BARC members protested outside Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm on its opening day. Hardly any people went to the zoo on their big first day of the season – what an anti-climax for them…! Two families who had planned to go in turned away after reading our leaflets and learning more about the zoo and their dirty secrets.

Get in touch with us if you’d like to join us on Saturdays throughout their open season.

Full story here.

Full story here.

On October 16th we visited Noah’s ark  zoo farm for another demo. Five activists enjoyed the usual numerous hoots of support. We happily turned away several cars whose inhabitants vowed never to return! One nutter tried to drive half heartedly at the activist leafleting and missed…what a twat! ! Imagine if we drove at zoo staff !

We returned in the evening for a second demo at the farm/zoo/ark/mad house as the Wurzles were playing there to celebrate Anthony Bush’s ( zoo owner ) 500th year of farming…well maybe 50th !  Not many people turned up for the concert  and the ten activists were joined by six zoo staff…they didn’t explain why they were there and we didn’t feel like talking to them so we presume the music was that bad that they thought they’d try and hangout with us…yuk! One young lad from the zoo asked us if he could pray for us to which we replyed…”um no ta, you’re ok mate!” or words to that effect. One of the most surreal moments of the campaign came when an activist dressed as a wurzle, complete with wellies, straw hat and farmer’s jacket, had an argument with one of the staff…it was nothing serious but it left you wondering how many times you’re likely to see a scarecrow argue with a creationist! Then we went home and drank cider and laughed!

Zoo exposed by CAPS is to close
October 2010

A County Durham zoo exposed by CAPS for leaving sick animals untreated and corpses to rot has withdrawn its application for a zoo licence.

Tweddle Farm, at Blackhall Colliery, had recently applied for a licence – three years after CAPS first informed the local authority it was operating illegally.

A CAPS investigation earlier this year brought the zoo to the attention of national media over its animal welfare and public health standards.

An undercover researcher from the charity worked at the Farm for over a month, recording poor conditions for the animals and breaches of public health and safety. The charity also submitted a detailed objection to the Farm’s application for a zoo licence.

The council has confirmed that some animals have already been removed from the site and others are currently ‘off display’. Unfortunately it is likely that the premises will remain as a petting zoo with farmed and domestic animals despite the evidence presented by CAPS.

Craig Redmond, Campaigns Director at CAPS said:

“We are delighted that Tweddle Farm has now withdrawn its application for a zoo licence and we expect that it finally realised it could not meet the conditions required, both in terms of providing for the proper welfare of animals and ensuring the safety of the public.

“Our investigation revealed that sick animals were left untreated and some animals fed on junk food. Post mortems were not carried out on those who died to determine cause of death and some were simply left to rot or put in freezers on top of food.

“Public health concerns were equally shocking, with café food stored inappropriately and e coli discovered in the animal petting area.

“This had all been allowed to continue because of the failure of the local authorities to act since we first alerted them in 2007 to Tweddle Farm operating without a licence.

“However, there was a happy ending for some animals, including the capuchin monkey Josh, who was rehomed to the Wild Futures monkey sanctuary in Cornwall following our expose, where he now has the company of other capuchins and a proper diet. Three rabbits we rescued were successfully treated for diseases and abscesses and have found caring homes.

“We now hope to liaise with Durham County Council to ensure suitable rehoming of those animals who need to leave the premises. We will also continue to monitor standards for animals remaining at the Farm.”

We urge people to contact The Wurzels and let them know your thoughts about Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm. You can contact them via their manager Sil Wilcox of Cruisin Music at: info [at] cruisin [dot] co [dot] uk. Please keep all communications pleasant, explain yourself and why you think they shouldn’t play at Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm – they’re not the people abusing animals remember!

The Wurzels will be playing several gigs around the country on the run up to their appearance at Noah’s Ark Zoo. They will be playing at Abergavenny on Wednesday 18th and Gordano on Sunday 19th September; Ipswich on Saturday 9th and Barnstaple on Thursday 14th October. Please make your way down to one of their gigs if you can and let them know about Noah’s Ark Zoo and what you think about them playing a gig there! The more public pressure we put on them, the more likely it is that they will pull out.

Bristol Animal Rights Collective will be protesting outside the zoo, as we do every Saturday, on 16th October so please contact us if you would like to come along (transport available), you can e-mail us on: barc [at] hotmail [dot] co [dot] uk. We will also be protesting outside the zoo every week until then.

Today’s demo on Bank Holiday Monday 30th August saw sixteen determined and focused activists descended on our least favorite zoo/farm!

We were pleased to come in such numbers as, sadly, the zoo was really busy today so we were pleased to show the punters going in that lots of people have a big problem with this place. We could see the shock in the visitors faces and several turned away after reading the leaflet. People often turn away after talking to us and learning the truth about the zoo’s abuse of animals…we also really hope that many people who go in see the institution in a different light after seeing our demo and reading our leaflets,we hope that many of these people decide not to come back. Although todays demo was jubilant and showed the zoo that we are going nowhere until they’re closed we can’t stop these animal killers on our own. We need your help! We need you  the ,women,man and child in the street to stop visiting the zoo so that they go bankrupt. Their will alway’s be plenty of people who don’t care about animals but we are sure that most people who go to the zoo do care about animals and we need to reach them/you and point out how fucked up this place is. Ultimately don’t go to Noah’s Ark if you care about animals,please spread the word and tell your friends and family why this place sucks! and if possible join the campaign to help shut them down!

The RSPCA believes that until solutions to the extensive and serious welfare problems can be found we should not be introducing more elephants.

Elephants are without question suffering in zoos . They are one of the highest animal welfare concerns in Europe. Their levels of lameness are on a par to those seen in intensively farmed dairy cattle or broiler chickens.

Adding yet more elephants to an ailing population simply masks the problems and if drastic improvements to these problems cannot be found, the RSPCA believes zoos should phase out elephant keeping.”

Full story here.