Report prompts outrage at public meeting
Thursday 8th Dec. saw a meeting of over seventy members of the public gather at the 1532 Theatre on University Road.
The meeting was chaired by Alastair Sawday and addressed first by author and broadcaster Professor Alice Roberts and Bristol resident who said “shutting a major attraction in Bristol to build up a zoo outside Bristol is simply wrong.”
The main item was a presentation of the Report by Tom Jones who, following months of research, presented detailed information that challenged the Zoo’s strategy and PR story on three main grounds:
The Zoo’s finances have been represented as catastrophic. They are not- the Clifton site is its most visited and the group could continue to be profitable.
The Zoo’s visitor numbers have been in decline. They have not - they have been steady at around 500,000 a year and recovered after the pandemic lockdown.
That all the animals were being rehomed at the Wild Place. They are not - most are still at the shuttered Clifton site and are not destined for the Wild Place now or in the future.
As Tom said “Bristol Zoo is not being moved, it is being closed.”
Members of the audience expressed outrage at these revelations particularly concerning the treatment of the animals. Attenedees were urged spread the word and to file objections to the planning application currently at the Council and due for determination in February 2023.
