Borth Wild Animal Kingdom

Last updated

Animalarium, Borth Zoo
The Animalarium from above (geograph 1789909).jpg
Date opened2000
Location Borth, Wales
Coordinates 52°29′08″N4°02′38″W / 52.4856°N 4.0440°W / 52.4856; -4.0440 Coordinates: 52°29′08″N4°02′38″W / 52.4856°N 4.0440°W / 52.4856; -4.0440
Land area12
No. of animals400
No. of species120
OwnerTweedy Family
Website https://www.borthzoo.co.uk

Borth Wild Animal Kingdom, formerly known as Borth Animalarium, is a zoo, located in the seaside Welsh town of Borth, 7 miles north of Aberystwyth in the county of Ceredigion, Mid Wales. It occupies 12 acres and in 2015 had some 27,000 visitors.[ citation needed ].

Contents

History

Borth Animalarium was opened in the late 1980s at Ynys Fergi, half a mile from Borth town centre, by Ron and Ann Crowther. [1] Starting as a hobby, the zoo expanded gradually into a business, concentrating on breeding of animals for conservation, working closely with Chester Zoo and the Northern Zoological Society on breeding programmes for harvest mice and capybara. [2] The zoo was sold in 2000 to Jean and Alan Mumbray who ran it for 15 years before announcing that they were putting it up for sale in June 2015. [3]

Early in the zoo's history, it made the news when a capybara escaped and was found in the River Leri. [2]

The zoo was bought in early 2017 by Dean and Tracy Tweedy, an artist and psychotherapist couple from Milton Regis in Kent, who planned to use the facility for animal therapy, making it a sanctuary for both animals and people. [4] [5] [6] Their purchase of the zoo was covered in a three part report on BBC's The One Show in September 2017. On transfer of ownership, the zoo is stated to have been in need of significant improvement to bring it up to modern zoo standards, with the lynx enclosure particularly being not fit for purpose. [7] [8]

The zoo was the subject of a three programme BBC television series called Saving Britain's Worst Zoo. The series aired in July and August 2019. [9]

Animal exhibits

Animals kept at Borth Animalarium include big cats, monkeys, wallabies, snakes, iguanas, caimans, fruit bats, spiders, emu, pigs, frogs, ocelots, and cockroaches. [10]

In 2005, the zoo took on an African leopard named Rajah. The cat, bred at Basildon Zoo in Essex in 1995, had been sold to a private owner but was given up after it tried to kill its owner. [11]

In September 2010, the Mumbrays were fined £1,237.50 plus costs at Aberystwyth Magistrates' Court for displaying animals without proper paperwork. In addition to the fine, nine of the zoo's animals were ordered to be confiscated including the zoo's leopard, two lynx and two ring tailed lemurs. [12] [13] The couple vowed to fight against the confiscation order, [14] and several attempts to take the animals were unsuccessful due in part to paperwork irregularities and a lack of co-operation from the leopard. [15] [16] [17] [18] [19]

In July 2012, a beaver escaped from the zoo. [20] In August 2013, the zoo again made the news when a leopard nearly escaped from its enclosure when its cage door was accidentally left open. [11] [21] [22]

In 2013, the zoo took in a three-month-old female Lynx named Nilly, who was partially hand-reared. [23] A female companion was brought in for her in May 2016. The new animal turned out to be pregnant and gave birth to three kittens two days later, two of which survived and were named Tirion and Lilleth. [24]

In August 2015 the Animalarium took delivery of two African Lion, named Zulu and Wilma, from Noah's Ark Zoo Farm in Somerset [25] [26]

In late October 2017 it was reported that an 18-month-old, adult lynx had escaped from her enclosure at some point in the previous week. [27] [28] It was reported that seven sheep had been killed in the days following her escape, approximately 500 metres from the zoo, although the zoo owners insisted the lynx was not responsible. [29] [30] After more than a week evading capture, the lynx was shot dead by a marksman under the instruction of Ceredigion County Council when it wandered into a populated area. [31] [32] [33] The killing of the lynx was criticised both by the local community and by celebrities including wildlife broadcaster Chris Packham, who sent a bottle of Lynx deodorant to the council, saying that their decision "stinks". [34] [35] The council later stated that there had been no possibility to use a tranquilliser dart and that euthanizing the lynx was the only realistic option. [36] [37] It later emerged that the operators of the zoo had been warned twice in the months leading up to the escape that trees were too tall in the lynx enclosure and that there was a significant risk of escape. [38]

The zoo owners protested about the killing of the lynx, saying they were "outraged" about the incident. [39] [40] It later emerged that another lynx had been accidentally killed several days earlier when it asphyxiated as it was being controlled with a catchpole while being moved to another enclosure. [41] [42]

The second death drew wide criticism, with calls for the zoo to be shut down. [43] [7] [35] [23] In the wake of the incident, people from the local community rallied around the owners, with nearly 150 turning up to help refurbish the zoo. [44] Following the lynx escape, the zoo was banned from keeping "category one" dangerous animals, including large cats. [45]

The ban on keeping category one animals was reversed in July 2018 following an inspection of the zoo by Ceredigion council officials, on the condition that a qualified and experienced keeper was employed. [46] The ban was re-imposed in January 2020 due to the zoo having insufficient members of staff with firearms certificates. [47]

In March 2020 it was reported that a fifth of the animals housed at the zoo had died within the space of a year. [48] Two days later it was reported that two African antelopes had escaped. [49]

Insolvency

Following an insolvency hearing in London in February 2021, the company was compulsorily wound up and had its assets liquidated, due to unpaid debts of more than £100,000. The lions have been rehomed in Kent. [50]

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References

  1. ↑ "Baby monkeys may cut red tape", Cambrian News, 5 April 1991, archived from the original on 15 November 2017, retrieved 14 November 2017
  2. 1 2 "Call of the jungle in deepest Dyfed", Western Mail, 11 July 1995, archived from the original on 15 November 2017, retrieved 14 November 2017
  3. ↑ "Borth Animalarium zoo in Ceredigion for sale", BBC News, 28 June 2015, retrieved 14 November 2017
  4. ↑ Jeffery, Poppy (23 April 2017), "Dean Tweedy of Marvellous Murals has moved to Borth in Wales to run a zoo", Kent Online, retrieved 14 November 2017
  5. ↑ "Family moves in with lions and snakes at Borth Animalarium", BBC News, 3 May 2017, retrieved 14 November 2017
  6. ↑ "Family moves in with lions and monkeys after buying zoo in Wales", Sky News, 5 August 2017, retrieved 14 November 2017
  7. 1 2 Lusher, Adam (13 November 2017), "'Hobby zoos' face calls for crackdown after second lynx dies at animal park home of Lillith", Independent, retrieved 14 November 2017
  8. ↑ Hopkins, Steven (13 November 2017), "Second Lynx Killed At Borth Wild Animal Kingdom After 'Terrible Handling Error'", Huffington Post, retrieved 16 November 2017
  9. ↑ Walford, Jessica (19 July 2019), "The drama and double tragedy that unfolded after a lynx escaped from a Welsh zoo", Wales Online, retrieved 27 March 2020
  10. ↑ Animalarium animals Archived February 23, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  11. 1 2 "Investigation after leopard's cage left open at zoo", ITV News, 7 August 2013, retrieved 14 November 2017
  12. ↑ "Animals taken from Borth Animalarium and owners fined", BBC News, 24 September 2010, retrieved 14 November 2017
  13. ↑ "Animalarium owners fined", Cambrian News, 23 September 2010, archived from the original on 15 November 2017, retrieved 14 November 2017
  14. ↑ "Couple in fight to keep rare animals", Cambrian News, 30 September 2010, archived from the original on 15 November 2017, retrieved 14 November 2017
  15. ↑ "Leopard Rajah's fight to stay at Borth Animalarium", BBC News, 25 April 2011, retrieved 14 November 2017
  16. ↑ "Big cats seizure "farce"", Cambrian News, 13 April 2011, archived from the original on 15 November 2017, retrieved 14 November 2017
  17. ↑ "Leopard Rajah refuses confiscation at Borth Animalarium", BBC News, 14 April 2011, retrieved 14 November 2017
  18. ↑ "Borth Animalarium leopard Rajah stays as removal fails", BBC News, 15 June 2011, retrieved 14 November 2017
  19. ↑ "Second bid to catch leopard ends in fiasco", Cambrian News, 23 June 2011, archived from the original on 15 November 2017, retrieved 14 November 2017
  20. ↑ Nicholas, James (13 December 2012), "Bob the beaver on the loose", Cambrian News, archived from the original on 15 November 2017, retrieved 14 November 2017
  21. ↑ Rowland, Paul (7 August 2013), "Zookeeper bans himself from working with dangerous animals after leopard enclosure left open", Wales Online, retrieved 14 November 2017
  22. ↑ Gedge, Anthony (8 August 2013), "Investigation after leopard nearly escapes enclosure", Cambrian News, archived from the original on 15 November 2017, retrieved 14 November 2017
  23. 1 2 "Lynx deaths prompts zoo closure call from Iolo Williams", BBC News, 14 November 2017, retrieved 14 November 2017
  24. ↑ Gedge, Antony (6 June 2016), "Animalarium gets surprise as three new lynx cubs arrive", Cambrian News, retrieved 15 November 2017
  25. ↑ Betteley, Chris (1 December 2015), "Borth's lions weather their first storms", Cambrian News, retrieved 14 November 2017
  26. ↑ "Love is in the air for lions at Bristol animal park", DestinationBristol, 28 April 2016, retrieved 14 November 2017
  27. ↑ "Warning as lynx escapes from zoo at Borth", Cambrian News, 29 October 2017, retrieved 14 November 2017
  28. ↑ Wardle, Sally (30 October 2017), "Wild Lynx on the loose in Wales after escaping from zoo", Independent, retrieved 14 November 2017
  29. ↑ "Missing lynx believed to have killed seven sheep", Cambrian News, 8 November 2017, retrieved 14 November 2017
  30. ↑ Morris, Steven (7 November 2017), "Lillith the lynx blamed for seven sheep deaths in north Wales", The Guardian, retrieved 15 November 2017
  31. ↑ "Escaped lynx is dead", Cambrian News, 10 November 2017, retrieved 14 November 2017
  32. ↑ "Escaped lynx: Borth zoo's big cat 'humanely destroyed'", BBC News, 10 November 2017, retrieved 14 November 2017
  33. ↑ "Borth zoo lynx killing defended by Ceredigion council", BBC News, 12 November 2017, retrieved 14 November 2017
  34. ↑ Gedge, Antony (15 November 2017), "Killing of escaped lynx has sparked outrage", Cambrian News, retrieved 15 November 2017
  35. 1 2 Morris, Steven (13 November 2017), "Campaigners demand Welsh zoo be shut after death of second lynx", The Guardian, retrieved 14 November 2017
  36. ↑ Gedge, Antony (14 November 2017), "Borth zoo was responsible for catching lynx, says council", Cambrian News, retrieved 14 November 2017
  37. ↑ "'No option' but to kill lynx", Cambrian News, 15 November 2017
  38. ↑ "Borth Wild Animal Kingdom warned twice of lynx escape risk", BBC News, 6 October 2018, retrieved 26 February 2020
  39. ↑ "Borth Wild Animal Kingdom 'outraged' over lynx killing", BBC News, 11 November 2017, retrieved 14 November 2017
  40. ↑ Lawrence, Hannah (11 November 2017), "Wales lynx escape: Zoo 'outraged' over killing of escaped big cat", Independent, retrieved 14 November 2017
  41. ↑ Davies, Dylan (13 November 2017), "Second lynx dies at Borth Zoo", Cambrian News, retrieved 14 November 2017
  42. ↑ "Second lynx at Borth Wild Animal Kingdom dies", BBC News, 13 November 2017, retrieved 14 November 2017
  43. ↑ de Bruxelles, Simon (14 November 2017), "Welsh zoo branded 'inept' over death of second lynx", The Times, retrieved 14 November 2017
  44. ↑ Walford, Jessica (20 November 2017), "Dozens of volunteers have helped 'rebuild' a Welsh zoo where two lynx died", WalesOnline, retrieved 21 November 2017
  45. ↑ "Lynx death: Wild cat ban at Borth Wild Animal Kingdom", BBC News, 28 November 2017, retrieved 29 November 2017
  46. ↑ "Lynx death zoo animal ban reversed by Ceredigion council", BBC News, 27 July 2018, retrieved 26 February 2020
  47. ↑ "Borth Animal Kingdom told to close dangerous animals enclosures", BBC News, 28 January 2020, retrieved 26 February 2020
  48. ↑ Busby, Mattha (23 March 2020), "One in five animals at controversial Welsh zoo die in space of a year", The Guardian, retrieved 25 March 2020
  49. ↑ "Two African antelope escape from Borth Wild Animal Kingdom", BBC News, 25 March 2020, retrieved 25 March 2020
  50. ↑ "Borth Wild Animal Kingdom wound up over taxman debts". BBC News. 10 February 2021. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
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