All is not quite what it seems with Cumbria Safari Zoo's alleged 'closure'

On Monday 16 December, Cumbria Safari Zoo announced its plans to close after stacking up years worth of failures and animal rights abuses. However, all is not quite as it seems:

📣 South Lakes Safari Zoo Closure: A Step Towards a Better Future?

What will happen to the animals they hold captive?

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— Freedom for Animals (@freeanimalsuk) December 16, 2024

Cumbria Safari Zoo: drowning in controversy

The park, previously known as South Lakes Safari zoo and South Lakes Wild Animal Park, has been drowning in controversy for years. In 2013, a Sumatran Tiger attacked and killed a zoo keeper after a ‘lockable self-closing door’ failed.

Cumbria Zoo Company Limited (CZCL) took over the zoo in 2017, when the previous owner, David Gill (who has since changed his name, to David Rivera) was unsurprisingly refused a license. This followed the deaths of nearly 500 animals in only three years.

The company was formed by the zoo’s previous board of directors and promised major improvements. However, a BBC investigation earlier this year uncovered allegations of avoidable animal deaths, welfare issues, and a bullying culture.

CZCL is also involved in a dispute with the Zoo Investment Company (ZIC). They own the land the zoo operates on, and want control of it.

Taking their problems with them?

Whilst this initially seems like a great move, a bit of digging seems to reveal that it seems to be a relocation, rather than a complete closure.

According to Cumbria Crack:

Plans have been lodged by the operators of South Lakes Safari Zoo to create a wild animal reserve at its Tebay site with exotic non-native species.

New Roots Holding Company Ltd has submitted a planning application to the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority to create the visitor attraction and wild animal reserve at Brockholes Farm.

Planning documents also state:

“The Applicant intends to cease operations at the Safari Zoo in Dalton and develop a more integrated and smaller scale visitor attraction at Brockholes Farm to align with their priorities, values and vision.

The funniest part of this? All the evidence suggests their ‘values and vision’ are nothing short of animal abuse and controversy – including the theft of two Humboldt Penguins in 2018.

Laura Walton, Campaigns Manager at Freedom for Animals, told the Canary:

The closure of Cumbria Safari Zoo is a monumental victory, not only for Freedom for Animals, but for all the animal protection advocates and organisations who have tirelessly campaigned for this outcome.

For nearly a decade, we have carried out undercover investigations, exposed shocking welfare and safety failures, and relentlessly pushed for action. While this news marks a major step forward, our main concern is, and always has been, for the safety and future of animals held captive at the zoo.

The litany of animal welfare and safety issues documented to have occurred at the zoo under the watch of both past and present management, has shown a concerning and consistent lack of appropriate care. Moving the animals to a different site will not address the core issues of why such failings have taken place over the years.

Therefore, we call on the local authority to ensure the animals relocation to appropriate sanctuaries; where they can finally receive the care and dignity they deserve.

The company’s continued damning litany of failures mean that it should be nowhere near the care of animals ever again. However, the half-arsed closure of the zoo speaks to a bigger problem anyway – the captivity of animals for private profit puts the bottom line above animal welfare, every single time.

Feature image via Freedom for Animals/YouTube