A zoo dubbed ‘the worst in Britain’ is closing down after new cruelty allegations – despite a takeover which had promised to improve conditions.
Karen Brewer took over as director of South Lakes Safari Zoo in 2017 after previous owner David Gill lost his licence following a series of tragedies and controversies.
Mr Gill, a stetson-wearing millionaire with a beauty queen wife, first opened the 51-acre attraction in Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria in 1994.
Campaigners have long been raising concerns about operations there, including animals run over by a miniature train or electrocuted by fencing.
And the zoo was fined £255,000 after a keeper was mauled to death by a tiger during Mr Gill’s time in charge.
Ms Brewer promised a turnaround when she assumed control and even allowed BBC cameras in to shoot a ‘warts and all’ documentary, Trouble At The Zoo, which aired in February 2018.
She said at the time: ‘We wanted to show that working with animals and running a complex business is emotional and is difficult and I felt the programme did capture that, and that we’re all human.’
Yet as recently as October this year, disturbing photographs were revealed showing dead and injured animals – and it has now been announced by owners Cumbria Zoo Company that the zoo will close on December 31.
Karen Brewer (left), director of Cumbria Zoo Company Limited which runs South Lakes Safari Zoo, this week announced it would close on December 31
A series of tragic losses at South Lakes Safari Zoo in Cumbria have sparked outrage among campaigners and it has now been revealed the park will shut at the end of this year
The attraction was first opened in 1994 by former owner David Gill, pictured here with his wife Frieda Rivera-Schreiber – she joined the zoo’s staff shortly after their wedding in 1994
The harrowing latest photos included ones showing a capybara covered in cuts reportedly caused by fighting and a zebra with its hoof stuck in the bars of its enclosure and which later had to be put down.
It follows an alarming inspection report in July which found ’major causes for concern’, including a work experience student being left alone with dangerous animals.
Wildlife groups have welcomed news of the imminent closure, though also raised concerns about the prospect of some of the zoo’s animals being transferred to a different park run by the same company.
Ms Brewer, CEO of Cumbria Zoo Company Ltd, insists the attraction met all regulatory requirements – but this week said the firm was now looking to focus on a 120-acre site 40 miles away in Tebay, which it will run as a nature and wildlife park.
She said in a statement: ‘In transition, the animals will all continue to be looked after and given the best veterinary care.
‘We are working with various agencies, including two zoo consultants, to find them all new homes that are appropriate for their longer-term needs.’
Her time as director began after Mr Gill’s zoo, which at its peak hosted 250,000 visitors a year, was issued with a closure order in 2016.
An inspection found 486 animals died there between December 2013 and September 2016, including two leopards partially eaten by other animals, a monkey found behind a radiator and seven healthy lion clubs destroyed due to lack of space.
As recently as October, harrowing photographs were revealed showing dead and injured animals at the zoo in Cumbria
Reported incidents included a capybara covered in cuts reportedly caused by fighting and a zebra with its hoof stuck in the bars of its enclosure which later had to be put down
Then-owner David Gill is seen outside Manchester Crown Court for a health and safety hearing in 2016 following the death of employee Sarah McClay who was mauled to death by a tiger
The death toll also included a jaguar that chewed off its own paw, a rhino crushed to death by its partner and a giraffe shot after collapsing.
Barrow Council lambasted its ‘deplorable’ standards of welfare and lack of veterinary care.
Yet standards have still caused alarm despite Mr Gill no longer being involved, according to an undercover visit by experts from charity Born Free in 2022.
They raised concerns including monkeys clinging to the edge of their enclosures to get close to heat lamps, rhinos confined to tiny stalls barely able to turn around and an Andean bear seen swaying and testing an electric fence with its paw.
Under the previous ownership of Mr Gill, the zoo was fined £255,000 at Preston Crown Court in June 2016 after one of its employees, 24-year-old Sarah McClay, was killed by a Sumatran tiger in May 2013.
It received an additional £42,500 fine after it also pleaded guilty to other health and safety law breaches when a zoo keeper fell from a ladder while preparing to feed big cats in July 2014.
The zoo had officially opened in May 1994 after farmland in Dalton-in-Furness was bought by stetson-wearing Mr Gill.
In 1997, a three-tonne white rhino escapes its pen and was shot dead by Mr Gill, who was fined £10,000 for failing to keep animal enclosed.
Ferrari-driving former owner Mr Gill – who appointed his Peruvian beauty queen third wife as head vet – was previously slammed for ‘deplorable’ welfare standards
A young monkey was seen clinging to the mesh below a heat lamp at the zoo amid concerns its habitat at South Lakes Safari Zoo not being kept warm enough
The park was criticised again in 2006 after lemurs escape an enclosure and two years later fire destroyed three wooden huts housing lemurs, killing 31, with the blaze believed to have been started by a faulty heater.
Mr Gill later married former Peruvian beauty queen Frieda Rivera-Shreiber and she became the zoo’s director of veterinary services shortly after their wedding at an elaborate beachside setting in Peru in 2014.
Cumbria Council removed his licence in 2016 though Ms Brewer’s firm was granted permission to run the zoo in May the following year.
Chris Lewis, captivity research and policy manager at Born Free which has been campaigning for the zoo’s closure, has said of the new closure announcement: ‘While we are pleased to see today’s announcement, exact details on the future of the animals and the site itself remain unclear.
‘Born Free urges all parties to work together to ensure the welfare of the animals remains paramount until a time when appropriate and suitable homes can be secured for them.’
