Geraardsbergen

Hi all,

Last weekend I came accross a new old zoo in Belgium I didn't know.
Can somebody give me some more information on this zoos and in particular the elephant they kept.

I'm talking about a zoo at the old St. Adriaansabdij at Geraardsbergen.
They had 21 Barbary lions, 6 Bengal tigers, a young Asian elephant, Crab-eating macaques, Yak and lots of exotic birds.

The father of James Puydebois, trainer of Colonel Joe, was the owner of this zoo.

Hope somebody can help me!
Greetz

 

I think this was "Rijk van Lobo" (1961-1990) in Waarbeke (Geraardsbergen)? I have some Dutch articles about this zoo, but nothing about any elephants...

Waarbeekse zoo in het 'Rijk van Lobo' (Geraardsbergen) - Het Nieuwsblad
Kijk eens naar het vogeltje

In an earlier edition (2009-2010?) of the magazine "De Harpij" there was also an article about this zoo

 

Hi Douanita,

The zoo in Geraardsbergen housed almost 500 animals, and indeed a young Asian elephant was one of them.
James Puydebois wasn't the owner of this zoo. In fact he learned to train animals in the period when he was trainer in this zoo and afterwards het worked with the male elephant Colonel Zoo.
The owners of this zoo was the family Peeters and they were in fact animal dealers.
Before Peeters became the owner of the zoo in Geraardsbergen he was one way or another involved in the management of the also lost zoo in Spa (French speaking park of Belgium).

Best regards,

Gie

 

Geraardsbergen Zoo, ¿was open to he public?; ¿what years, ca.?
And Spa Zoo, ¿what years was your existence?

 

I have not found much details:

Zoo Geraardsbergen:
International Zoo News (vol. 10, 1963, n° 4) mentions that a new zoo has been founded in Grammont. I have information that the zoo was still open for the public in 1974.

Parc Zoologique Spa:
Date of opening 14.07.1951
Date of closure not found