New owners set date to take over Paignton Zoo

Paignton Zoo’s new owners will get the keys to the zoo on January 2.

From that date onwards the zoo will be transferred across to its new owners, Dutch company Libema, which has stepped in to buy Paignton and Newquay zoos from the Wild Planet Trust.

The trust’s interim chief executive Stephen Kings outlined the desperate battle to save the zoo at a meeting of the Torbay Place Leadership Board.

“We tried everything we could,” he said. “But where we are now is good news for the area, it’s good news for the staff and it’s particularly good news for the animals.”

Libema has moved in to take over both the zoos, which were put up for sale in September after the trust said a ‘perfect storm’ of financial pressures had left it with no other option.

The Covid pandemic, an outbreak of avian flu and the cost of living crisis were among the blows to hit the trust in recent years, leading to a decline in visitor numbers.

Now Libema has moved in to take over commercial operations and safeguard the future of the zoos, revealing plans for the future including new ‘theme areas’ along with a savannah featuring giraffes, zebras, wildebeests and antelopes.

The new owners also intend to reintroduce rhinos among other new animals.

Mr Kings said Libema hoped to increase the number of visitors to the zoo from 300,000 a year at present to 450,000 within five years.

He said the trust had tried to solve its problems itself, and had saved £1.5million by making redundancies, but by August it had become obvious that while footfall was up, spending was down. People were coming through the gates but not spending on catering and retail.

Efforts to find a UK-based partner to support the zoos proved fruitless, and the trust decided to make it known that it was open to offers for investment.

Enter Libema, a company which ‘stood out massively’, according to Mr Kings.

“We found them incredibly easy to work with,” said Mr Kings “They are really good people.

“They have the experience. They run very good zoos, they are cash buyers and they have been looking for quite a while to expand outside the Netherlands.”

He said zoos across the country were struggling, apart from big hitters like Chester and London.

“It has been a very hectic three months since Libema first got in contact,” he added. “Now we are in a good place.”

The Wild Planet Trust will continue to operate, and will keep the area it owns around the Slapton Ley nature reserve in South Devon.