30th November 2020

Bristol Zoo has announced that it will be leaving its site in Clifton and relocating to its 'Wild Place Project' in South Gloucestershire. The moves comes after declining visitor numbers were reported at the zoo over a number of years. Some of the animals currently held captive at the zoo are due to be moved to the 'Wild Place Project', whereas other are due to be transferred to other zoos and aquariums.

The zoo has also made an operating loss in four of the last six years, long before the pressures of the COVID pandemic took hold.

Sam Threadgill, Freedom for Animals' Director, commented:

It is heartening to see the public turning its back on the outdated cruelty of keeping animals captive for the sake of 'entertainment'. More and more people are deciding not to visit zoos and aquariums, and instead choose cruelty-free days out. Zoos are relics of a bygone era, they should have no place in a modern, compassionate society.

Tellingly, Bristol Zoological Society's chief executive, Justin Morris, admitted that the zoo had a inability 'to meet the changing needs of the animals within the available space and infrastructure.'

In 2016, Freedom for Animals went undercover during one of Bristol Zoo's 'Big Night Outs'. At the event, our investigator filmed lions pacing back and forth repeatedly as loud music was blaring in the background.

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