On September 3rd, Bristol Zoo Gardens, one of the most beloved and unique zoos in the United Kingdom, sadly closed its doors. The zoo will be relocating much of its former collection to its sister collection, the Wild Place Project in South Gloucestershire, about 9 kilometres (as the crow flies) from the centre of Bristol and about 7.5 kilometres from the original site. However given how many species will be sent to other collections as opposed to WPP, many have viewed this decision not as relocation, but instead as the closure of Bristol Zoo. Regardless of which of the two you consider to be more accurate (personally speaking, I am divided), one cannot deny that the Bristol that so many members of this forum knew and loved is gone. It was unexpected, in many ways. Small, roadside zoos close down all the time, and often this feels like the right decision. But Bristol was different, because it was a very good zoo. Much of the feelings that myself and others on this forum have towards Bristol do come from personal bias, but with its astonishing animal houses for Reptiles, Amphibians, Fish, Invertebrates and Nocturnal species, coupled with its abundance of rarities, which history and outstanding use of a small and restricting site, you will be hard-pressed to deny that it isn't at least in the top 15 (maybe 10, in my case 5) UK zoos. For me, this begged a question. What other good zoos have sadly been forced into closure. What other gems have sadly been lost? Whether it be due to personal bias or outstanding quality, which now-closed zoos do you miss the most? P.S. Sorry if there is already a thread for this. I had a brief search and couldn't find anything, but perhaps an existent thread flew under my radar.
The two I miss most are Kilverstone (a collection of mainly South American mammals and birds) and the Rare Species Conservation Centre (a collection of rarely displayed mammals and a few birds). The Verulamium Zoo in St Albans closed when I was young, but had a few British bats,
I don't know if this counts as a "zoo" in the traditional sense, but I miss the Bat Zone in Cranbrook, Michigan. I think this might've been the thing that made me fall in love with nocturnal exhibits. I only ever visited once, but it was pretty neat from what I remember. Beyond the many bats, there were sugar gliders, flying squirrels, owls, and even a sloth. I was sad when I heard it moved, and even more sad when it completely shut down. At least a few of the bats + Mo the Sloth moved to the Detroit Zoo.
I agree with this; as I've mentioned elsewhere on ZooChat, in similar threads, Kilverstone and the Rare Species Conservation Centre are definitely the two closed zoos that I miss the most. Kilverstone had a wonderful collection of neotropical species and is still the only place where I've seen tassel-eared marmoset. The RSCC also had a great collection including fanaloka, spotted cuscus, tarsiers, rusty-spotted cats and other rarely seen species.
FREEA in Appleton, Wisconsin. Very nice setting for a little reptile zoo, even if the collection wasn't anything interesting.
I really miss 3 zoos from around Barcelona, two of which were closed, the last... Stopped being one. - Parc de Sobrestany; it was a drive-through safari, with a smaller walk-through part, about 1.5/2 hours drive away from Barcelona itself. It was mostly inhabited by European and domesticated Hoofstock; deer, donkeys, yaks and even, apparently, grey kangaroos (this information may be mistaken, as I remember red-necked wallabies being on the brochure). However, sources say it was closed down in 2008, apparently and sadly due to neglect, and probably due to a fall in visitor numbers due to the recession. I only visited the park once with my family, and I wish I could have returned before it was closed. News coverage on the park's closing (in Catalan); - Parc de les Aus; a bit better known on Zoochat, this was truly a bird park (also exhibiting dromedary camels, chimpanzees and pond sliders), housing many, many different species, including knobbed hornbills, toco toucans and emperor geese among many others, which was about 45 minutes from Barcelona's city center by road. It was a privately owned park, and unfortunately family feud ended up in the closure of the park in 2005, despite an unsuccessful crowdfunding campaign to keep it open. I visited it several times, once with my family and a couple more on school field trips (it was a favourite place for that sort of activity). I remember it was the first time I ever saw a Southern cassowary, and I've absolutely loved these birds ever since. Of the three, this is the park I most wish stayed open. Educational tour video of Parc de les Aus (in Catalan): - Rioleón Safari/ Aqualeon: this is the one that hits me the hardest, because from the ages of 2 to 15, every summer our family visited this safari park, which is about 1.5 hours away from Barcelona (closer to Tarragona). In the beginning, it was a drive-through safari park, with African bush elephants, giraffes, white rhinos, lions, brown bears, etc., and a dolphinarium was opened shortly afterwards (Ulises the killer whale was kept there shortly before he was moved to the Barcelona Zoo). In the early 1990s, they had the "brilliant idea" of making the place an aquatic safari park! In its golden age (AKA when I was 7 and earlier), it had a drive-through safari with all sorts of herbivores (elephants, rhinos, llamas, watusi cattle, plains zebra and Europe's then only herd of black lechwe), a sea lion show in the dolphinarium, a mini-zoo with all manner of critters (pythons, meerkats, wallabies, pond sliders), a parrot show, a raptor flight show, a tropical house with tropical birds and a small crocodilian, chimpanzee and capuchin islands with a pelican lake around them, a safari bus that drove through lion, brown bear and Siberian tiger paddocks, and of course the water park, with all manner of slides and pools. But... As time went by, this park, a good drive away from the seaside and bigger attractions (Port Aventura's Costa Caribe especially), began to slowly decay. First, the sea lions disappeared, then the rhinos. The tropical house followed, then the elephants, the entire herbivore safari... Until in 2013, the last lions and bears, which were sadly malnourished and neglected, were removed from the premises and sent to America (so look out, USA zoochatters! ). Now, only the waterpark remains, and why go there when Costa Caribe, Marineland and Aquápolis offer so much more and don't depress me? The biggest reminders of these tragedies, to me, are Bully the elephant and Pedro the white rhinoceros at the Barcelona Zoo, who used to live in the herbivore safari all those years ago. The place is still open, but... Aqualeón has forever lost its "León". News story on the park's opening in 1973 (Spanish): Footage of dolphin and sea lion show from 1992 (Spanish): Tour video from 2006 (mostly Spanish): Any of the most modern videos testify that now it's 100% an aquatic park.
I visited here on a family holiday in, I think, 2001. My strongest memory is of them having two species of ibex (Spanish and Alpine), but overall it was basic but perfectly enjoyable. Weirdly, as I almost never buy them, I've got a pin badge of a deer head with the park name on it somewhere about - possibly they were giving them away..! As well as Barcelona, I also did the tiny Zoo d'Empordà on the same trip.
Ah yes, the ZOO d'Empordà... I didn't include it because I didn't visit it until 2017. And... It was completely dismantled and closed down, and a wedding was being held there. The only animal me and my brother found was a single potbellied pig in a rather subpar pit enclosure. What memories do you have of this place?
Not a great deal, though I've got a few photos somewhere. I seem to remember mouflon being the most exciting species, which probably says a lot (as much as I like mouflon!).
I know people arent looking at this zoo to fondly due to some pretty outdated stuff but my god do I miss Copenhagen Zoo. Yeah, not a lot of non ABC animals but you know what? I dont care what anyone says, I absolutely missed that zoo.
Oh wait, whoops. I thought this is about a zoo that I miss the most, not the one that is closed or demolished.
Benson's Wild Animal Farm. Wikipedia says they closed in the 80s (before I was even born) but I remember it still existed when I was little, no later than 1999. I think it's the only zoo I ever went to that no longer exists.
