In pictures: Colchester Zoo to mark 50th anniversary
- Published
Although Colchester Zoo is located in Essex, its origins lie in Southport, Lancashire. Southport Zoo was founded in 1953 by Frank and Helena Farrar. Its success prompted them to find bigger premises, which led them to move their animal collection to Colchester in 1963. The Farrars’ secretary, Joan Honisett, is seen here playing with a baby elephant at Southport Zoo in the early 1960s.
Patience Cole, pictured here with a gibbon in September 1963, became one of Colchester Zoo’s first zookeepers when the park opened in June 1963.
The Farrars’ secretary, Joan Honisett, and her husband, Fred, are pictured here with a Colchester Zoo tiger cub in about 1969.
A female cheetah called Kinna lived at Colchester Zoo in the 1960s. Like Rajah the lion, Frank Farrar often used to walk her around the zoo on a leash.
A man named Nyoka came to live at Colchester Zoo in 1970, bringing with him his large collection of big cats and reptiles. This picture comes from a short feature by the BBC about Nyoka at Colchester Zoo. The lion is Simba, who weighed about 60 stone (380kg) and remains to this day in the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s largest captive lion.
Bath-time in the elephant paddock in the late 1980s.
Veterinary specialists Peter Kertesz (centre) and John Lewis (right) perform a dental operation on orangutan Rajang, who has lived at Colchester Zoo since 1980.
In the past decade the zoo has established a large private nature reserve in South Africa. The first animal releases were made in 2006 and the population has expanded ever since. Here, a group of zebra are released onto the reserve.
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