Inspectors have identified a number of welfare concerns at a Cumbrian zoo where nearly 500 animals died in less than four years.
The latest findings on South Lakes Safari zoo, which include a lemur climbing into a baby’s pram, squirrel monkeys jumping on to members of the public and prairie dogs digging holes next to the fence, come as a council committee is due to meet to decide whether it is complying with its licensing conditions.
Additionally, the animal director, Andreas Kaufmann, earlier this week told the council there had been a diagnosis of chlamydia among the zoo’s peacock population.
The attraction is in the hands of new owners – Cumbria Zoo Company Ltd – after the zoo’s founder David Gill was refused a licence to run the facility, in March.
The previous month, a damning report said 486 animals died of causes including emaciation and hypothermia between December 2013 and September 2016.
Council inspectors who carried out a fresh two-week inspection last month 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 have recommended that, when it meets next week, the council’s licensing regulatory committee acknowledges that the requirements of the licence are being complied with. They praised zookeepers for doing a “good job” in educating the public about safety.
The inspection report states that since being granted the licence, Kaufmann has been appointed by the zoo and that the areas of the attraction where animals could come into contact with members of the public have been reduced.
In June last year, the zoo was fined £255,000 for health and safety breaches after the death of keeper Sarah McClay, 24.
Concerns about the lack of security between Gill’s neighbouring home and the zoo enclosure mean the attraction is not allowed to import or export any animals under the Animal and Plant Health Agency’s regulatory Balai directive.
The zoo has been contacted for comment.
