks.
This feels, to me, like a ‘shock and awe’ announcement to raise public and governmental awareness about the plight of many of our zoos and to stoke the fires of locals that if they don’t rally around and support the zoo they WILL lose it!
Sad, sad times. Torbay council is skint, as most are in the U.K. Living Coasts lease is still an issue and I’m not sure Newquay is doing great either?
I’m angry at the previous management regime but hopeful that Stephen Kings and his team can steer the zoo through this storm and find some money.
If one of us wins the euro millions…….!☹️
 
TriUK said:
This feels, to me, like a ‘shock and awe’ announcement to raise public and governmental awareness about the plight of many of our zoos and to stoke the fires of locals that if they don’t rally around and support the zoo they WILL lose it!
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Totally agree
 
TriUK said:
I’m angry at the previous management regime but hopeful that Stephen Kings and his team can steer the zoo through this storm and find some money.
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Don’t forget that Stephen Kings was a part of the previous management regime as he was a Trustee when the Trustee-appointed CEO ran the zoo into the ground with his numerous failed attempts.
 
TriUK said:
I don’t understand this, in that, if someone ‘buys’ the zoo, are they purchasing it as a business which includes the land, buildings etc as an ongoing concern with responsibility to maintain the employment of current staff and the husbandry of the animals, or, as investor donors, in a sense sponsoring its development to make a profit?
Adding middle to high end accommodation seems sensible, but they don’t have the money to invest.
They currently have empty exhibits all over and now probably can’t afford to put the new underfloor heating in the rhino house as is now expected under new zoo licensing, before bringing new animals in.
The hot, dry and sunny summer didn’t help as tourists flock to the beaches and competing water parks.
This feels, to me, like a ‘shock and awe’ announcement to raise public and governmental awareness about the plight of many of our zoos and to stoke the fires of locals that if they don’t rally around and support the zoo they WILL lose it!
Sad, sad times. Torbay council is skint, as most are in the U.K. Living Coasts lease is still an issue and I’m not sure Newquay is doing great either?
I’m angry at the previous management regime but hopeful that Stephen Kings and his team can steer the zoo through this storm and find some money.
If one of us wins the euro millions…….!☹️
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Question is where on earth could Paignton find the sort of money required to maintain current day to day expenses & maintenance plus additional hundreds of thousands to build/renovate to accommodate new species?

Clearly a worrying time for staff & regular visitors but I genuinely hope that some sort of rescue package can be formed to save an iconic UK collection.
 
I was actually at the zoo today, but I knew nothing about this until I logged on tonight. My very subjective impression is that the zoo has been quite busy this summer - although it was relatively quiet today, which was not so surprising at the end of September. Work has been going on at the Bug House and a new display for sand lizards looks almost finished in part of the old tenrec/crayfish building.
Unless there has been a recent change in circumstances that is not yet public knowledge, I am inclined to agree with @TriUK that this is an attempt to drum up support for the zoo.
 
polarbear said:
Don’t forget that Stephen Kings was a part of the previous management regime as he was a Trustee when the Trustee-appointed CEO ran the zoo into the ground with his numerous failed attempts.
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I'm glad you have highlighted this, it's something people seem to have forgotten.

TriUK said:
I’m angry at the previous management regime but hopeful that Stephen Kings and his team can steer the zoo through this storm and find some money.
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Steven is a nice chap, but he has been responsible for the removal of many conservation, education, fundraising and animal minded people from the charity/zoo. Especially shocking that he oversaw this whilst being a former educator himself. They've tried bringing in more money, by going full ham on commercialisation (cheapening the brand), rather than going all in on their conservation work, as a conservation charity should.

It saddens me to see the state of the trust and I hope to god a buyer comes in and allows those who know zoos and conservation to run the charity, its two remaining zoos, and three nature reserves (people forget about them).

Thinking of all the staff (friends and former colleagues) in what I know will be an especially worrying time.
 
The zoo really needs to put out a formal statement on the matter and what they're trying to achieve here rather than relying on a couple third party articles. It's very odd that it's been put up for sale when the last administration had embarked on a major redevelopment of the Baboon site (which obvs ran into issues) and the new administration had been saying as recently as the late spring that they had enough cash reserves to run at a loss for years and have been doing a lot of more minor redevelopment work. These actions don't match up with a company on the verge of going out of business. Newquay not being for sale when it's the smaller less reputable zoo and has been part of the group for much less time doesn't make much sense.
  • Is it actually serious enough that the zoo won't survive if it's not sold or are they looking for a better resourced owner?
  • Are they looking for investors and not actually a full sale?
  • Is this investigative in that they're seeing if anyone is out there and if not, they'll continue trying to turn the zoo around?
  • Would they accept the sale of some of their land holdings rather than the zoo as an operating concern - which lets be honest isn't that attractive from a financial perspective given it's main commercial reason to exist is to make a profit to reinvest and also distribute to conservation activities.
  • How has the Trust managed to so poorly manage it's activities that even after jettisoning Living Coasts and agreeing a deal for the lease of that site, that it's still not able to make Paignton viable? Considering about 10/15 years ago the Trust was able to run Paignton, Newquay and Living Coasts.
 
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