'Exciting' future for zoo marking 10th anniversary

NORTHUMBERLAND Zoo is gearing up for a “really exciting” future as it celebrates its 10th anniversary.

- DANIEL HALL

The zoo originally opened as Eshottheugh Animal Park in June 2015, with a handful of chickens, donkeys, goats, raccoons and meerkats.

In the last decade, it has grown to become a popular tourist attraction, and has welcomed endangered species such as snow leopards in 2020 and the UK’s first captive breeding population of Livingstone’s fruit bats in December 2022 - the team are currently hand rearing a new arrival called Fender.

Run by Maxine Bradley and her parents Linda and Brian, the zoo has grown far more than they ever imagined or intended from the days that they made and sold beef jerky from the farmhouse.

Zoo manager Maxine said: “It’s not like we had a 10-year plan 10 years ago, but now we do.

“We've got a bit more direction because it’s not just me and my mum and dad we need to consider, we have a team of 40 people who are relying on us for a job and a future.