Chester Zoo is currently operated by the North of England Zoological Society, a registered charity founded in 1934. The Zoo receives no government funding. It is the most-visited wildlife attraction in Britain with more than 1.3 million visitors in 2007. In the same year Forbes described it as one of the best fifteen zoos in the world.
The Mottershead family's market garden business was based in Shavington near Crewe. George Mottershead collected animals such as lizards and insects that arrived with exotic plants imported by the business. A visit to Belle Vue Zoo in Manchester as a boy in 1903 fuelled his developing interest in creating a zoo of his own.
Mottershead was wounded in World War I and spent several years in a wheelchair. Despite this, his collection of animals grew and he began to search for a suitable home for his zoo. He chose Oakfield House in Upton, a suburb of Chester, which he purchased for £3,500 in 1930. The house had 9 acres (3.6 ha) of gardens and provided easy access to the railways and to Manchester and Liverpool. There were local objections, but Mottershead prevailed, and Chester Zoo opened to the public on 10 June 1931. The first animals were displayed in pens in the courtyard.
Rapid expansion followed after World War II, despite the difficulty of sourcing materials. Mottershead had to be resourceful; the polar bear exhibit (1950) was built from recycled wartime road blocks and pillboxes. "Always building" was the Zoo's slogan at the time. Mottershead received the OBE, an honorary degree of MSc, and served as President of the International Union of Zoo Directors. He died in 1978 aged 84
Mottershead wanted to build a zoo without the traditional Victorian iron bars to cage the animals. He was influenced by the ideas of Carl Hagenbeck, who invented the modern zoo concept and by Heine Hediger, a pioneer of ethology.
At Chester, Mottershead took Hagenback's idea for moats and ditches as an alternative to cage bars, and extended their use throughout the zoo, often with species that Hagenback had not considered. For example, when chimpanzees were released into their new enclosure at Chester in 1956, a group of grassy islands separated the apes from visitors by no more than a 12-foot (3.7 m) strip of water. Nobody knew then if chimps could swim. It turned out that they could not, and today the chimp islands are a centrepiece of Chester Zoo.
In 1986 the Zoo was enclosed with a fence, in line with the Zoo Licensing Act 1981.
The Zoo is bisected by a public bridleway, Flag Lane. For many years, a single bridge (now called Elephants Bridge), drivable by zoo vehicles and powered wheelchairs, near the elephant exhibit was the only crossing place within the grounds. A second crossing, passable by pedestrians and mobility scooters, called Bats Bridge, opened in April 2008 near the Twilight Zone, has improved the ability of visitors to circulate.
Visitors must pay extra for using the monorail and the water bus.
Chester's catering facilities include the Café Bembé near the main entrance which opened in 2006. June's Pavilion is in the middle of the zoo. The Oakfield Restaurant, in a Victorian mansion house near the lion enclosure, and the Acorn Bar, are both used for private functions as well as catering to zoo visitors.
There are children's play areas, shops, kiosks, and several picnic lawns around the Zoo. A second pedestrian entrance is located in the south-east corner of the Zoo behind Oakfield House.
For a long time the public entrance was at the east end. In recent years the public entrance has moved to the north side, west of Flag Lane, near the elephants, and the old car parks at the east end are being built over with service and educational buildings.
The zoo owns land outside the public area, and uses that land to grow food for its herbivorous animals.
Source : wikipedia
Chester Zoo is a zoological garden at Upton-by-Chester, in Cheshire, England. It was opened in 1931 by George Mottershead and his family, who used as a basis some animals reported to have come from an earlier zoo in Shavington. It is the one of the UK's largest zoos at 111 acres (45 ha). The zoo has a total land holding of approximately 400 acres (160 ha).
Chester Zoo is currently operated by the North of England Zoological Society, a registered charity founded in 1934. The Zoo receives no government funding. It is the most-visited wildlife attraction in Britain with more than 1.3 million visitors in 2007. In the same year Forbes described it as one of the best fifteen zoos in the world.
Early history
The Mottershead family's market garden business was based in Shavington near Crewe. George Mottershead collected animals such as lizards and insects that arrived with exotic plants imported by the business. A visit to Belle Vue Zoo in Manchester as a boy in 1903 fuelled his developing interest in creating a zoo of his own.
Mottershead was wounded in World War I and spent several years in a wheelchair. Despite this, his collection of animals grew and he began to search for a suitable home for his zoo. He chose Oakfield House in Upton, a suburb of Chester, which he purchased for £3,500 in 1930. The house had 9 acres (3.6 ha) of gardens and provided easy access to the railways and to Manchester and Liverpool. There were local objections, but Mottershead prevailed, and Chester Zoo opened to the public on 10 June 1931. The first animals were displayed in pens in the courtyard.
Rapid expansion followed after World War II, despite the difficulty of sourcing materials. Mottershead had to be resourceful; the polar bear exhibit (1950) was built from recycled wartime road blocks and pillboxes. "Always building" was the Zoo's slogan at the time. Mottershead received the OBE, an honorary degree of MSc, and served as President of the International Union of Zoo Directors. He died in 1978 aged 84
Zoo design
Mottershead wanted to build a zoo without the traditional Victorian iron bars to cage the animals. He was influenced by the ideas of Carl Hagenbeck, who invented the modern zoo concept and by Heine Hediger, a pioneer of ethology.
At Chester, Mottershead took Hagenback's idea for moats and ditches as an alternative to cage bars, and extended their use throughout the zoo, often with species that Hagenback had not considered. For example, when chimpanzees were released into their new enclosure at Chester in 1956, a group of grassy islands separated the apes from visitors by no more than a 12-foot (3.7 m) strip of water. Nobody knew then if chimps could swim. It turned out that they could not, and today the chimp islands are a centrepiece of Chester Zoo.
In 1986 the Zoo was enclosed with a fence, in line with the Zoo Licensing Act 1981.
Layout and facilities
The Zoo is bisected by a public bridleway, Flag Lane. For many years, a single bridge (now called Elephants Bridge), drivable by zoo vehicles and powered wheelchairs, near the elephant exhibit was the only crossing place within the grounds. A second crossing, passable by pedestrians and mobility scooters, called Bats Bridge, opened in April 2008 near the Twilight Zone, has improved the ability of visitors to circulate.
There are other ways to travel around the zoo:
A transportation system, now generally known as the monorail, with a station near the elephants and a station near the lions. It runs in a circle.
A water bus operates on a canal network within the Zoo in peak season, but it stops at only one place.
Visitors must pay extra for using the monorail and the water bus.
Chester's catering facilities include the Café Bembé near the main entrance which opened in 2006. June's Pavilion is in the middle of the zoo. The Oakfield Restaurant, in a Victorian mansion house near the lion enclosure, and the Acorn Bar, are both used for private functions as well as catering to zoo visitors.
There are children's play areas, shops, kiosks, and several picnic lawns around the Zoo. A second pedestrian entrance is located in the south-east corner of the Zoo behind Oakfield House.
For a long time the public entrance was at the east end. In recent years the public entrance has moved to the north side, west of Flag Lane, near the elephants, and the old car parks at the east end are being built over with service and educational buildings.
The zoo owns land outside the public area, and uses that land to grow food for its herbivorous animals.
Source : wikipedia
Chester Zoo is a zoological garden at Upton-by-Chester, in Cheshire, England. It was opened in 1931 by George Mottershead and his family, who used as a basis some animals reported to have come from an earlier zoo in Shavington. It is the one of the UK's largest zoos at 111 acres (45 ha). The zoo has a total land holding of approximately 400 acres (160 ha).
Chester Zoo is currently operated by the North of England Zoological Society, a registered charity founded in 1934. The Zoo receives no government funding. It is the most-visited wildlife attraction in Britain with more than 1.3 million visitors in 2007. In the same year Forbes described it as one of the best fifteen zoos in the world.
Early history
The Mottershead family's market garden business was based in Shavington near Crewe. George Mottershead collected animals such as lizards and insects that arrived with exotic plants imported by the business. A visit to Belle Vue Zoo in Manchester as a boy in 1903 fuelled his developing interest in creating a zoo of his own.
Mottershead was wounded in World War I and spent several years in a wheelchair. Despite this, his collection of animals grew and he began to search for a suitable home for his zoo. He chose Oakfield House in Upton, a suburb of Chester, which he purchased for £3,500 in 1930. The house had 9 acres (3.6 ha) of gardens and provided easy access to the railways and to Manchester and Liverpool. There were local objections, but Mottershead prevailed, and Chester Zoo opened to the public on 10 June 1931. The first animals were displayed in pens in the courtyard.
Rapid expansion followed after World War II, despite the difficulty of sourcing materials. Mottershead had to be resourceful; the polar bear exhibit (1950) was built from recycled wartime road blocks and pillboxes. "Always building" was the Zoo's slogan at the time. Mottershead received the OBE, an honorary degree of MSc, and served as President of the International Union of Zoo Directors. He died in 1978 aged 84
Zoo design
Mottershead wanted to build a zoo without the traditional Victorian iron bars to cage the animals. He was influenced by the ideas of Carl Hagenbeck, who invented the modern zoo concept and by Heine Hediger, a pioneer of ethology.
At Chester, Mottershead took Hagenback's idea for moats and ditches as an alternative to cage bars, and extended their use throughout the zoo, often with species that Hagenback had not considered. For example, when chimpanzees were released into their new enclosure at Chester in 1956, a group of grassy islands separated the apes from visitors by no more than a 12-foot (3.7 m) strip of water. Nobody knew then if chimps could swim. It turned out that they could not, and today the chimp islands are a centrepiece of Chester Zoo.
In 1986 the Zoo was enclosed with a fence, in line with the Zoo Licensing Act 1981.
Layout and facilities
The Zoo is bisected by a public bridleway, Flag Lane. For many years, a single bridge (now called Elephants Bridge), drivable by zoo vehicles and powered wheelchairs, near the elephant exhibit was the only crossing place within the grounds. A second crossing, passable by pedestrians and mobility scooters, called Bats Bridge, opened in April 2008 near the Twilight Zone, has improved the ability of visitors to circulate.
There are other ways to travel around the zoo:
A transportation system, now generally known as the monorail, with a station near the elephants and a station near the lions. It runs in a circle.
A water bus operates on a canal network within the Zoo in peak season, but it stops at only one place.
Visitors must pay extra for using the monorail and the water bus.
Chester's catering facilities include the Café Bembé near the main entrance which opened in 2006. June's Pavilion is in the middle of the zoo. The Oakfield Restaurant, in a Victorian mansion house near the lion enclosure, and the Acorn Bar, are both used for private functions as well as catering to zoo visitors.
There are children's play areas, shops, kiosks, and several picnic lawns around the Zoo. A second pedestrian entrance is located in the south-east corner of the Zoo behind Oakfield House.
For a long time the public entrance was at the east end. In recent years the public entrance has moved to the north side, west of Flag Lane, near the elephants, and the old car parks at the east end are being built over with service and educational buildings.
The zoo owns land outside the public area, and uses that land to grow food for its herbivorous animals.
Source : wikipedia
