From entertainment to environmental champion: Blackpool Zoo looks back on 50 years of exotic animals

Since 1972, the zoo on East Park Drive has become home to more than 1,000 animals, including some endangered species, including Western Lowland gorillas, Hartmann’s Mountain zebras, pileated gibbons, Amur tigers, and red pandas.

Celebrating the golden anniversary ahead of a two day-long party this weekend, zoo director Darren Webster said: “We are absolutely delighted to be marking such a special occasion with the very people that have enabled us to become a 50 year success story.

“While we are looking back at our past we will also be looking forward to an exciting future. This year we have already announced significant investment across the zoo. Work has started on an extended big cat facility, there will be a new home for meerkats and mongoose, refurbishment of the zebra facility and improvements for the bird facilities and the penguin pool.”

The zoo has undergone multiple transformations since it was founded by former Dudley Zoo manager Cyril Grace in the 70s.

READ: The defining moments which have shaped five decades of Blackpool Zoo

While the attraction still welcomes mor than 350,000 visitors each year, its purpose has extended beyond pure entertainment, and it now contributes to conservation efforts through breeding programmes and donations to animal welfare charities, including the Biodiversity and Elephant Conservation Fund, the Orangutan Foundation, the Wildcats Conservation Alliance, and the World Parrot Trust.

Animal manager Mike Woolham said: "The zoos of 50 years ago, the emphasis would have been one of entertainment, and the way zoos operate now, the emphasis is far more on education, conservation, and research. We’re far more aware of the critically endangered status of some of the species we care for.

"Breeding programmes 50 years ago were in their infancy, whereas now a significant amount of animals around the zoo are involved in breeding programmes.”

One such group of animals is Blackpool Zoo’s herd of Asian elephants, made up of five females, Kate, Tara, Minbu, Noorjahan and Esha, and one male, Emmett.

Kate was among one of the first animals ever housed at the zoo (along with fellow Asian elephant Crumple, who died in 2009), and at 53-years-old, she is the oldest and longest-standing animal there. Once kept in a dark, dingy barn, she now enjoys roaming in the grassy paddocks of Project Elephant, which opened in March 2018 and remains to this day the single biggest investment in the history of Blackpool Zoo.

Other additions to the zoo include Orangutan Outlook, Giraffe Heights, Active Oceans, Wallaby Walkabout, the Children’s Farm and Wolf Ridge. New facilities for the big cats, meerkats and mongoose facilities are currently in the making, and improvements to the zebra house, bird facilities and penguin pool are also planned for the future.

Elephant keeper Lauren Shields said: "Kate’s enclosure was becoming inadequate for her and times have changed over the years when it comes to enclosure design and the welfare of animals. For this enclosure in particular we’ve got a grass paddock and a sand paddock, different levels of temperated so in the winter it’s nice and warm for them, lots more feeding options for them on a daily basis. The possibilities now are endless.

"Emmett, our male elephant, has been brought in as part of the breeding programme to hopefully breed with some of our females and have baby elephants in the future. Emmett has bred before, and we have a couple of females who have bred in the past.”

As well as making leaps in conservation efforts, the zoo has turned to educating the next generation of animal lovers, being a popular destination for school trips.

Year Four pupils from Blackpool Gateway Academy were among many schoolchildren attending the zoo today after completing a wildlife project inspired by the 50th anniversary.

Teacher David Snelling said: "We’ve been really fortunate to be able to collaborate with the zoo for this event, to contextualise the children’s work. In English we’ve been creating information texts, fact sheets about animals. We’ve linked it to our science about living things and their habitats. We’ve also set up a conservation club to do work about what conservation is and why it’s important.

"We’re so lucky to be able to come to the zoo and share our work with members of the public, and show the zoo what they’ve been doing. They’re really proud of what they have created.”

Zoo staff and visitors alike are now looking forward to a weekend of birthday celebrations, with history talks, zoo keeper meet and greets, and special activities including the chance to make treats for the animals.

Senior education officer Rebecca Reynolds said: “We have a display at the main entrance so right away people can begin to look at the different histories of the zoo and our story; loads of activities for children which includes making enrichment for our animals, toys for our animals, and history of the zoo talks every hour. It’s going to be a great celebration.

“It is exciting and it’s very poignant that we’re celebrating 50 years of animal care, 50 years of offering visitors locally, nationally and even internationally a great experience here at Blackpool Zoo.”