Great Ape exhibit - 1982

There are three enclosures here, one has chimps, one orangs, and the last has gorillas. Water moat at the front.

Wow. I've seen thousands of old zoo photos over the years, but these are some of the worst enclosures I've ever seen for great apes. It's truly shocking how tiny the space is for these animals, as these days many of us complain about exhibits that are an acre in space but lack climbing opportunities. The zoo world has come a long way...

This was the worst ape house in the UK at the time. It was at least as bad as it looks here.

Alan

In a book i have The penguin guide to British Zoos it states that this is a fine modern great ape house but perhaps in its time it may of been...

I believe this was modelled on Dudley's ape house; certainly, they both look very much like enomrous urinals.

This was a real shocker - as bad as anything in Cambodia, for example (qv ongoing discussion re photos elsewhere), but without any excuses being valid at all.

I visited the old Chessington as a child in the early 80s, and hated it. It was a nasty zoo in every way, with nothing to redeem it other than a large collection. The ape house was probably the worst thng there, but there were other horrors to behold.

The reason I visited Chessington that time was because a friend of mine worked there. She said the Ape House was a fairly recent addition (this was in 1982), and I recall the zoo promoting it as a new attraction.

As Sooty Mangabey said - there were other horrors to behold. The Children's Zoo had a concrete bunker, a rectangular construct about 6 feet long and three feet deep, 2 1/2 feet high. Concrete on all sides except the front which had a window in it. Door cut into the the back wall. Inside were some tortoises. Three were dead and well into decomposition, the green leafy vegetables on the bare concrete floor were a few days old and rotting.

Thanks for the information Hix and Sooty Mangeby.I had a feeling it was modeled on Dudleys Ape house as at the time it was considered very modern and state of the ate but this idea didnt last for long but this one is alot smaller and more basic.At least things have changed with Chessington.

This ape house was built in 1967 , it housed a pair of each ape , none ever bred in the building. The public access was at the back , each end, there were three indoor dens , glass fronted. The water moat outside always kept filling with rubbish and the public used to try to pass food to them through this. Later three strands of electric wire were added to the moat at a distance to prevent the apes reaching too far. Z

The suffering that these animals went through!!

Is it all our responsabilities to make sure nothing like this is acceptable again! Then they may not have suffered in vain.

I remember the wires. I also remember thinking that if the apes fell in the water, the wires would be the first (and perhaps the only) thing they could grab.....