Dartmoor Zoological Park

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Dartmoor Zoological Park is a 30-acre^[1]^[2] zoological garden located near the village of Sparkwell, on the south-west edge of Dartmoor, in the South West of England.

Formerly known as Dartmoor Wildlife Park, it had been opened in 1968 by Ellis Daw on farmland bought by his family in 1948.^[2]^[3] During a time of crisis, it was forced to close to the public on April 23, 2006^[3], until August of that year, when it was bought by Ben Mee for £1.1m^[1], who reopened the zoo to the public.

In 2007, it was the subject of a television documentary, entitled Ben's Zoo, which was shown on BBC 2 between November 21 and December 12.

[edit] Controversy

The original Dartmoor Wildlife Park became the subject of local debate after a 2001 report by the Captive Animals Protection Society raised questions about the welfare of the animals and the conditions in which they were kept^[4]^[5], even though there had been no accidents in the zoo's 33-year history.^[6] The group criticised the living conditions for the animals and the safety barriers, calling for the zoo's license to be revoked.^[6] The council were reluctant to revoke the zoo's license, due to concerns over the future of the animals,^[6] but did charge Ellis Daw with 16 offences after the zoo was investigated.^[7]. All but one of these charges were dropped, but Ellis Daws was found guilty of breeding Siberian tigers outside of an organised breeding programme, and of keeping them in poor conditions.^[7] For this, Daws received a £200 fine and a conditional discharge, and the tigers were sent to a wildlife centre in Holland.^[7]^[8]