Glasgow Zoo
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| Date opened | 1947 |
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| Date closed | 25 August 2003 |
| Location | Baillieston, Scotland |
| Coordinates | 55°50′20″N 4°06′29″W / 55.839°N 4.108°WCoordinates: 55°50′20″N 4°06′29″W / 55.839°N 4.108°W |
| Land area | 99 acres (40 ha) |
| Annual visitors | 140,000 |
| Major exhibits | Lions, Black Bears, White Rhinos, Capuchin Monkeys |
| Website | www |
Glasgow Zoo, or Calderpark Zoo, was a 99-acre (40 ha) zoological park in Baillieston, Glasgow, Scotland.
The zoo was established by the Zoological Society of Glasgow and West of Scotland in 1947, which was itself established in 1936. The zoo was located on the lands of the former Calderpark Estate, and during its peak attracted around about 140,000 visitors a year. At the zoo's peak it contained over 600 animals and had 24 full-time, and many part-time or seasonal staff.
It closed in August 2003 after running up a debt of around £3.5m and failing to renew their zookeeper licence, having been unable to meet new standards on animal welfare. In the last few years that it was open, Glasgow Zoo deteriorated mainly due to the lack of funding from the local council and due to many allegations of animal cruelty.
More than a decade after the closure of Glasgow Zoo, its official website remains active.
The Zoological Society of Glasgow was founded on 15 December 1936 by Edward Hindle, who was a Professor of Zoology at Glasgow University. Its name was later changed to the Zoological Society of Glasgow and West of Scotland. The initial proposal was for the zoo to be in Bellahouston Park in 1938, beginning with a four-acre enclosure with expansion as the project went on. This proposal was rejected by the organisers of the exhibition who would fund the zoo, so various other locations were considered; no inner city site was identified as a good build site. At the end of 1938 the Society looked at the Calderpark Estate, two miles beyond the city boundary with a large plot of land available for construction and free-animal enclosures. The society bought Calderpark Estate in 1939. The property had formerly been farmed by Cistercians, and the original mansion had been demolished a decade earlier when it became unsafe due to subsidence from underground coal mines. The onset of World War II led to the opening of the zoo being delayed till 9 July 1947. When construction began during Britain's recovery period, many of the zoo's buildings were made from old war materials such as the enclosures being built out of concrete roadblocks (designed to hinder tank movements on the chance of invasion), bricks from demolished air raid shelters, and metal from now defunct battleships. However, the estate had remained empty for two decades before the zoo was established. On the year of its opening, many animals were donated from other zoos and enclosures. Soay sheep were supplied from the island of St. Kilda, beforehand owned by the Zoological society president. Dublin Zoo supplied two lion cubs from their recent litters and London zoo loaned - and then donated - two adult lions to Glasgow Zoo's new enclosures. At the time the prize exhibits were the lions and a rare white peacock - now fairly common - which attracted many people to the zoo, some bringing their own exotic pets to add to the zoo's already expanding collection: these included monkeys, parrots and many other rarer species.
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Wikipedia