Glasgow Zoo

Moderators: John, Sharon, Fossil, Lucky Poet, crusty_bint, Jazza, dazza

Postby Mori » Thu Aug 31, 2006 4:20 pm

ET

Cash setback 'won't stop new zoo plan'

BOSSES behind plans for a £35million Amazonian animal attraction on the banks of the Clyde today insisted the project would still go ahead despite a funding setback.

The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland has been denied a £250,000 lottery grant which would have allowed it to carry out a detailed feasibility study for the giant futuristic glasshouse planned at Cuningar Loop between Dalmarnock and Rutherglen.

But today charity bosses insisted the cash they failed to secure from the Big Lottery would not stop them finding other funders.

Image

AN ARTIST'S impression of the proposed new £35m facility, which would house an exotic range of animal attractions
User avatar
Mori
Third Stripe
Third Stripe
 
Posts: 3434
Joined: Wed May 04, 2005 1:05 pm
Location: Glasgow

Postby Sharon » Fri Sep 01, 2006 9:26 am

Anyone fancy a wee wander around the loop sometime?
User avatar
Sharon
Site Admin
Site Admin
 
Posts: 7495
Joined: Fri Mar 22, 2002 11:30 am
Location: Galloway

Postby Fossil » Fri Sep 01, 2006 9:53 am

yeah i think we need to go back before it s gone. Give Jim a bell

Fossil
Bum tit tit bum tit tit play yer hairy banjo
User avatar
Fossil
-
-
 
Posts: 12310
Joined: Sun Feb 08, 2004 12:07 am
Location: Pitt Street

Postby pollok boy » Fri Sep 15, 2006 10:07 pm

Apollo, thanks for posting the pics of the state of the old zoo site, My mate used to do a lot of photography for the zoo and I went there a few times with him, its really sad to see what became of it after it closed,but it always looked run down due to poor funding.The zoo staff were all brilliant though. Cheers.
pollok boy
Just settling in
Just settling in
 
Posts: 8
Joined: Mon Sep 11, 2006 3:02 pm
Location: Glasgow

Postby Chris H » Thu Sep 28, 2006 9:18 am

The better half and I went to the Zoo on monday, you can go in through open gates on the south side of the Zoo.

The pics on page 2 of this thread are quite a contrast to the ones I took on monday.

tiger enclosure

Image

Image

Image

folder with all the pics I took, theres nearly 60 pics, all worth a look at, any questiosn just ask.

http://www.renault-turbo.com/chris/glasgow%20zoo/

The place is a real state now, when we were there tyres were still smouldering beyond the tiger enclosure.

If your a female I would advise you not to go alone.

People ARE living there between the bear enclosure and the old gift shop.

There are also a lot of neds there, monday was a bank holiday so probably that made the ned count higher.

Some of the zoo just ends in the construction yards so you need to turn back.

I would advise seeing it now before its all but gone.

Parts beyond the tiger enclosure and the 'lagoon' filled with tyres are pretty quiet as they are out of the way. However its a bit rough so don't break your leg or anything.
Chris H
First Stripe
First Stripe
 
Posts: 75
Joined: Mon Sep 25, 2006 4:01 pm
Location: Glasgow, near Paisley

Postby Ally Doll » Thu Sep 28, 2006 9:51 am

It's so sad to see the dilapidation of the place - I'm surprised though that there's still that much left, I thought the builders had gone much further through the site.
User avatar
Ally Doll
Third Stripe
Third Stripe
 
Posts: 1421
Joined: Wed Jan 19, 2005 1:18 pm
Location: Dennistoun

Postby Chris H » Thu Sep 28, 2006 10:25 am

the top end is pretty much vanished, on the west side just over the crest of the hill theres a playpark and flats. To the north and east its just bare ground as the last pics show.

There is a lot still there, but the building are pretty much destroyed by fire or as when we were there neds kicking them down.

I am happy to go on a wee trip again to it if theres gonna be a wee visit.
Chris H
First Stripe
First Stripe
 
Posts: 75
Joined: Mon Sep 25, 2006 4:01 pm
Location: Glasgow, near Paisley

Postby mr moto » Thu Sep 28, 2006 10:28 am

i remember back in the mid eighties i was on a work placement at the zoo, and at lunchtimes i always took a walk down to the tiger enclosure, the tigers were just the most magnificent looking creatures you could ever wish to see but, it was very sad to see them in this enclosure as they just did not have enough space to even run around in, you could see them pacing back and forth endlessly, sometimes breaking into a run, only to have to stop because there was just not enough space to run even for a few seconds :cry: .
but my saddest memory of the zoo was one of the polar bears , when i came in each morning it would be standing in it,s tiny enclosure on the rock above the small pool, it would turn it,s head left then right, and then it would lift one of it,s huge paws up off the ground for a few seconds, the thing is it would do this all day endlessly repeating the exact same sequence of moves , again and again and again . i think it was a sign of some mental distress due to being confined in such a small space for so long , with so little stimulus. i have never been that bothered about animals , but that was a very sad place, and i am glad it,s gone .
User avatar
mr moto
Third Stripe
Third Stripe
 
Posts: 482
Joined: Mon Jun 12, 2006 6:25 pm

Postby mr moto » Thu Sep 28, 2006 3:48 pm

they still have a website up and running !!!! :roll: http://www.glasgowzoo.co.uk
User avatar
mr moto
Third Stripe
Third Stripe
 
Posts: 482
Joined: Mon Jun 12, 2006 6:25 pm

Postby JayKay » Wed Dec 06, 2006 12:13 pm

Came across this report into the latter days of Glasgow Zoo by Advocates for Animals.

http://www.advocatesforanimals.org.uk/pdf/GlasgowZooReport.pdf
User avatar
JayKay
Third Stripe
Third Stripe
 
Posts: 1440
Joined: Wed Dec 18, 2002 4:29 pm

Postby Liam_uk » Wed Dec 06, 2006 7:05 pm

I live about 100yards from the zoo and have lived their all my life.
believe it or not i've not been in the zoo since it shutdown and seeing these photos makes me wish i had gone in to get one last look at it before it was torn apart by the local chav population. its also very sad to see it in such a state as it has a lot of memories for me, many weekends of my youth were spent in the zoo walking round looking at the animals espicially the tigers, i used to come home from school and go into the zoo on my bike and sometimes i would spend near enough an hour just watching the tigers pacing about in their enclosure. Despite what the report says about the zoo keepers not doing enough to keep the animals active and stimulated they had vert limited resources to do this but even then they'd managed to find some way of stimuliating the animals, for example at feeding times for the tigers the keepers used to take the food into their enclosure and put it high up in trees and telegraph poles for the tigers to look for and climb up to get at it. same with the black bears, they'd put honey inside the trees and the bears would have to figure out how to get at it.
now i'm a bit older i think back to how some of the animals were kept in their enclosures like Kirsty the Elephant, she had a chain around one of her front legs and could only move about 10meters and thinking back it was a disgraful way to treat such an anmial that in the wild that would cover thousands of miles in a year.

i'm off work on friday so i might go for a wander around and see what left of it now, i'll post my findings
Liam_uk
Just settling in
Just settling in
 
Posts: 8
Joined: Wed Dec 06, 2006 5:14 pm
Location: Glasgow

Postby smartie » Thu Dec 07, 2006 12:52 pm

JayKay wrote:Came across this report into the latter days of Glasgow Zoo by Advocates for Animals.

http://www.advocatesforanimals.org.uk/pdf/GlasgowZooReport.pdf


That makes some pretty depressing reading :cry: :cry: :cry: :?
User avatar
smartie
Second Stripe
Second Stripe
 
Posts: 184
Joined: Fri Jun 03, 2005 6:11 pm
Location: Glesga Soo Side

Postby Liam_uk » Thu Dec 07, 2006 3:45 pm

wow that's the first time I've read that and i take back what i said about the keepers doing their best, (at least in the last 2-3years of the zoo's life) its possible the zoo lost its more experienced keepers through lack of funds to pay their wages.
The zoo was definitely starting to pick up at one point and then it was forced to close for 5weeks because of foot and mouth, then if they thought it couldn't get any worse Richard O'Grady died and it seems the zoo went with him.

Like i said, its sad to see it in such a state but if the animals were being neglected then it was right to close it
Liam_uk
Just settling in
Just settling in
 
Posts: 8
Joined: Wed Dec 06, 2006 5:14 pm
Location: Glasgow

Postby Apollo » Thu Dec 07, 2006 9:48 pm

smartie wrote:
JayKay wrote:Came across this report into the latter days of Glasgow Zoo by Advocates for Animals.

http://www.advocatesforanimals.org.uk/pdf/GlasgowZooReport.pdf


That makes some pretty depressing reading :cry: :cry: :cry: :?

If judging the staff and keepers on the basis of this stuff, bear in mind it was sponsored and written by those with an agenda and mission AGAINST the zoo, or ANYTHING like it.

I could write something the same using the pics just provided above as the basis for a paper praising those about to restore the place, and create a haven for rescued animals.

Extreme, wouldn't stand up to investigation, all lies, but illustrates the idea.
User avatar
Apollo
Third Stripe
Third Stripe
 
Posts: 2283
Joined: Sun May 09, 2004 10:26 pm
Location: Glasgow

re zoo

Postby rebelsoulboy » Sun Dec 17, 2006 11:16 pm

my first post here first thing id look at.

i used to work there for a year as a gardener this would be the early 80s ,but before that i had been to it , many a time 70s as a boy on a day out,,then it seemed better but over the years odd things im sure like the zebras,a good range of birds of prey,
these either died out or got moved on to other zoos to help with breeding programmes,
i mind at a that age i felt really proud to have seen an elephant, like there was never ever the chance of me goin to africa,,but it helped me with a love of nature....that ive kept till this day.
when i was working there glasgow zoo was looking in a healthy condition.it was well run i even cut the grass in the loins cage without a worry.

its a shame to come back on and see them pictures of the buildings some i mind getting painted inside others where at the back of the where the elephant was or kirsty who would lob her trunk over the wall each morning and our union man would give her a few custard creams..
we worked on the foundations tree planting etc in the tigers enclosure although it might have been small ,everything is for animals,
really even the ones that sit in other zoo s today,
but every detail im sure would have been looked at to make it be at most realistic for the animal. richard o grady knew his stuff had his pets problem page in the papers and sure he did radio shows whatever he was a great man to chat about animals with and many glasgow punter took the chance to have a blether with the man.
glasgow had a white tiger ,i just mind one of the tigers names was sanji.
in the snake house im not sure but i think they had some sorta david livingstone item display or mention or it was called after him..
but it had its little fairground ..school kids enjoyed it...plus glasgow zoo also had the odd keeper goin into schools with displays
think there was always an open room in the zoo. where the keeper would tell visiting schools about poachers animals goin extinct conservation etc.
letting them see various displays brass rubbings etc all that educational stuff has gone...

years after i left working there ,i would go to back first display you would see on goin through the gates would be the parrots the last remaining one got stole and dont think they had the cash to replace them.
but the birds of prey were back and there was times of the day to fly them at the bottom of the hill, there was a monkey house getting build at the far bottom where there was always a big pond...plus the zoo was picking up awards for having the brown bear enclosure...it was busy it had it s car boots goin and it always needed cash...
there was a little farm area where animals hens ducks and a pink piglet who fought with my two year boy over some bread on the ground..
think there was a goat, few rabbits had the run of the place.

sadly the polar bears where like in a pit and over the years, they did suffer something like depression so theyer heads would fro..
this pit was like a rocky landscape with a swimming area at the bottom of it,,at the time of this getting made im sure there where very few folk had kept polar bears in glasgow but we all learn from mistakes..
some of the things i read about the neglect of the animals etc i couldnt take in, maybe there was a power struggle with the remaining workers
i dont know...but it was sad maybe lottery money would have helped.
i miss it...
lets hope someone comes and puts up some pics of it in its hey day..
anyways looks a great site here.
User avatar
rebelsoulboy
First Stripe
First Stripe
 
Posts: 79
Joined: Sat Dec 16, 2006 3:06 am
Location: between two citys

PreviousNext

Return to Hidden Glasgow Projects

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot] and 49 guests