From escaping gorillas to elephants crushing keepers... the failings of UK's zoos put staff, visitor -

THEY have been a favourite family day out for generations – but increasingly zoos seem more frightening than fun.

This week keeper Rosa King, 33, was mauled to death by a tiger at Hamerton Zoo in Cambridgeshire.

It is the latest tragedy to hit Britain’s wildlife centres in recent years, leaving us wondering just how safe our zoos and safari parks are.

And it is not just the potentially deadly risk to the keepers and visiting public of wild animals escaping and going on the attack.

Other incidents – rare, healthy monkeys being culled, crocs dying of cold, jaguars gnawing off their own paws – show how the animals themselves may be far from safe in their supposed sanctuary.

Here, The Sun reveals a litany of failings which have taken place at zoos around Britain in recent years.

Apes

A FAULTY thermostat which sent temperatures in the chimpanzee enclosure soaring to 43C was blamed for the death of two chimps at TWYCROSS ZOO in Leics in September 2015.
A report on Twycross, which provided the chimps for the PG Tips TV ads, found that as a result of the “heat stress” chimpanzees Kip, 39, and Jolly, 32, suffered fatal heart attacks, and their bodies were found with burns.
The report also found that the failure “could not have been predicted”

“AFTER much soul-searching” NEWQUAY ZOO put down two healthy, endangered crested black macaques in 2007. Venus and Ia were killed by lethal injection because they kept fighting.
The zoo argued that culling them was more humane than forcing the social animals to live alone.
But Looe Monkey Sanctuary keeper Matt Thomas said: “The zoo could have built new enclosures. To argue the monkeys cannot get on – so let’s kill both of them – is horrific.”
IN 2014, Damian Aspinall, boss of PORT LYMPNE and HOWLETTS zoos, both near Canterbury, attempted to return a family of ten gorillas to the wilds of Gabon in central Africa.
Almost all of the animals were killed – most likely by other gorillas – in an incident described as a “bloodbath”.

LAST October, silverback gorilla Kumbuka escaped from his enclosure at ZSL LONDON ZOO, heading through two unlocked doors into a corridor where a keeper was working.
The member of staff, who had a “close bond” with the 29st gorilla, kept the animal calm.
Kumbuka drank nearly nine pints of undiluted blackcurrant squash before he was tranquilised. The zoo blamed the incident on human error.

IN 2015 BELFAST ZOO announced that it was reviewing the construction of its macaque enclosure after nine animals escaped from it within two years.
March of that year saw one of the monkeys get out just weeks after two others had made a break for it. And in October 2013 six of the animals got loose after scaling an electric fence.
All of them were eventually recaptured, with one found in Belfast Castle and another turning up in a local garden two weeks later.

Big cats

FIVE keepers were killed between 1980 and 2000 at PORT LYMPNE and HOWLETTS WILD ANIMAL PARK – the zoos in Kent owned by the Aspinall family.
Three were mauled by tigers and two were crushed by elephants. Damian Aspinall is known for his belief that keepers should interact closely with animals.

LAST August lions at BRISTOL ZOO were caught on film pacing up and down due to anxiety brought on by a £15-a-head late-night bash held at the zoo, where punters drank and partied to loud music.
Zoo workers confirmed on the night that the animals were experiencing “stress”.
Locals added that music from the event, advertised as being “perfect for birthdays, stag and hen parties”, could be heard two miles away.
Bosses said the animals were monitored throughout and had the option of a quieter area to go to.
A FOUR-year-old Indian tiger called Sariska was shot dead after breaking out of its enclosure at HOWLETTS in Kent in 2001.
A spokesman said they had to shoot the tiger as it was heading for an open area, and a tranquiliser dart would have taken 15 minutes to work.

SOUTH LAKES SAFARI ZOO in Cumbria has been the scene of several incidents in the past few years – including a jaguar which was put to sleep after it chewed off one of its own paws and a monkey whose decomposed body was found behind a radiator.
In 2013, zookeeper Sarah McClay, 24, was mauled to death by a Sumatran tiger.
The zoo was fined for health and safety breaches.
Earlier this year the owner’s application for a new licence was refused – but South Lakes has now been allowed to reopen under a new company run by the previous firm’s chief executive.

FIVE lions were destroyed at LONGLEAT SAFARI PARK in Wiltshire in 2014 because they had serious genetic defects caused by inbreeding.
Longleat boss Viscount Ceawlin Thynn admitted there had been a failure to control the lion population. Campaigners blasted the cull.

Birds

A PEACOCK was put into isolation following an outbreak of bird flu at WOBURN SAFARI PARK in Beds. But a report revealed the bird was then forgotten about and starved to death.
Campaigners called the oversight “inexcusable” but park bosses blamed “communication breakdown”.

IN February of this year DRUSILLAS PARK near Alfriston, East Sussex, admitted accidentally killing several of its exotic birds with rat poison while trying to get rid of vermin.
Campaigners say that as well as 11 Rainbow Lorikeets, they understand that a red panda and a meerkat were also fatally poisoned. The zoo called it an “unprecedented situation”.
Campaigners blasted the zoo – and questioned why they were killing the rats instead of catching them then releasing them.
FOUR rock hopper penguins were killed by a fox in 2013 at WHIPSNADE ZOO in Beds, which had got into their enclosure after an electric fence failed.
Shockingly, the same thing had happened in 2007, when six penguins died.

AN African glossy starling escaped from FIVE SISTERS ZOO in West Lothian during high winds. The bird, which got out in March 2015, was recaptured three months later – staff were stunned that the starling had survived for so long in the wild.
FESTIVAL PARK OWL SANCTUARY in Ebbw Vale, South Wales, was criticised in May last year with inspectors saying it “falls well short of the requirement of zoo licensing”, and that the “operators are on their last lifeline”. Pictures taken by campaigners showed birds in small cages with limited shelter, and nothing to engage with.
Pat Webb, who runs the sanctuary, said yesterday: “A lot of the things we needed to do, we’ve done. And at the end of the day, they granted us the zoo licence.”

AT THIRSK BIRDS OF PREY CENTRE in North Yorks, owls were found to have been permanently tethered to their perches, while a report also said some of the birds had no access to daylight.
Owner Colin Badgery said that no owls are now permanently tethered.

Reptiles

At Snakes Alive, the interactive reptile experience at BARLEYLANDS FARM PARK in Essex, a disabled woman on work experience ended up in danger when a corn snake wrapped itself tightly around her neck during a public demonstration.
A member of staff saved the woman, according to a recent report.

LAST month a caiman – similar to a crocodile – died at BEAVER WATER WORLD in Tatsfield, Surrey, after being left outside during cold weather.
Guests were falsely told that the 7ft reptile, called Colin, had been rehomed.
But a whistleblower revealed the animal had been left outside and had frozen to death.
Colin lay dead for more than a week before anyone noticed. Zoo boss Stella Quayle has since admitted the animal died because it was left outside.

Rhinos

IN November 2014 a large one-horned Asian rhino gored and trampled a keeper at WHIPSNADE ZOO in Beds – leaving the man with serious injuries.
The male rhino called Ajang – which means “enormous” in Nepalese – suddenly turned on the senior staff member, trampling him underfoot.
The zoo investigated but was unable to establish the cause of the incident and concluded no action was necessary.

Deer

PONDEROSA RURAL THERAPEUTIC CENTRE in Heckmondwike, West Yorks, was found to be housing reindeer, which were covered in sores, in knee-deep mud.
A 2015 review described the animals’ food storage area as a “shambles” with “rotten food and vermin” and said the “structural failure of fencing” was “potentially dangerous”.
A TripAdvisor review of the centre claimed: “The reindeers looked uncared for, under-fed and several had sores on their bodies.” A park spokesman said that since 2015 the Ponderosa had undergone a complete change of management and refurbishment.

IN September 2016 a Kafue Flats lechwe antelope escaped from PAIGNTON ZOO in Devon after jumping over the fence.
The animal, which is classed as “vulnerable”, was found in a nearby garden and tranquilised – but was later destroyed by zoo staff who said it would be impossible to reintroduce it to its herd

Pigs

A MALE Visayan warty pig ate his entire litter of newborn piglets then attacked the sow, injuring her so badly that she had to be put down at BRISTOL ZOO in February 2015.
Staff had failed to separate father Elvis from the mother Manilla after she gave birth, saying they were not even aware she had been pregnant.
Warty pigs, originally from the Philippines, are critically endangered and successful breeding is “extremely rare”.

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