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Old Birmingham/Dudley Zoo Photographs

if anyone would like a update on Dudley Zoo just let me know and I will post some photographs I have taken lately
and I will also update on new arrivals shortly
 
I do have some photos taken at Dudley Zoo at least twenty years ago when I took my children for a visit. I will look them out and see what's what. My own memories of Dudley Zoo are from visits with the Sunday School, two different Schools really. Erdington Parish and George Road Baptist Church. We kids went in coaches and they were parked in the large Coach Park adjacent to the main gates. We were given the time that we had to go to the Tea Rooms for our tea and the rest of the time we were allowed to roam about. Before taking the chairlift we would visit the coin machine arcade not far from the main gates and spend out pocket money in the machines and trying to win a prize with the "Grabbing Crane " game.No Penny Waterfall machines in those days! When I took my kids to the Arcade some of the old machines were still there! One in particular was a game where skeletons came up out of graves. Very spooky but we loved it.
After going up on the chair lift we would make for the Castle itself and play games all around the place. We would then set off to have a look at the animals of which there were a lot to see.
About 4:00pm we would all meet up at the Tea Rooms for a sit down tea. As this would have been the early l950's the tea was
usually fish paste sandwiches, bread and butter, jelly and an iced fairy cake. You could have orange squash or tea to drink.
It was a great day out and we were nervous about finding the right coach in the large Coach Park at the end of the day.

I know that they used to have concerts in the Tea Rooms many years ago. A fellow I knew here in Vancouver years ago told me that his parents, who were opera singers, used to perform in the Tea Rooms at specially arranged concerts. Perhaps Dudley Library might have some records on this.

I have remembered that it was 1985 when I took my children to visit the Zoo and I have never forgotten all the species of owls
that they had in the walk down from the Castle keep. I also remember my Mother telling me many years ago about ancient sea
creature fossils being found under Castle Hill. Seems that area was covered by a tropical sea 400 million years ago. Now that's going back some long time.
 
I would be very interested in seeing your photographs
It sounds like you have many good memories of the zoo

Hope to hear from you shortly
 
hi adrian...not sure if these will be of any use to you or not...they are all family pics of mom dad me and my brother at the zoo but you can see some of it including the train...

all dated `1958/9

lyn
 
These are great as you can see how the zoo has changed by the back grounds
Many thanks for your help
any more information from anyone
as little as it may seem would be great as I've said before
every little helps
 
pollypops said:
It shows the Killer Whale they had there in the 70's. I don't remember any other Zoo having one of these.
Polly
Click to expand...

I remember going to the Zoo with College chums one afternoon to see the whale... only to be told that he had in fact been taunted to death by yobs who broke into the zoo!! But yes the pool was too small for him and it probably wouldn't be allowed now.
 
Cuddles was hastily rehoused at Dudley Zoo as the zoo that where looking after him closed
out of the blue and Dudley stepped in to house him in a hastily arranged pool.
They were going to move Cuddles to France but unfortunatly Cuddles died shortly before the arranged
date of transfer.
Cuddles died from an infection caused from a broken rib no one knows how this broken rib came about
but it was not through Yobs (as you put it) braking into the zoo.
The size of the pool was standard for the time which shows what we accepted at the time to be standard
I have evidence that the pool was quite deep and the length was a little small.
In todays zoos this would not be acceptable but in those days we the public just wanted to see a Killer Whale
and didn't really think about the conditions the animals were kept in.
I have great memories of seeing both Cuddles and the Bottlenosed Dolphins just for information these were
in the pool next door.
These 2 pools are now home to the patagonian seals they have 1 male and 2 females and as yet they have
not had any cubs. I hope this helps clear up one or two old tales about how Cuddles died
 
Adrian, Thanks for clearing that up about how Cuddles died. I was quite surprised to read that his death was connected to yobs as I always thought he had died from a disease or infection.
I don't know whether my School friends and I were ahead of our time but I remember us all being very upset when we saw the pool that Cuddles was kept in :( However I didn't know that Dudley Zoo had stepped in at short notice to give him a home.
Do you work at the zoo?
Polly :)
 
1963ADRIAN said:
Cuddles died from an infection caused from a broken rib no one knows how this broken rib came about
but it was not through Yobs (as you put it) braking into the zoo.
Click to expand...

Well let's hope it wasn't yob's and that cuddles ribs were broken in some more innocent way, then my faith in human kind can be restored..
 
zzf00l said:
Well let's hope it wasn't yob's and that cuddles ribs were broken in some more innocent way, then my faith in human kind can be restored..
Click to expand...
I have just googled Cuddles at Dudley zoo and have found a couple zoo forums with people saying that he was ill when he was at Flamingo land with intestinal ulcers and internal bleeding they also say that while at Dudley he broke a rib, developed an abcess and died from an infection. I suppose people will always wonder how he broke his rib though.
Polly
 
Pollypops I don't work at the zoo but I visit there about every ten days as I look after my mother and I count this as my chill out time.
I talk to a lot of the keepers and have a very good history of the zoo species wise.
I would love to work at the zoo as I find everyone there very friendly and easy to speak to if I have a question they can't answer they
will always try and find the answer.
I know it's not the best looking zoo in Britain but the animals are treated brilliantly and always come first before human visitors which makes this zoo one
of the best in Britain.
 
That explains why you know so much about the zoo Adrian! It is a long time since I last visited but when my children were young they enjoyed it there so I used to visit it once or twice a year. I am glad to hear the animals are treated well - as an animal lover I get upset if I don't think animals are treated well.
Polly
 
I would like to thank everyone who replied to this thread the information and photographs have hlped me alot.
I would like to make another appeal for more information and photographs if people have them and I would love to here of your memories of the zoo or even better if you worked at the zoo
doing anything from cleaning to being keeper then please get in touch.
Iuse the internet to try and find the history of the zoo but it only concentrates on either the castle or the tecton buildings so any help from yourselves will be greatly recieved
thank you again in advance
 
1963ADRIAN;322878 I would like to make another appeal for more information and photographs if people have them and I would love to here of your memories of the zoo or even better if you worked at the zoo doing anything from cleaning to being keeper then please get in touch. Iuse the internet to try and find the history of the zoo but it only concentrates on either the castle or the tecton buildings so any help from yourselves will be greatly recieved thank you again in advance[/QUOTE said:
Adrian,
I started my Zoo Keeping career at Dudley Zoo in 1970 and spent most of my time there as the Big Cat Keeper, although I also worked with the giraffes and latterly in the Reptile House. I was there when the sealions were moved to make way for Cuddles the Orca and the Bottlenosed Dolphins. I have a lot of memories of the place although I moved south to Chessington Zoo in Surrey in 1972. Let me know what information you need and I'll see if I can provide it. I'll also attach a few photos from my time at the zoo.
View attachment 57617View attachment 57618View attachment 57619
Click to expand...
 
I don't know if the following article plus photo that was with the article is of any interest
mike

dudley_zoo_preserved_building.jpg


dudley_zoo_1971A.jpg
 
Many thanks for your reply mikejee
I am still looking for photographs, guide books and any information on Dudley Zoo
It may seem to be not much to you but any little help or memory that you have of the
animals or attractions will be of great help to me
Can you help??
 
I am still looking for information on both Birmingham Zoo now called Birmingham Nature Centre and Dudley Zoo.
Any information would be gratefully recieved along with any photographs or information on guide books
Happy new Year to all
Adrian
 
Hi Adrian, have posted on another thread mentioning old Dudley Zoo pics but will post here too in case you miss the other one. I was a keeper at dudley 1978 to 1984 and have hundreds of pics from then, let me know if you're still looking for stuff, be more than happy to send some.

Cheers

Andy Zoo
 
I went t Dudley Zoo in the 60's. I don't like zoo's now but I see a need to show children what animals really look like though they are not in their natural surroundings but I suppose they do their best. Any rode up when I went the giraffes were called Geoffrey And Grace the elephant was having a bun break but it was expensive for a ride anyway. The zebras looked grubby, I gave the barbary sheep my ham batch. (silly me). I had a tweed suit with short trousers and my friends Suzanne and Jane got sick all over it in the car after eating marmite sandwiches. I liked the castle but I thought it was a bit spooky.Mum and dad bought me an orange felt sea lion with a platsic ball on his nose as a souvenir. Ask me what I did yesterday and I can't tell you though.
Nico
 
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