Belle Vue Zoological Gardens - Zoo

Zoo

Belle Vue was the first privately funded zoo in England, and grew to become the third-largest in the UK. Jennison's original idea was that the gardens should be primarily a botanical excursion, but it became clear that the public was interested in the animals as an attraction in their own right. The initial collection had consisted of domestic birds and a few exotic parrots, but Jennison probably also acquired those animals that could not be sold after the Manchester Zoological Gardens closed in 1842. By 1856, the Jennisons had added kangaroos, rhinos, lions, bears and gazelles.

In 1871 the zoo acquired four giraffes, and the following year an elephant, Maharajah, was bought for £680 from Wombwell's Menagerie No.1 in Edinburgh. The plan to transport Maharajah from Edinburgh to Manchester by train was abandoned after the elephant destroyed the railway compartment in which he was to travel. It was therefore decided that Maharajah and his trainer, Lorenzo Lawrence, should walk to Manchester, a journey they completed in 10 days, with little incident. Lorenzo became the zoo's head elephant keeper, and stayed at Belle Vue for over 40 years. Maharajah provided elephant rides to the public for ten years, until his death from pneumonia in 1882. His skeleton was preserved and added to the gardens' natural history museum. When the museum was decommissioned in 1941, the skeleton, along with other exhibits, was transferred to the Manchester Museum.

In 1893 a chimpanzee was purchased from another of Wombwell's Travelling Menageries in London. The four-year old chimpanzee, Consul, was dressed in a smoking jacket and cap and puffed on a cob pipe; he frequently accompanied James Jennison to business meetings. Consul proved to be exceptionally popular, and after his death on 24 November 1894, the Jennisons immediately obtained a replacement, Consul II, who played a violin while riding a tricycle around the gardens, later graduating to a bicycle.

Food for the animals became difficult to obtain during the First World War, but for the most part the gardens carried on as usual. Following the declaration of peace, several monkeys originally destined for government experiments with poison gas were acquired, as was a hippo, a dromedary and a zebra. In 1921 and 1922 the zoo obtained two animals who became great favourites. Lil, an Indian elephant, arrived in 1921 accompanied by her British Malayan handler, Phil Fernandez. Phil and Lil provided entertainment, advertising, and elephant rides for 35 years. Frank, a brown bear, arrived in 1922. By the time of his death, 40 years later, he was known as the "Father of the Zoo".

Open-air cages installed in the Monkey House resulted in a drastic improvement in the life expectancy of its residents, but the potential for expansion and improvement after the First World War was limited by the post-war economy. Rising labour costs and minimal profits resulted in the gardens' increasing dilapidation. The zoo began to be neglected after the sale of Belle Vue in 1925, but it was rejuvenated by the appointment of Gerald Iles as zoo superintendent in 1933. A new Gibbon Cage and Monkey Mountain were created and the Reptile House was extended.

On the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, the animal keepers were issued with rifles to deal with any dangerous animals who might escape if the gardens were bombed. A night shift was introduced to watch over the animals 24 hours a day. A list of dangerous animals that was drawn up included 13 lions, 6 tigers, 2 leopards, 1 cheetah, 2 tigons, 3 other small cats and several bears. Although the zoo's administrators succeeded in convincing the local authorities that any danger from the animals was minimal, primarily because the perimeter walls were so high, the keepers were replaced in their sharp-shooting role by soldiers who patrolled the grounds armed with tommy guns.

Stocks were increased by animals transferred from other zoos that had been forced to close. Initially the zoo was given favourable food rationing quotas, but certain foods became unavailable and the price of others increased dramatically. Bananas were impossible to obtain and the supply of fish was problematic. As a result, the keepers were forced to experiment. The sealions became casualties of the food shortage when their keepers attempted to feed them strips of beef soaked in cod liver oil. Although they seemed to thrive on this diet, their digestive systems were unable to cope with the unusual food, and they eventually died of stomach ulcers. The lions' new diet was green-coloured horsemeat, and the monkeys were fed on boiled potatoes. The birds of paradise, (lack of millett), and the penguins, (lack of fish), were unable to adapt to their make-do diet and also succumbed. Vegetables were not in short supply however, as the garden staff grew lettuce, cabbage and carrots in the kitchen gardens.

Wartime interruptions in the supply of gas for heating resulted in the deaths of all the zoo's tropical fish and several other animals, including a lioness called Pearl and her litter of cubs. Although Manchester was heavily bombed during the Blitz, the gardens sustained only minor damage. The Scenic Railway was hit by an incendiary bomb and the Reptile House was damaged by shell splinters from ack-ack guns, which also caused the death of a bull bison.

Iles remained as superintendent until 1957, and proved to be a good publicist for the zoo, taking part in radio and television programmes such as Children's Hour. A new attraction was introduced in 1963, a Chimps' Tea Party, which proved to be very popular. The zoo's last superintendent, Peter Grayson, took over in 1971, but by then the owners of Belle Vue had lost interest in the zoo, and closure seemed imminent.

News that Belle Vue Zoological Gardens would close on 11 September 1977 was announced on BBC Radio at 10:00 am on 4 August 1977. The 24 keepers were informed an hour before the news report went on air. The reason given was that the company could no longer afford to cover losses of about £100,000 per year. Shortly before the closure, a number of non-poisonous reptiles were stolen from the Reptile House, only one of which, a 10-foot (3.0 m) python, was recovered.

A 15-year-old elephant, Ellie May, had acquired an undeserved reputation for being dangerous, which made her extremely difficult to sell. Her food costs became difficult to justify, but Grayson refused to have her put down. Although he left the zoo in January 1978, Grayson returned frequently to care for Ellie May, the last animal left at the zoo. Eventually Rotterdam Zoo agreed to take her, and plans were made to transport the elephant to the Netherlands. Ellie May refused to budge however, and overnight developed pneumonia and heart failure. Grayson and veterinary surgeon, David Taylor, felt that she would not recover, and decided to call in a marksman to euthanise her.

Public reaction to the zoo's closure was one of "relative indifference", with only a few minor protests. The doors remained open to visitors at a discounted admission price until early November, a little beyond the official closing date, by which time most of the animals had been sold for an estimated £100,000.