Does anyone remember where the old Elephant House used to be at Flamingo Park Zoo in 1966? I don't mean the one near the Oblisk. I was watching an old Pathe film and it's shown in the background. I just can't seem to place it. It's obviously one of the original old buildings.. see here Also, whereabouts in the Zoo would this be? They've just loaded the dolphins into the truck and it's seen setting off towards what looks like a house/farm house, with a long wooden building on the left. see here and here
There are some old buildings behind the reptile house and in front of the Hall, I think that this is where the animal kitchens are. Could it be here?
Yes, I think it was probably near the animal kitchen area, Blossom. I can't really think of where else it could have been, as it's one of the original old buildings. Thanks for the feedback!
Flamingo Park Elephants I remember that Elephant House very well and I have a rather gloomy photograph of Freddie inside it. It is near the current kitchens and was in use as a staff cloakroom the last time I was in the Keepers' Yard. It still has the rings in the floor for shackling Elephants. The small public area was on the right and the small calf that features on the postcard from the time also showing Freddie was housed for a time in a small wooden pen in this area. For some years Flamingo Park would operate a temporary zoo in Leeds during the winter and the Elephant/s would be moved there. I recall seeing Flamingos in the Elephant House in winter. Prior to that Elephant House I once saw two largish Asiatic specimens housed in what is now the bar near to the Muddy Duck Farm. Camels and Zebras were housed there in later years too. I presume one of those Elephants was Sheba who has just died at Chester having been there since 1965. That leaves Jangoli to represent Flamingo Park/Land at Chester. Of course the first Dolphin House was on the site of what is now the farm stables. When it was "Bugs and Things" an original air vent could be seen. I have quite a few memories of this small Dolphin House and again a couple of photographs. I saw the short-lived Beluga and the young Pilot Whale once each. Returning to Elephants the first occupants of the large Elephant House I saw were three African calves - I remember following the crowds to the house with people saying "there are three of them". The most Elephants I saw in this house on one visit was nine, a mixed species group including a quite large Asiatic bull. That was in April 1971 the week before my family moved to Shrewsbury, meaning I did not visit Flamingo Park again until 1974 when we were house-hunting in Bridlington prior to our return to Yorkshire. On our return the house was occupied by the Asiatics Susie and Jangoli, and the African Gomba. Of course that remained the same until Gomba's tragic death. Prior to the opening of the large house the zoo did not have Elephants for some time and the cashier at the park entrance would apologise for this. Nowadays zoos seem more apologetic about keeping Elephants.
wow, Andrew.. you're a mine of information.. it's all very interesting indeed. I remember there being camels in what is now part of the bar/restaurant.. have they extended the building, or is it my imagination? I can't remember it being that long, but then we would only be seeing, (I guess) half of it with the small paddock at the front which housed the camels. I thought the original Dolphin House was part of the Tropical House as in one of the Pathe videos it says so above the door. Lucky you being there at the time and remembering seeing the whale and Beluga. Can you scan any photos for me, please?
Thanks Parrotsandrew. I have a UK Dolphinaria web site and if you wanted share any photos that would be great. The Flamingoland page is here. If you look at the Pathe News chip of them moving the dolphins to Cleethropes it shows the old dolphin house.
Thank-you Bubbles and John. I'm not sure about the size of the bar building. The one time I saw Elephants in there they appeared from an area at the rear not visible to the public. What is now the Reptile House and the Farm Stables was once all one building, in the 1970s there was still the paybox in the entrance (the same entrance as today's Reptile House) - there had been an additional charge once, presumably because of the Dolphins just as there was for the new Dolphin House for a while. The paybox in the 1970s housed Douroucoulis at one time (in "The Animals of Flamingo Land") and Common Marmosets at another. The 1970s aquarium was in the area where the Dolphins had been and was reached via a door and a small bridge at the top right of the Reptile House. This was all the Tropical House and was still called that in the 1974 guidebook (I've just checked it). In the 1960s there was another exhibit around here, but I'm not sure whether it was part of this complex - I do seem to remember going through a door to it. It housed Humming Birds at one time, and a very young Seal pup at another. There was maybe more than one element to it as some of the hybrid Polar x Brown Bear cubs were in there for a time in a glass-fronted exhibit. Nearby there was a building that included the Nocturnal House (where the first UK breeding of Giant Anteaters, albeit unsuccessful, took place) and also a quarantine area that was supposed to be off-limits to the public but was not locked so everyone went in! I saw Common Hippopotamuses in there once and last year I was pleased when I found out these were listed in the zoo records. I think they had gone to Chester. I am wondering if the mystery building in the van picture could have been this one, but I am not sure. I'd love to be able to scan photographs but I'm not that computer literate yet! I'll try to learn.
The UK studbook for common hippopotamus lists two males for Flamingo Land. Leander (T44) arrived from Whipsnade on 6th October 1964, transferred to Humberside in 1966, unknown date. Douglas (T45) arrived from Southampton in August 1964, transferred to an unknown collection on 1st January 1966. Leander was born at Whipsnade on 5th June 1963 to T29 and T28, Henry and Belinda. Henry and Belinda were wild caught in 1948 and arrived at Whipsande on 10th Augst 1950. Douglas was wild caught in Uganda in 1963 and arrived at Southampton in July 1964.
Andrew.. thank you so much for all your information.. a lot of it I hadn't even known about. Here's a snapshot of a glass fronted building (right-hand side) in 1968 see photo that I'm struggling to remember what was in it... You can see the old Dolphin House here The old Dolphin House must have been quite big as can be seen in this photo..it appears to have a glass/perspex roof which allows plenty of light in. In this the building shown to the right of the wooden structure in the pic above? The old Elephant House can be seen here The bears in the 60's were housed in a walled enclosure.. number 3 on the map I've drawn here I have copies of three large b/w aerial photos... probably taken on the zoo's 1st or 2nd Anniversary, judging by the amount of people there, and the fact it must have been some important occasion for the photos to have been taken in the first place. Unfortunately, they belong to a newspaper and are copyrighted. They do, however, provide a fascinating glimpse of what the Zoo was like back then. Do you ever remember a lion being near the Bird walk? Number 17 on the map here btw.. get learning to scan.. dying to see the what pics you have!
Bongorob - thank-you for that interesting information. The only time I saw Hippopotamuses at Flamingo Park in the 1960s was that one occasion in the quarantine area. "Humberside" would sound like Cleethorpes. This is puzzling as although I was very young at the time I do have lots of memories of Flamingo Park then, yet it would seem the Hippos were there for quite a while - could they have been at Cleethorpes without a record of the move being made? I shall have to wait until I visit the park this year and enquire in the zoo office as the information seemed to be there, unlike the very sketchy information regarding Elephants. Bubbles - what wonderful photographs! The main area of glass on the building was enclosing the public area of the Ape House, the entrance being to the left of the window through which the Raccoon Dogs could be viewed a few years later. There was another door at the other end. The Dolphin House was not too big as the pools were quite small. There was underwater viewing though. I have seen an aerial photo from some years later. The early ones must be very interesting. It was good to see the Tapir House on the map as I remember it well. Do you know if that was where the Black Rhinoceros was housed during its brief time at Flamingo Park? That was one animal I didn't see, although I did see a press cutting about it, alleging it had chased a keeper who had had to climb a tree. It was listed in the census of rare animals in the IZB volume 8 and then as being at Cleethorpes in volume 9 (I presume it was the same animal). It cannot have been at F P long as we made such regular visits yet I did not see it. I did not see Bears in that original pit. It was not long before the larger one was built. Have you seen the Francis Frith photograph of Bears in the first pit? A couple of people have kindly sent me copies. I am looking at it now, it is gloomy but there appears to be 2 Polars, 2 Brown and 2 Himalayan/Asiatic Black. It is a very small pit (is it not the one later used for Arctic Foxes?) and the Bears seem very close to the public - the good old days before Health and Safety (I have a photograph of me as a small child feeding the Mandrills - there's no stand-off barrier of course). There is a large "warning" sign though. I do remember Lions in the exhibit that was near the Bird Walk. It was roughly the Sarus Crane paddock of a few years ago. In the 1970s the Arabian Gazelles were there. It was also nice to see the Raccoons on the map. I think Red Pandas were there at one time too. I have just looked at F P's "new buildings" in my extract from the IZB volume 5. This is for 1963-64 - Built: Dolphin House, Humming Bird House, Wolf Wood. Planned: Penguin Grotto, Waders Aviary, Aviaries, Bear Pits, Extensions to Lion Enclosure, Giraffe House.
Andrew... Here's a picture of the Bears in the old pit..I think it's the same as the FF one.. There was a fence, which some of the people are seen leaning on, in front and away from the wall. Part of the old Dolphin house can be seen top left.
I remember the Artic foxes, so it's quite possible that they later used the pit for them. The early aerial photos are indeed interesting.. it was when only half the Zoo existed.. if you take a line from Home Farm right up to the Oblisk, everything South towards the large lake was just fields. In fact, there was a long coach park that runs near to what is now the toilet block towards the Oblisk. However, small though the Zoo may have been, that WAS the Zoo..none of this Theme Park business. I can't remember the Black Rhinoceros.. sorry! I do remember the Gazelles, but I also remember some Springbok in that area...at least I've always thought they had them there. *insert question mark* You have provided me with a lot of info I didn't know, but please tell me what IZB stands for. lol It's obviously a Zoo Book of some kind. If you have other info pertaining to FPZ in this book..please can you share?.. thanks!
My apologies Bubbles. IZB is the abbreviation I use in my notes for the "International Zoo Yearbbok". I realised later last night I'd put IZB when I should at least have put IZYB! I have a few copies of the yearbook and have listed information about F P and Cleethorpes (mostly on F P) from it. The earlier information I have is from volumes 5 and 7 - I don't have these myself, but they are at Sewerby Zoo a mile from me so I can always check them. I've got too much information to list here in one go, so is there anything in particular you'd like? I have the details as listed of breeding and rare animals from volumes 5, 7, 8, 9, 12, 14, 15, 16 and 17 (the 1977 book, the breeding is that from 1975). I stopped there as that was the end of the F P name, although I have always liked the book "The Animals of Flamingo Land", published, as you'll know, in April 1976, coinciding with the name change (I heard about that from a school friend and did not like it - I still don't). Two more years and it was the birth of the theme park era I suppose, although in the guise of "Family Fun Park" for a while. A couple of interesting things are that volume 5 says the zoo is associated with the Yorkshire Zoological Society and volume 7 mentions the publications "Flamingo Park Gazette" and "Cleethorpes Gazette". I'd like to see copies of those. A few quick facts: 1963 att. 555,427 Mammals 72 species, 345 specimens Birds 93, 407 Reptiles 30, 75 Amphibians 5, 24 1965 att. 626,604 Mammals 70, 264 Birds 160, 510 Reptiles 52, 85 Amphibians 5, 15 Fishes 50, 200 Invertebrates 3, 3 Admission was 3/6 for adults and 2/- for children per vol 5 and 4/- and 2/- per vol 7. I've just returned for an edit - I didn't mention the Bear photo! Yes that is the one, but a much clearer version than the ones I have. I maybe did see Bears in there as the new pit was proposed after my first visit, but I would have been too young to remember. I am not aware of F P/F L having had Springboks, at least I have not seen any there. There were some male Blackbuck (ex ZSL I think) there in the 1980s in the area where the "Africa" paddock is now (when it was several paddocks). I have a photograph of them and one of the Arabian Gazelles I took in 1976 - it is summer and the grass is mostly brown, I expect the Gazelles felt at home that summer.
Parrotsandrew is quite right. My memory is that, viewing the old elephant house as in the photo, that the animal food was prepared in a room with a door to the left of the one you can see (so hidden by the lorry). I remember watching a keeper in there chopping open cow heads with a big cleaver and taking the brains out, I think for the big cats. Inside that little elephant house, when you went through the door, there was a leaning-height wall on the left, with a railing or two on top made of something like scaffolding tube. This made a partition behind which the small elephant stood. It was pretty dark in there, and not much room.
Bubbles, The glass-fronted building was, as Parrotsandrew says, the entrance to the ape-house. As I remember it, an Orang was kept behind the large window furthest right. If the people to the far right of your photo had looked directly behind them, they would be facing the chimp cages, which were fitted out with branches and swinging car-tyres on ropes. The chimps retired into their night quarters through hatchways halfway up the back wall which were closed with sliding metal doors. Stop-outs could be encouraged to go in through the hatches by a keeper climbing onto the cage roof and throwing a bucketful of water down at them through the netting. Along from the chimps (going right in your photo) were Mandrill baboons, and, I'm not so sure, macaques, one of which escaped and gave the keeper a hell of a biting when he caught it. Amongst other memories of this building, is that it also held a pair of large ant-eaters and a couple of huge galapagos tortoises in glass-walled enclosures inside. I remember that one of these tortoises died, and lay on its back for a while in the keepers' yard. When a crowd had gathered at the front of the chimp cages, one animal used occasionally to climb high up the netting and urinate onto the squealing public!
Black Rhinoceros You can read about the Black Rhinoceros you mention here: A Very Special Black Rhinoceros
