What Happened to Liverpool Zoo?

Most of the world’s biggest cities boast zoos of some description, with the likes of New York Zoo being a must-see for visitors. Those that spend some time in Liverpool can indeed visit a zoo, but in order to do so they will have to depart the city itself in order to head over to Chester.

Sure, there is Knowsley Safari Park, but that isn’t really the same and you can’t go around it if you don’t have a car. Liverpool did once have a zoo and it housed the world’s cleverest chimpanzee, but what happened to mean it isn’t there any more?

Liverpool Zoological Park

Head to the location of Liverpool Zoological Park off West Derby Road in Walton nowadays and you might well see a load of animals, but sadly they’re just the people wrestling with each other to get hold of the latest stock put on the shelves of the Sainsbury’s that stands there.

If you’d have gone there in 1884, however, you’d have been able to see any number of wild animals roaming around the Zoological Gardens, with £200,000 invested in it in 1863 by the newly formed Liverpool Zoological Company.

@livingliverpooltour Leopards on Rice Lane? 🐆🐆 #liverpool #liverpoolhistory #ricelane #walton #visitliverpool #zoohistory ♬ original sound – Living Liverpool Tour

The problem was that the company didn’t have enough money to do what it proposed, not least because of the cost of the animals. With elephants costing £1,000 each and lions setting the zoo back £500, it is perhaps little wonder that things didn’t work out as well as they’d hoped.

Soon the zoo’s owners began trying to entice people with dancing, live entertainment and boats on the lake, as well as a primitive form of fireworks display. By 1886, however, it was shut down and a two day auction saw most of the animals sold off.

The World’s Cleverest Chimpanzee

Perhaps it was little more than a sales technique from the zoo’s owners, looking to persuade as many people as possible to head to the venue and help to keep it afloat.

Maybe, though, he really was the world’s cleverest chimpanzee. ‘Mickey’, as he was known, was the centre of attention of numerous postcards offered by the Zoological Park, which existed 50 years before the Liverpool Zoological Company had bought it, with Mickey smoking cigarettes, kicking footballs and even drinking lemonade with a straw.

Whilst Mickey might have been clever enough to perform numerous different tricks, he wasn’t clever enough to get out of the zoo and live a life full of wonder and excitement. Instead, he escaped his captivity and decided to attack several of the zookeepers and visitors.

Sadly, this resulted in a decision to shoot him, taking his life and ending his time as the world’s cleverest chimpanzee. Maybe if he hadn’t spent so much time smoking he would have had the breath control to be able to escape, but alas that wasn’t to be the case for poor Mickey.