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The oldest surviving provincial zoo in the world is being relocated from its prime location in Bristol, which has been its home for nearly two centuries as a result of the financial impact of the coronavirus crisis.
Bristol Zoo Gardens, a 12-acre parcel in the city’s Clifton area, will be sold and the animals and staff will move to its Wild Place Project satellite site across the border in South Gloucestershire.
Visitors to the zoo gardens have been declining in numbers for some time and the charity that runs the sites, the Bristol Zoological Society, said it had incurred operating losses in four of the past six years. Covid stress seems to have been the last straw.
Executive Director of the charity, Justin Morris, said: “This year has been by far the most challenging year that society has faced in its 185-year history. But for many years, Bristol Zoo gardens have been struggling with fundamental and persistent challenges, namely the inability to meet the changing needs of animals within the available space and infrastructure, and the declining number of visitors.
“These challenges have had a huge impact on our finances and the impact of Covid-19 has led us to radically rethink our plans and how we address the fundamental and persistent challenges we face.”
Morris said the charity planned to create a world-class “modern and forward-thinking zoo” on a much larger site, with conservation and sustainability at its center.
Homes are likely to be built in areas of the Clifton site where structures are already built, while existing gardens will remain largely unchanged.
The animals will either move to the new site, which will be simply renamed Bristol Zoo, or relocated to other zoos and aquariums. Its most famous animals, the gorillas of the western lowlands, will move to the new site.
Generations of Bristolians have visited the old site and its closure will feel deeply in the city, but Mayor Marvin Rees said it also provides opportunities.
“The move presents Bristol with a unique opportunity to develop housing on the site, and I am reassured of the zoo’s commitment not only to working with the council, but also to ensuring that any potential developer understands the need to conserve and protect the gardens, just it builds where the buildings have been and includes affordable housing on the site, something that is hard to come by in Clifton, ”Rees said.
Toby Savage, the South Gloucestershire council leader, said he was “really excited” about the relocation plans. “The new location offers much more space, which is more suitable for a modern zoo and will help society continue to develop its conservation and education projects.”
The Clifton site is anticipated to close to visitors by the end of 2022. The plan is to open the new Bristol Zoo in 2024, and the Wild Place project will remain open at all times.
