Southport Zoo

Southport Zoo
Southport Zoo
	53°39′04″N 3°00′54″W / 53.651°N 3.015°W
Date closed	2004
Location	Southport, Merseyside, England
Land area	6 acres (2.4 ha)
No. of animals	1,272
No. of species	154

Southport Zoo was a 6-acre (2.4 ha)

Pleasureland

amusement park. It was home to 154 species of wild animals and birds, but closed in 2004.

The animal collection included

pheasants

.

	Number of species	Number of animals
Mammals	33	124
Birds	60	193
Reptiles	31	128
Amphibians	3	12
Fishes	23	166
Invertebrates	4	649
Total	154	1272

Closure

The council did not allow the Petries to renew the lease on the zoo site and gave the lease to

Pleasureland so it could extend the park and create more attractions. In 2005 the zoo site became a paint ball park, before the fairground closed a year later. Pleasureland re-opened shortly afterwards with a new owner and investment and is now thriving with plans to further develop the zoo enclosures area. Some groups claimed that the contract was not renewed for the zoo due to animal rights campaigners and protests creating bad publicity.^[1]

When the zoo closed, the Petries moved to Yorkshire taking many animals with them to a new zoo they were creating at

Captive Animals Protection Society an application was withdrawn to build new exhibits at the falconry site.^[2] It is believed that the animals taken with the family were allowed to stay but not for public show as their zoo licence did not extend to exotic animals.^[3]

Ten people lost their jobs when Southport Zoo closed.[4] These included the collection manager and five section keepers (carnivores, paddocks, primates, birds and reptiles) and the estates manager and three members of staff.

Redevelopment

After years of neglect, the site reopened in August 2010 as Battlefield Live Southport,^[5] an outdoor combat game using guns that fire infra-red beams. Many of the original buildings and cages have been retained and the area has been redeveloped as a Battlefield Arena for players to play the game within.

References

^ "Zoos".
^ "Zoos".
^ "Southport zoo rumour! [Southport Zoo (Closed)]".
^ "Southport Zoo closing /owners say goodbye". southportforums.com. Southport. Retrieved 27 July 2010.
^ "Home". battlefieldlive-southport.com.

[1] "Zoos".

[2] "Zoos".

[3] "Southport zoo rumour! [Southport Zoo (Closed)]".

[southportforums-4] "Southport Zoo closing /owners say goodbye". southportforums.com. Southport. Retrieved 27 July 2010.

[5] "Home". battlefieldlive-southport.com.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[5]

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Category List Those listed in italics contain more than 5000 animals