A group of shareholders of the Bristol Zoological Society have called for the auction of items from the zoo’s Clifton site this Friday to be halted, and threatened to take out a court injuction to stop it.
The shareholders group, led by leading ‘Save Bristol Zoo’ campaigner Tom Jones, sent a legal letter to Zoo bosses on Friday, hours before a fundraising gala dinner began the series of events to sell off hundreds of items of Bristol Zoo memorabilia and paraphernalia, demanding that the sales be postponed. The Zoo’s bosses went ahead with the auction part of Friday’s gala dinner, and in response, this week they have hit back at the ‘small number of Clifton residents’ trying to stop the zoo’s plans, and pledged that they would ‘not give in to pressure from a small, well-funded group of campaigners – who are not zoo experts and don’t understand animal welfare’.
The group of shareholders said that nothing from the old Bristol Zoo should be sold off until a separate judicial review into the awarding of planning permission to redevelop the Bristol Zoo Gardens site is concluded. The Zoo’s board refused on Friday and the auction of a number of items took place at the gala dinner on Friday evening, a week before this Friday’s major online auction of 300 lots from the zoo, including antique signage, vintage posters, souvenirs, sculptures, statues and other zoo memorabilia.
After that mini-auction on Friday, a third auction is to take place next Monday, November 25, of around 40 mid-Victorian benches that have been in place within the Zoo Gardens in Clifton for more than 150 years. The Zoological Society said the gala dinner and the auctions are fundraisers to help the expansion of the Bristol Zoo Project – formerly the Wild Place – near Cribbs Causeway, which is effectively where Bristol Zoo has moved to since it closed the historic Clifton site in 2022.
But the group of Zoological Society shareholders, led by Mr Jones, say the auctions are premature. Mr Jones led an unsuccessful campaign in 2022 to get Zoo bosses to rethink their closure plans, but said he is still hopeful of securing a different future of the Zoo Gardens site in Clifton than the one proposed by the Zoo itself.
Lawyers acting for the group of shareholders submitted a letter to the Board of Trustees of the zoo charity on Friday, asking for any of the auctions to be postponed. “There are serious and substantive issues which must be addressed prior to the sale of any assets which might or will prevent the future running of Bristol Zoo Gardens,” it said.
Those ‘substantive issues’ is the judicial review being brought against Bristol City Council by the Save Bristol Gardens Alliance group, which is challenging in the courts the awarding of planning permission to the zoo to redevelop the Clifton Zoo site and build almost 200 new homes there. The Save Bristol Gardens Alliance group is a separate campaign group to the group of shareholders led by Tom Jones. The judicial review is expected to take place in the New Year.
Friday’s legal letter went on to request that: “Those charity assets that are intended to be presented for sale, either at this evening’s gala or the planned subsequent auctions, are withdrawn immediately, and any such sales are cancelled or at least postponed until satisfactory evidence can be provided to us and our clients that irrecoverable damage will not be caused to the Charity and/or BZG as a result of such sales.”
A spokesperson for the group of shareholders said the decision to sell off hundreds of items from the zoo in Clifton had been taken without consulting shareholders. “We were extremely surprised and offended to learn that our board had taken the decision to dispose of these prized heritage assets that are such a special part of the history of Bristol Zoo Gardens,” he said.
“Whatever the future holds for that site, these items are part of its historic fabric and should never be crudely auctioned off to the highest bidder. We are disappointed that trustees chose to ignore our concerns and proceed with Friday night’s Gala Dinner, in spite of the serious and substantive matters raised by our legal representatives.
“There was absolutely no mention of the two online auctions and gala dinner at our AGM on October 23: we learned about them via the local media like everyone else in Bristol just a couple of weeks ago. Sale of these assets will further undermine any claim that Bristol Zoo has moved from Clifton to Cribbs Causeway and supports the idea that the current board are happy to prioritise short term financial gain over history, heritage and civic pride.
“These auctions are tantamount to someone smashing up their own property before they move out, so no one else can move in or enjoy it after they leave. The board seems intent on destroying any connection between the Zoo’s history and the site’s future use. Our lawyers will now advise us on next steps with all possibilities being explored and considered. Nonetheless, we are hopeful that our board of trustees will see sense and postpone the two forthcoming online auctions until these matters are satisfactorily resolved.
“It should also be noted that there remains a possibility that items sold at the gala dinner or future auctions, may in the future be required to be restored to Bristol Zoo Gardens, if the outcome of various future legal challenges concludes that the proposed sale of the Bristol Zoo Gardens site is not valid for the Zoo charity,” he added.
A spokesperson for the Bristol Zoological Society has previously said the items being auctioned off were what was left of a huge amount of items after the ones of historic interest had been passed to the city’s public archives, and after items of personal sentimental value – memorial plaques and donated items and so on – had been returned to those who wanted them back. A spokesperson for the Zoological Society said the latest challenge over the Zoo’s plans was another example of ‘ongoing efforts to stop’ its future plans and that was ‘wasting vital funds’.
“Bristol Zoo Gardens’ history is important to all of us, which is why our plans for the old site in Clifton will see the site open to the public as a park, free to access for the first time, and the iconic zoo entrance building, turned into a new Clifton Conservation Hub,” she said. “At the hub there will be a café, community spaces and a permanent exhibition of the zoo’s history. Bristol Zoological Society has kept items to display here, including the most important Alfred death mask and the original Zookeepers ‘Animal Bedtime’ Bell.
“The ongoing efforts of a small group of Clifton residents to stop a conservation and education charity from progressing with its future plans, are not only wasting vital funds, but they are preventing us from saving wildlife and building a new conservation zoo, which will provide bigger habitats and higher standards of animal welfare,” she added.
“Instead of investing vital charitable funds where they are needed, in saving and protecting the world’s most threatened species, we find ourselves once again being forced to spend thousands of pounds in legal fees, defending further claims. This is extremely frustrating for all our staff and volunteers, who work so hard. We want a zoo which is financially resilient, can meet the needs of animals over the long-term and prioritises conservation. Our decision to close Bristol Zoo Gardens and focus our efforts on Bristol Zoo Project was based on a thorough analysis and a desire to create a new type of conservation zoo.
“We do not believe the current 12-acre site in Clifton is fit for purpose as a modern, conservation zoo. We won’t give in to pressure from a small well-funded group of campaigners – who are not zoo experts and don’t understand animal welfare,” she added.