Anyone remember this place? It was in Goldcliff, near Newport, South Wales. I never visited there but apparently it closed in the 80s and its collection included Himilayan black bears, Sun bears, Lions, birds and others. I'm just interested to know if anyone has pictures more than anything really. Thanks
I have recently been looking up information about Whitson zoo in south wales. There is so much I could say, I could write a book so I will try to keep it short. In the summer of 71 I spent three weeks with my sister at nearby Nash. Walking one day I came across an entrance to a zoo but it looked well run down. I was looking for some signwriting work to do before going back to school. I wandered up the road to the main house fully expecting someone to come out and say "clear off". I knocked on the door and a man answered and said that I could just wander around as I pleased so I thought, great. However, at the age of 14 and being a benevolent type, I was horrified to find the whole place in complete disrepair and the condition of the animals was terrible. I saw a lion stuck out of the way on his own in a space about 12x12ft, he was lying against the bars and was so disturbed that when I reached over the fence and stroked him, he did not even look at me !. There were either one or two sun bears, another larger bear some monkeys and a reptile house. I walked home crying and told my sister but she said that there was nothing I could do. I went back twice again to try an speak to the owner but there was never anyone there. I wonder who was feeding the poor animals ! If this happened today, the owners would almost certainly be in prison. That experience has haunted me for forty five years an this is the first time I have been able to get it off my chest. I do not care if nobody reads this, I feel a bit better knowing that there is now a record of the truth about what was happening at that place. : (
I remember it well, I had my first part time Job there on the weekends as a kid, I still have a small scar behind my right knee where the male lion caught hold of me with his claw, I was wearing wellies at the time and his handler Rob said that he didn't like wellies. We used to take him out for a walk on a chain between the two of us, he was pretty docile. The zoo was pretty much run down when I was there and had very poor attendance, Mrs Maybury the owner struggled to keep it going as long as she did. I don't remember much more about when it closed but I do remember my mother telling me that Mrs. Maybury had phoned her to see if I wanted to have the lion as she could no longer keep him. I was living in London by then so unfortunately it wasn't possible.
