I'm familiar with the old joke that the north starts at the Watford Gap, but I think this is the first time I've come across saying that London isn't in the east let alone Kent.
My view on Heythrop is whilst it is predominately Private, it does open to the Public certain times a year, you can also purchase animal experiences there and encounters so can visit at other times of the year if you take up those options. Therefore I sort of view it as a collection that whilst it is private it is accessible to people to visit if they wished to, which is unlike a number of Private collections (Park house for instance) which is never open at all to the public. I just personally feel a larger animal which is currently visible in 9 collections, and soon to be in another two, is rather common. I get it's not Lion or Tiger common, but it is by a long way the most common of all the Bear species and when you consider Lions are held at around 25 collections, I would say that one species of Bear at 9/10 (soon to be 11/12) collections makes it relatively common. Zoo's will clearly have big cats over bears as a draw to the public, but given by 2020, there will be Brown Bears at 12 UK Zoo's and Wildlife Parks (Including one Private Zoo) and another Zoo with a non European Species of Brown Bear then I don't think this is actually a reflection of an animal not held at many collections and therefore uncommon.
Even if you count Heythrop, European Brown Bear is still only in 8 collections and I know you aren't counting the non-European individuals at Yorkshire as you list it as distinct further down in your post. Try 36 Died in 2017.
Quite - althoughif you're defining Hull as the top, it's more the "Norfolk/Suffolk bulge with big Lincolnshire flat bit"
I'm currently at the zoo! It's very busy with lots of people surrounding all of the exhibits. Some of the collections highlights include: - 3.1 African Lions - 1 "Bengal" Tiger - 1.1 EuropeanBrown Bears - Lynx - Chapman and Grants Zebra - Pig Tailed Macaques - The usual small collection animals (lemurs, Bennet's, Mara etc... I'll post some pictures once there is a Wolds Wildlife Park media page (I have requested one in the Thread requests page).
Some of the more interesting enclosure pictures: European Brown bears, Pig tailed macaque, African lion and Bengal tiger. (I'll upload more when the gallery opens)
The Heythrop bears are the ones now at Wolds. So one fewer collection now holding them than your list.
Are you sure? I was chatting to whom I believe was the owner, and he said they they had come from a zoo in Europe? He may have said Eastern Europe, but that might be my imagination. He definitely did not say that they had come from somewhere in the UK. I could be wrong though, just what I've heard
Haha okay, my bad. I was just pasing on what I had been told by a member of staff there. Am I right that they are an unrelated pair?
The park has announced that they are having another open day this bank holiday weekend .never been there yet as its only 20 miles away but will be out of country next weekend.
Wolds wildlife park have finally been granted planning permission to expand the park, they plant to build a cafe, education block and more housing to expand the collection and to apply for a zoo licence so they can open 7 days a week.
@migdog brought my attention to this place just now and from their facebook, news of a zebra (plains/Grant's, I dunno) birth.
The zoo have announced that they have welcomed a 9 year old "Indian Leopard", named Mowgli, from a travelling circus in Germany.
