South Lakes Safari Zoo - Council refuses owner licence

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Chippy_Tea

Chippy_Tea

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South Cumbria headline BBC News for all the wrong reasons.

This is our local Zoo that has had its fair share of controversy since opening, a rare white rhino escaped from its enclosure shortly after opening and it was shot dead, an employee was mauled to death by a tiger in 2013 and now we read 486 animals had died there in four years and the Captive Animals' Protection Society have said the zoo was one of the worst they had seen, i have spoken to several people about this and we all hope its closed for good bearing in mind it was originally opened in 1994 partly to create a successful breeding programme for the critically endangered Sumatran tiger not as far as i remember to be a large zoo.

The owner of a zoo criticised over animal welfare concerns and where a keeper was killed by a tiger has lost his bid to renew his licence.

David Gill's claim for a licence to run South Lakes Safari Zoo in Dalton-in-Furness was unanimously refused by Barrow councillors.

In January, the Cumbria Zoo Company Ltd became the operators of the attraction through a six-month lease agreement. Under that agreement, Mr Gill remained only as the landowner but he said is planning to sell the zoo to the new company as well.

The zoo company's application for a licence is yet to be heard.

In February, a report found 486 animals had died there in four years.
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Read more - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-39177313


Wikipedia -

1994

The zoo was opened by David S Gill and his family in 1994 on converted farmland. Construction started in 1993, and the park was officially opened on 28 May 1994.[4] The park gradually expanded over the next few years, growing form 55,000 visitors in 1995 to approximately 220,000 visitors in 1999. Major attractions in early years included its then-unique in Britain holding of both Siberian tigers (also known as Amur tigers) and Sumatran tigers (the world's smallest and largest tigers). It created a successful breeding programme for the critically endangered Sumatran tiger. The zoo had its first major incident in 1997, when a three-ton white rhino escaped from its pen and was subsequently shot dead by owner David Gill in an adjacent field. Gill was later fined £10,000 for failing to keep the animal adequately enclosed.[5][6]

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Couldn't believe this when I heard that 500 animals have died in 4 years, I thought they were supposed to be looking after them? What has happened to the RSPCA in this time to allow it to get to that level?

The only problem is that if teh new company are refused a license what happens to teh animals then?
 
The only problem is that if teh new company are refused a license what happens to teh animals then?
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Having read so many have died there probably isn't many left to find a home. :-?

Joking aside i have just watched the report on the news and it has come as a shock to me and Mrs Tea, when you drive past it it always looks clean and there are always visitors in the zoo and i haven't read any negative stuff in the local paper i guess they were good at hiding what was going on behind the scenes.

This video is from last year.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xa2KZauSFmA[/ame]
 
To be honest i am not surprised there are few big attractions in this area and little in the way of employment so i hope they can turn it around, one thing is for sure they will be under the microscope and any slip ups will see it close for good.
 
animals should be in the wild and not in a cage
better chance of survival than in a zoo like this one
 
Originally it was set up so rare tigers could be bred and they did some good work however i guess the money and fame went to the owners head and it became the beast that we have all read about it is now known for all the wrong reasons and that is why i said i hope thy can turn it around.
 
dps51 said:
animals should be in the wild and not in a cage
better chance of survival than in a zoo like this one
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Agree but once they are in there they could not be turned loose and survive. I think without a new licence all of these animals would have been in danger of being killed.
 
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