Visits to zoos that don't exist anymore

The only defunct zoo (if this counts) I've visited is Disney World's Discovery Island in 1994. The island is no longer used for anything and it is overgrown with lots of the buildings still intact. It's an interesting forgotten area of Walt Disney World.

 

Found this article about 6 aquariums that doesn't exist anymore :
6 Abandoned Aquariums | Mental Floss

 

Can add 2 more collections I've visited and which have closed their doors :
Dierenpark Wissel - Epe ( the Netherlands )
Noorder dierenpark Emmen ( replaced by Wildlands Adventure Zoo - the Netherlands )

 

In the past few months I have scanned and posted several old photos from Wassenaar, the original Birdland, Olney and the Otter Trust, plus a few from Kilverstone, Winged World and Mole Hall.
In reviewing this thread, I see that 3 years ago Brum asked for pictures of the golden cats and tenrecs at Wassenaar, which I had forgotten completely , so I will try to make these my next priority. I have found a couple of decent images from Rode and Stagsden, but I think I may be able to find some more, with perhaps one or two from Belle Vue as well. But this may take some time, so don't hold your breath

Alan

 

Would be interesting to see. Particularly Belle Vue. Only a very few, if any, images of Belle Vue on Zoochat.

 

I'd forgotten that as well, whenever you have the time I'll still be grateful to see them.

 

Thank you for your patience I think vogelcommando asked also
I have just posted some scans in the Wassenaar Gallery. I will also be posting a little more information in the Wassenaar Forum.

Alan

 

Just been reading your Wassenaar thread, very interesting reading as there's not much (English) information about this collection online. In fact I think you've covered it more than anything else that I've seen!

Some very good photos as well, especially given the fact you were using film rather than digital.

 

Forgot about a third one which I visited and isn't around anymore :
Utropia - Middelburg ( the Netherlands ).

 

Yesterday I posted three photos from Belle Vue Zoo Park, Manchester (to use the official name) in the UK - Other Gallery. They were taken on the 8th of August 1973, which was my only visit to Belle Vue. I was not greatly impressed by the place, so I only took photos of a few animals. I certainly did not anticipate that I might share them with like-minded folk around the world more than 40 years later
If I had been gifted with supernatural prophetic powers, I would have taken more photos of the zoo buildings etc. But at the time I was preparing for my trip round the best zoos in West Germany, Switzerland, Holland and Belgium, and I could not afford to waste film.
However I have found my copy of the Belle Vue guidebook, which I annotated after my visit, and I will post details in this thread http://www.zoochat.com/38/memories-belle-vue-zoo-25177/

Alan

 

Several times i visited Indian Boundary Park Zoo in Chicago, which just had domestic animals before it closed.

 

When I was a little kid I remember visiting the Lakewood Zoo & Gift Shop in Lakewood, Wisconsin. It ended up closing for abuse to big cats. What I remember of the zoo wasn't bad, but then again, I don't remember the big cat exhibits.

 

Not included in the above thread - does anyone else remember (or have any info on!) - Coombe Abbey Bird Garden, near Coventry - Pheonix Tropical Birdland. at Cowbit north of Peterborough - Brambles Pheasantries, at Houghton near St Ives, Cambs - Clopton Bird Gardens, near Oundle. I have also just managed to source a postcard of the children's zoo at Wicksteed Park in Kettering where I remember seeing a Sun Bear and a Kinkajou - as a young child...

 

Re-reading vogelcommando's original title for this thread, here is a list of closed collections which I have personally visited - I think it is complete, but will add any others which I might have forgotten:
1 - Glasgow Zoo
2 - Basildon Zoo
3 - Mole Hall Wildlife Park, Saffron Walden
4 - Wellplace Zoo, Ipsden,
5 - Gatwick Zoo, Charlwood, Surrey
6 - Coome Abbey Bird Garden, near Coventry
7 - Bridgemere Wildlife Park, Nantwich
8 - Midland Bird Garden, Bridgenorth
9 - Stagsden Bird Gardens, Bedford
10 - Lilford Hall Aviaries, Oundle, Northants
11 - Clopton Bird Gardens, Oundle, Northants
12 - Pheonix Tropical Birdland, Cowbit, Peterborough
13 - Peakirk Waterfowl Gardens, Peterborough
14 - Thorney Wildlife Park, Peterborough
15 - The Brambles Pheasantries, Houghton, nr St Ives, Cambs
16 - Guilsborough Grange Wildlife Park, Northants
17 - Coton Manor Gardens, Northants
18 - Smallborough Waterfowl Reserve, nr Stalham, Norfolk
19 - Kelling Park Aviaries, Holt, Norfolk
20 - Cromer Zoo, Norfolk
21 - Birdland, Cromer
22 - Norton Bird Gardens, Bury-St-Edmunds
23 - Birdland, Bourton-on-the-Water
24 - Norfolk Wildlife Park
25 - Kilverstone New World Wildlife Park
26 - Wicksteed Childrens Zoo and Aviaries, Kettering
27 - The Otter Trust, Bungay, Suffolk
28 - Springfields Gardens, Spalding, Lincs
29 - Leeds Castle Aviaries, Kent
30 - Penscynor Wildlife Park, Neath
31 - Tropical Bird Gardens, Rode
32 - Padstow Bird Garden, Cornwall
33 - Clee Hill Bird Garden, Shropshire
34 - Flamingo Gardens Zoological Park, Weston Underwood, Olney
35 - Flamingo Park, Seaview, IoW
36 - Tropical Bird Gardens, Ventnor, IoW
37 - Robin Hill Country Park, IoW
38 - Palms Oasis, Stapeley
39 - Sladmore Gardens, High Wycombe
40 - Chestnut Centre, Chapel-en-le-Frith
41 - Westcountry Wildlife Park, Cricket-St-Thomas
42 - Southport Zoo
43 - Guernsey Zoo
44 - Wassenaar Zoo, NE
45 - Dierenpark Wissel, NE
46 - Limburgse Zoo, Genk, BE
47 - Butterfly and Wildlife Park, Long Sutton

 

Quite envious of this list, I've only been to fifteen of those, some of them many times. Cromer Zoo sadly was nothing to get excited about, while Stagsden is greatly missed. Birdland could be said to be still extant, just on a different site. Here again we have a collection that very much lost its way on the death of the founder, but it seems to have forged a new identity in recent years.

 

Otter Trust site I hear may be re-emerging with a new identity....

 

So did I, but probably not quite so small......

 

48 - Noorder Dierenpark Emmen, NL

 

I visited two permanently closed zoos, and one that stopped being one:
- Parc de Sobrestany: closed safari park with an emphasis on deer and domestic animals, and there were also wallabies and some birds of prey in cages.
- Parc de les Aus: a very large avian collection, including various hornbills, southern cassowaries, and there were also dromedary camels and chimpanzees.
- Aqualeón; One I visited on a yearly basis, this started off as a safari park, but then it became an aquatic+safari park, and as time went on, they lost all their animals and now it's just a water park.
Compare the old map (attached image)

to the current one: https://www.aqualeon.es/en/plan-your-visit/park-map/