Hull Childrens Zoo , East Yorkshire ... (1946-1951) ... This establishment began in early 1946 when the owner had shipped in 12 Himalayan Bears , 2 Leopards and 2 Elephants (mainly for other Zoos) ... By July 1946 a new company was formed by the owner called Raffiq Uddin Khan Limited (this was to be able to deal with Importation of Wild Animals) ... The Managing Director was Raffiq Uddin Khan who had been in the Merchant Navy for 4 1/2 years .... The Zoo was initially set up in West Park and by 1947 had moved to East Park .... On 11th June 1947 there were 16 Monkeys , Parrots and a Python it was stated at this time that the Zoo will move to other Parks within the City and it was hoped that they were to add Bear Cubs and a Baby Elephant ... By July 1948 the Zoo was located at Pickering Park .... By May 1950 the Zoo was known as Childrens Own Zoo and was located in 80-84 Lister Street ... It was mainly a Pet Shop which had attached to it the Childrens Zoo with an admission price of 3d to enter ... By October and September 1950 Crocodiles , Porcupine and Tortoises had been added to the collection at the Zoo ... But there were no other reports about the Zoo until the Company was wound up on 7th September 1951
Firstly, thanks to you for your sterling work on closed zoos -impressive/interesting/useful. Secondly, I'm intrigued where you're getting all this information from? Are these postings the release of a lifetimes notes? Do you scour libraries and old maps? Do you have a reference book I've never heard of? Many hours googling? All of the above? Basically I'm interested in your methodology and sources.
Hi .... I just love Zoo History so research them from information that I find from Books, internet and any other source that I can .... Who knows what I would find if i visited a Library ... I would love to get to ZSL library and see what I can find out there too ... I have as you say not a lifetime of notes but quite a few gathered notes over the past 7 years ... so plenty more to bore you all with lol ...
I hope you are a member of the Bartlett Society! If not, the Society would very much benefit from someone like you
Thank you so much for this information. Rafiq Uddin Khan was my grandfather, I was so happy to see it here. The Zoo would have closed in 1951 as my grandparents moved to Italy for a few years. What was your source for this information?
