A zoo where nearly 500 animals died in less than four years has been allowed to stay open despite fresh welfare concerns under its new owners.
A two-week inspection of South Lakes Safari zoo in August found that there were too many “contact incidents” between animals and visitors, including a lemur climbing into a baby’s pram and squirrel monkeys jumping on members of the public.
The zoo’s animal director, Andreas Kaufmann, additionally told council officials last month that a diagnosis of chlamydia had been reported in its peacock population.
But councillors on Barrow borough council gave the zoo the green light to stay open at a meeting of the authority’s licensing regulatory committee on Thursday.
The attraction is in the hands of new owners – Cumbria Zoo Company Ltd – after the founder David Gill was refused a licence to run the facility in March.
The previous month, a report said 486 animals died of causes including emaciation and hypothermia between December 2013 and September 2016.
At Thursday’s meeting, councillors heard that Kaufmann – who was appointed in August to turn around the zoo’s tattered reputation – had already threatened to resign over “misunderstandings and disagreements” with the attraction’s new boss Karen Brewer. However, Kaufmann said the issues had since been resolved and “now we’re back to a good process”.
Kaufmann, a renowned animal expert, told councillors the zoo had made a series of changes since he arrived, including removing squirrel monkeys from public areas and altering the food given to lemurs.
The changes also include feeding the animals multiple times a day to reduce their hunger at public feedings and limiting the number of visitors at these viewings to three or four at a time.
Some animals would be moved to other zoos, he said: “We will move a number of animals to other zoos. This is a great place but one of the areas we have to work on is the number of animals for our capabilities.
“We are doing a good job of finding good homes for them. We’re looking at other institutions and we make sure they are in a position to care for them appropriately. We do not euthanise our animals.”
Council inspectors who carried out a fresh two-week inspection in August concluded that there were too many “contact incidents” between animals and visitors. Seven incidents involving contact between animals and visitors were reported within a 14-day period.
The inspectors saw a lemur climb into a baby’s pram before it was removed by two zookeepers. Another lemur pulled off a visitor’s glove during a feeding session while trying to snatch a grape, while a third jumped on to a member of the public.
An ageing nyala – a spiral-horned antelope – which was completely blind and had been separated from its herd, had deteriorated and was euthanised the day after the inspection.
Despite the concerns flagged up by the inspection team, licensing officers recommended that the council’s licensing regulatory committee should acknowledge that the requirements of the licence were being complied with. They praised zookeepers for doing a “good job” in educating the public about safety.
