Belle Vue Zoo

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For other meanings of the term, see Belle Vue.

Belle Vue Zoo was a large zoo located at Belle Vue in the east of Manchester in England from 1836 until it closed in 1977.Many believed this was a great loss to the community surrounding Belle Vue.Many people were made redundant due to the closure of the zoo.

The zoo was part of an early example of a theme park, featuring many fairground rides, a large lake, an annual circus and many exhibition halls and ballrooms.The zoo was famous for its wide range of exotic animals including lions,tigers,hippos,giraffes and even tapias just to mension a few. See history

The animals at Belle Vue were all well known for their close relationships with their keepers, for example Consul the Great.Consul the ape was titled as "the almost man" he was dressed in clothes and made to smoke ciggerates. Many people would believe this to be cruelty but this behaviour could only have been formed through trust.After he died in 1894 consul was printed on posters and sold in his memory.A Consul 2 was produced who had similar abilities but was also able to ride a bicycle and play a violin.

For several years after World War II the zoo had a frogman display.

See http://manchesterhistory.net/bellevue/attract.html.