Dartmoor Wildlife Park - Sparkwell

Nice photos Stuart. I particulary like the Tiger shots.

Glad you enjoyed your day with your family there Stuart and its pleasing to know it is now alive and doing well. It was nearly lost forever not so long ago.

The last time we went there is was very close to the day it was closed down,Ellis Daw the man who set it up was a strange sort of man and one I will never forget.

Some history about Sparkwell and a great piece about the new owners it has now.



Dartmoor Zoological Park is a 30-acre (120,000 m2) zoological garden located near the village of Sparkwell, on the south-west edge of Dartmoor, in the South West of England.

Formerly known as Dartmoor Wildlife Park, it had been opened in 1968 by Ellis Daw on farmland bought by his family in 1948. During a time of crisis, it was forced to close to the public on April 23, 2006. In August of that year, it was bought by the Mee family consisting of mother Amelia and brothers Ben and Duncan, for £1.1m, who reopened the zoo to the public in July 2007 after a major refurbishment.

In 2007, it was the subject of a four part television documentary, entitled Ben's Zoo, which followed owner Ben Mee and other staff as they revamped the park for the 21st century. It was shown on BBC Two in November and December of that year. Benjamin Mee, a former DIY columnist for The Guardian, also wrote a book about his experience refurbishing and living at the zoo, We Bought a Zoo: The Amazing True Story of a Young Family, a Broken Down Zoo, and the 200 Wild Animals That Changed Their Lives Forever.

Controversy

The original Dartmoor Wildlife Park became the subject of local debate after a 2001 report by the Captive Animals Protection Society raised questions about the welfare of the animals and the conditions in which they were kept, even though there had been no accidents in the zoo's 33-year history.The group criticised the living conditions for the animals and the safety barriers, calling for the zoo's license to be revoked.The council were reluctant to revoke the zoo's license, due to concerns over the future of the animals, but did charge Ellis Daw with 16 offences after the zoo was investigated.. All but one of these charges were dropped, but Ellis Daw was found guilty of breeding Siberian tigers outside of an organised breeding programme, and of keeping them in poor conditions. For this, Daw received a £200 fine and a conditional discharge, and the tigers were sent to a wildlife centre in Holland.


The new owners

Devon DIY expert Ben Mee faced his biggest makeover challenge yet when he took over a zoo.
Father-of-two Mr Mee had written books about DIY and even had a column in The Guardian newspaper. But fixing a cage which a jaguar had just leapt over, or making an enclosure wolf-proof?

That was a whole new adventure for Mr Mee and his family who are reopening the Dartmoor Wildlife Park which they bought last year.
There was plenty of room for improvement when Mr Mee, his brother Duncan and mother Amelia took over the park, now renamed the Dartmoor Zoological Park, last year.

They had bought it for £1.1m with money from the sale of the family home in Surrey.
But it had deteriorated so badly the authorities had refused to grant another licence and they had to borrow another £500,000 to bring it up to standard.Pathways, enclosures, restaurants, shops all needed upgrading.

The issue was brought home starkly four days after they moved into the house on site when a jaguar escaped from its enclosure, followed earlier this year by a wolf found wandering near the village. He said: "At about 5.30pm I was sitting with the head keeper, Robert, in the kitchen when Duncan burst in, shouted, "One of the big cats is out! This is not a drill!" and ran off again.

The park's jaguar, Sovereign, was inside the tiger's enclosure with its inhabitant, Tammy. "Both animals were agitated, and if they began fighting one would have to be shot," he said. "Suddenly the jaguar lunged at the tiger's hindquarters, and the tiger turned and swiped the jaguar's head, spinning him like a doll." Kelly, the cat keeper, then ordered all available men to go to one end of the cage. "On command we yelled as loudly as we could.

"The tiger's tail twitched, her ears flattened and after a couple of minutes she jumped off the rock and into her house. "In the morning, the crisis officially ended when a ranger from another park arrived with a dart gun, and returned the comatose jaguar to his proper enclosure." Sovereign's cage was strengthened and improved, with old wooden posts replaced with metal posts and a four-strand electrical fence.

Zoos 'increasingly important'

But the zoo again made headlines in February this year when a wolf called Parker clambered over the top of its enclosure and went walkabout before being recaptured. The old enclosures at the wildlife park had been criticised by animal rights groups who said people should boycott it. But Mr Mee is adamant that all the animals are now in better conditions.

And the zoo has been checked by the local council and the Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs. The name change to zoological park reflects new concerns said Mr Mee, with the accent now on breeding and conservation of species. "I wish that there were huge areas for them to roam free," said Mr Mee, speaking from the new enclosure for Sovereign who was in quarantine. "But with market forces being what they are, I think many will be extinct in the wild in our lifetime.

"Zoos are becoming increasingly important as a seed bank for wild animals." Mee has been obsessed with animals since he was young, so when he heard the zoo was for sale, he jumped at the opportunity to put his knowledge into practice. "I had written a book on awareness in animals, but I had never done any hands-on management," he said. "It's been a very steep learning curve."

There are 218 animals in the 30-acre zoo, including five tigers, three lions, three bears and seven wolves. In the future Mr Mee hopes to add orang utans, gorillas and giraffes and zebras. Right now he is looking forward to re-opening the zoo on Saturday. "It is all a bit tight, but at last we shall have income coming the other way, rather than just going out," he said

Thanks for the history Dave, i know you are good at these things.

We had our first visit under the old owner. we arrived and had to pay at an old caravan. driving up to the car park by the restaurant didn't inspire us either with only goats and chickens to look at.

we had a reasonable lunch in the restaurant but still weren't impressed.

the next 3 to 4 hours totally changed our minds. falcon displays, lion and tiger feeding, a great array of animals very close to you etc etc. we had a great time.

this summer we decided to return. we had a lovely day and as the pictures show there are a lot of animals to see. the feeding of the otters was really special but unfortunately my camera doesn't do sound.

they are carrying out lots of improvements and this site will continue to improve and develop. unfortunately, I don't think enough people know about it's existence. Now I live away and play at being a grockle I find it but in all the years I lived in torbay i had never heard of it