Hamerton Zoo Park is situated in

Hamerton Hamerton is a village in and former civil parish, now in the parish of Hamerton and Steeple Gidding, in Cambridgeshire, England. Hamerton lies approximately north-west of Huntingdon. Hamerton is situated within Huntingdonshire which is a non- ...

, near

Sawtry Sawtry () is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Cambridgeshire, England. Sawtry lies approximately north of Huntingdon. Sawtry is situated within Huntingdonshire which is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire as we ...

Huntingdonshire Huntingdonshire (; abbreviated Hunts) is a local government district in Cambridgeshire, England, which was historically a county in its own right. It borders Peterborough to the north, Fenland to the north-east, East Cambridgeshire to the e ...

, England.

Development

Planning permission for change of use from agricultural land to a

zoo A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility where animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for conservation purposes. The term ''zoological garden'' refers to zoology, ...

was granted in 1988, with the park being opened on 15 June 1990 by local MP, then-Chancellor, and future Prime Minister

John Major Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British retired politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997. Following his defeat to Ton ...

. The zoo has two large

wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that wind power, converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. , hundreds of thousands of list of most powerful wind turbines, large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, were generating over ...

s to provide power for the park erected during the second half of November 2012; the zoo was described as being the "most environmentally-friendly zoo in Europe" in 2014. An application for two 50 kW turbines was turned down in August 2015 by

Huntingdonshire District Council Huntingdonshire District Council is the local authority for the district of Huntingdonshire in Cambridgeshire, England. The council is based in the town of Huntingdon. The district also includes the towns of Godmanchester, Ramsey, St Ives and ...

Conservation

The zoo has a conservation sanctuary which has a collection of nearly 100 different species including rare / endangered animals and birds.

Tiger incident

The park was evacuated on the morning of 29 May 2017 after what was described as a 'serious incident'. It was later confirmed that

zookeeper A zookeeper, sometimes referred as animal keeper, is a person who manages zoo animals that are kept in captivity for conservation or to be displayed to the public.Hurwitz, Jane. Choosing a Career in Animal Care (World of Work). New York: Rosen Gr ...

Rosa King, age 33, had been killed in the tiger enclosure at about 11:15a.m. that day.

References

External links

Zoo's website
{{authority control Zoos in England Tourist attractions in Cambridgeshire