Cardiff Zoo eopard Cage Spring 2007

Was this the same as the Barry (Island) Zoo?

Yes it was the old Barry ( not Barry Island as featured on 'Gavin and Stacey') . When I was young it was my 'local zoo' and I used to nag my family to take me there over the Easter holidays most years - that would be going on for 50 years ago ! A couple of old guide books are prized possessions .

I remember the leopard in that cage , it was bred there and hand-reared , the owner could go in with it . The cage was still there earlier this year , even more over-grown now . The Lion enclosure , now netted over , looks very ramshackle , but houses pairs of eagles . Pairs of brown and Himalayan bears lived in tiny cages , still there apart from the barred fronts .

It was a general collection with lions , leopards , pumas tiger , sea-lions , wolves , a female Asian elephant , an enormous male mandrill , lion-tailed macaques etc. , all very basic . A long-term resident was Melody the chimp who lived quietly in retirement at Twycross until fairly recently .

Two current zoo professionals started their zoo careers as teenagers there - John Partridge at Bristol and Alan Woodward at Chester .

Must've been kept a secret by Torchwood.