Hi, I was just wondering what zoos are relatively new in the UK. I find it interesting how zoos are created in modern times, so any zoos mentioned that I could look into would be great!
Two small zoos, Berkshire College of Agriculture (BCA) Zoo which opened in 2015 but was previously private, and Crocodiles of the World which opened in 2011.
All Things Wild opened in around 2012, WILD! Zoologocical Park (West Mids) and Wild Discovery (Lancs) are recent newcomers to the scene as well. Cedar's Nature Centre is only about 5 or 6 years old as well.
Yorkshire wildlife park is relatively new also Bristol zoo’s the wild place where the zoo will move to in a few years time.
Wolds Wildlife Park? The collection began in 2013 according to their website and they obtained their full zoo licence in 2019
And if one wants to be pedantic, is even younger given the fact it is now on a different and larger site. This is the aforementioned Cedars Nature Centre - one of a handful of zoos started by a Zoochatter, by the by.
The leopard and goat farm is open/opening soon from my understanding it will be run by the same person that owned RSCC but fro their website they are only open to tours.
Watatunga is seemingly a completely new kind of park- its rather upmarket though as (so far) they only have the buggies you hire to drive through, plus a couple of cottages for rental too. If more s/d restrictions are lifted they will also have trailer-type safaris which will obviously be cheaper than the individual buggies. Apart from the interesting swathe of species, mostly unusual deer and antelope, that they keep, what I like about this place is that there seems to be a considerable amount of woodland the animals can shelter/calve/feed in, a nice change from the usual bare open paddocks offered in most places.
The BCA Zoo has a really cool collection of animals! And it’s nice to have a dedicated zoo to crocodiles in the U.K.! Will have to put them both on my to do list!
I’ll have to look into them, especially WILD! Zoological Park as I am Midlands based but have never been!
It’s crazy how such a big and popular zoo like YWP was made so recently! One I definitely want to visit! Wow I have mixed emotions with Bristol, on one hand I’m excited with the new space they have, but sad too as I used to visit there a lot as a child!
It's quite nice if you take in the animal shows, if you don't then it can easily be seen in about half an hour or so. The restaurant that shares the car park is very nice as well. Worth pointing out that you can easily double it up with another local collection if you're finished earlier than expected, Hoo and Dudley are both an easy drive away.
Oh I’ll definitely look into it then! Never been to Hoo either so maybe I’ll look into doing both of those!
