Paignton Zoo 8th March 2018

[Dave]

Paignton Zoo 8th March 2018

I was able to take up an offer of 30% of the price of a ticket to enter our zoo today, an offer to good to turn down. The sun was out all day and what a difference to last Thursday when we ended up getting snowed in.

My last visit to the zoo was on the 14th October 2016 and in my report that day I did not paint the zoo in the most glowing light. To be honest I was even more disappointed today as it seems to me the zoo has even less animals than two years ago.

So much walking without seeing anything, that is one of the biggest problems with the zoo these days. When I used to go to the zoo when I was a young man, there were so many more types of animals than there are today, but despite that fact, I will always support our zoo.

Anyway the main purpose of going to the zoo for me is just to take photographs, which I was able to do, but I did think for a long time I was not going to get any gorilla shots. Thankfully I got some in the end and that made up for all my other disappointments.

I had hoped to see Pertinax my favourite gorilla at the zoo, but sadly he no longer lives with the others in the group and has to live alone. He was the dominate male for so long, but that is no longer the case.

I did get to see our only elephant Duchess, she is looking very old and not too sure how much longer we will still have her. But then she was born in 1970 making her 48 years old, she came to Paignton Zoo in 1977 from Longleat Safari Park.

I am more than happy with the photos I took today, but a quick look back to the ones I took two years ago, confirms my thoughts that there are less animals now at the zoo. Still a great day and good value even at the full price, but I think I will leave it another two years before my next visit.