Campaigners accuse Bristol Zoo of misleading the public

Campaigners are accusing Bristol Zoo of misleading the public about the reasons for the much-loved site’s closure.

The world’s fifth oldest zoo shut in September after 186 years citing spiralling costs and dwindling visitor numbers.

However, Tom Jones, a musician and parent based in Bristol, believes there is another story.

A frequent visitor to the zoo, Tom took it upon himself to investigate the closure after zoo announced controversial plans for the redevelopment of the site, which would see 196 flats and part of the gardens being turned into a public-access gardens. Tom believes the site has been sold off in order to raise money for the Wild Place.

The planning application has not yet been decided on by Bristol City Council, and campaigners believe there is still time to stop these plans from being approved. A petition to stop the development has already reached 3,300 signatures.

Tom claims a number of people who worked at the zoo reached out to him on social media, after they felt that the public had not been fully informed of the decision.

With the help of publicly available accounts, strategies and planning documents, as well as interviews with directors of other zoos, zoologists, ex-trustees of the zoo and shareholders, Tom formed a different picture of reasons behind the zoo’s closure.

Keeper John partridge with Wendy the elephant circa 1984 – photo: Bristol Zoological Society/John Partridge

Tom is joined by author, businessman and environmental campaigner Alastair Sawday, and National Trust council member Iain Boyd. The group has now published a 50-page report on the zoo which they hope will generate public support to save the zoo from “selling itself off”.

The report includes a number of revelations which throw into question the official reason for the zoo’s closure.

It argues that the decision-making process at the zoo was flawed, the zoo’s finances were stronger than the public was led to believe, the public were misled into thinking that the zoo was moving in order to give the animals a better home, and that both Bristol Zoo and Bristol Zoological Society’s newer near Cribbs Causeway, Wild Place, would coexist.

Tom, and others behind the campaign ‘Save Bristol Zoo Gardens’, believes the 12-acre site in Clifton could have stayed open and there was no reason for it to close financially, and that visitor numbers were rising.

“Losses were reported for the two Covid-affected years but the Zoo also received a business interruption insurance payout of £2.5m. Since 2016, the Zoo’s income has consistently been over £10m with a £13.6m peak in 2018,” said Tom.

‘It’s not moving, it’s closing,’ said Tom.

Bristol Zoo said it would re-home a number of threatened species, however so far Tom said only two mammals are making a trip to the Wild Place site, out of 10,000 animals, including lions and seals.

Responding to these claims, Bria Zimmerman, director of conservation and science at Bristol Zoological Society, said: “To deliver our mission of ‘Saving Wildlife Together’ and safeguard the future of Bristol Zoological Society, we are creating a new Bristol Zoo where around 80 percent of species will be linked to our conservation work, living in spaces more closely reflecting their natural habitats.

“We have created an animal species plan to focus our work on the species that most need protecting. This means animals that aren’t threatened, like the fur seals and meerkats, won’t be moving with us. Instead they are being found new homes at other zoos and aquariums as part of well-established, cooperative breeding programmes”.

Only two mammals are officially relocating to the Wild Place Project, said Tom – photo: Google

The campaign hopes to redefine what the zoo can be so that it can remain open to the public, many of whom have come to see the zoo as an integral part of the fabric of Bristol.

It suggests alternative options for redevelopment, such as a community farm, a virtual reality zoo, or a green city space free for everyone to use.

“If it’s not to be a housing estate, what then should become of the site? We are not seeking or suggesting a definitive answer right now, but it’s clear from the most casual conversations that many ideas are out there and many wonderful things are possible,” said Tom.

However the zoo has responded that the site will be a “vital community asset”.

“We are proud of the quality of the proposals submitted for the Clifton site. The design brings much needed housing for Bristol, with 196 high-quality homes – of which 20 per cent will be affordable – located mainly in areas where there are already built structures,” said Zimmerman.

“These plans will secure the site as a vital community asset, so everyone can enjoy its heritage for many years to come. Approximately 80 per cent of the site will be retained as open space and the gardens will be accessible to the public for free, for the first time since the site opened to the public in 1836.

“Historic England has called this ‘a significant heritage benefit’, saying there is much to admire in the proposed development which they feel, on the whole, is a sensitive response to its historic context,” the statement continued.

However Tom believes the plans for the development suggest otherwise. He argued that nearly half the trees on the site may be lost and that there are legal loopholes to make the gardens private again after five years.

Tom is calling for the zoo’s development scheme to be rejected, to allow time for a plan that keeps the site open to the public.

After a public meeting, Tom and other campaigners have launched a website and a petition and the report is also now available online.

Main photo: Mia Vines Booth

Read next:

• ‘Quite simply we want our zoo not be taken away from us’
• Plans approved for 62 new homes on former zoo car park
• In photos: Bristol zoo’s last day after 186 years
• ‘I feel a responsibility to defend Bristol zoo gardens against inappropriate development’

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