Come and help us celebrate our 85th anniversary next Saturday! We’ll be marking the occasion with children’s entertainers, costumed characters, face painting, a meet and greet of small critters, games and competitions. There’ll be an exhibition of zoo memorabilia and archive photographs in the Castle – including this one of the first animals … Continue reading Celebrations for 85 years!
Two silver-plated entrée dishes discovered in the back of a cupboard led to a trip down DZG memory lane for one family. Janet Warner from Derby contacted us after finding the dishes stamped ‘Dudley Zoo 1937’, which following a visit to DZG after almost 60 years, she’s kindly donated to our archive, alongside a copy … Continue reading Silver dishes serve up the past
It’s our final look back at DZG life over the last 80 years and as it’s Christmas we couldn’t resist turning the clock back just four years when our tigers enjoyed some snowy enrichment! It was March 2013 when our Sumatran tiger, Daseep and Amur tiger, Tschuna, were snapped playing in the white stuff, which … Continue reading Throwback Thursday
We’re delving back in to the DZG archive again today and look back to the early 1970’s when three Dudley Zoo keepers spent three months in the Falkland Islands to bring back 90 gentoo and rockhopper penguins and 12 elephant seals. The staff had to spend a few weeks on the island as they waited for the boat … Continue reading Throwback Thursday
We’re having another peek into the zoo archives and this month we’re recalling some of the famous faces who have visited DZG over the last 80 years. How many do you recognise? 1937 : HRH the Duke of Kent was a regular visitor during the zoo’s early years. 1937: Indian child film star, Sabu, who … Continue reading Throwback Thursday
We’re continuing our look back at DZG life as part of our 80th anniversary celebrations and this month we’re showcasing our miniature railway! The £2,000 Dudley Zoo Railway opened in June 1938 and travelled one mile through wooded land from the Bear Ravine to the zoo entrance. The two original two-ton steam engines, named Lady … Continue reading Throwback Thursday
We’re continuing our look back at DZG across the decades as part of our 80th anniversary celebrations. Today we’re turning back the clock 14 years when our last two African elephants relocated overseas. It’s the question we still get asked the most – where are the elephants? But DZG hasn’t housed the species since Flossie … Continue reading Throwback Thursday
We’re dipping back into DZG’s photo archive as part of our 80th anniversary year and returning to the early 1970s, when hundreds of thousands of visitors would have seen one of our most notable animals… Cuddles the killer whale was transferred to Dudley from Flamingo Park, Yorkshire, in May 1971 by Scotia Pleasure Parks, who … Continue reading Throwback Thursday
We’re dipping back into DZG’s archives today and returning to the beginning, 80 years ago… It was Monday, May 17 1937 and was the first bank holiday after DZG’s opening and we were once again making headlines when 250,000 visitors flocked to Dudley for a day out at the zoo. Official records from the day … Continue reading Throwback Thursday
We’re looking back at DZG life as our 80th anniversary celebrations continue. This month we hear from former Zoo Curator, Mike Williams, who first joined DZG as a Trainee Keeper in 1960, working on site until 1965 when he married and left for a new adventure, working for the Duke of Bedford, before moving onto Cleethorpes … Continue reading Throwback Thursday
