'Hobby zoos' face calls for crackdown after second lynx dies at animal park home of Lillith

News of the accidental strangling of Nilly at Borth Wild Animal Kingdom comes after the shooting of escaped enclosure-mate Lillith the Lynx

After reports of the death of Lilly, the owners closed the zoo temporarily (Wales news service)

A Welsh zoo is facing calls to close after it emerged a second lynx was accidentally strangled in “a terrible handling error” days before Lillith the lynx was shot and killed following her escape from the same attraction.

Borth Wild Animal Kingdom near Aberyswyth was branded a “hobby zoo” after news of the death of the second lynx emerged, throwing a spotlight on fears that at some UK animal attractions well-meaning but underqualified owners are failing to look after creatures properly.

Launching a petition for Borth to close in the light of the two deaths, the Lynx UK Trust, a conservation group working to reintroduce the lynx to Britain, accused the zoo’s management of having “little to no understanding of wild animal behaviour or welfare needs”.

Dr Paul O'Donoghue, Chief scientific adviser to the trust, added: “What if it had been Borth's crocodile that escaped? Or their two lions?

“How long are we going to let these hobby zoos run by amateurs keep operating? Will it take the death of a human for someone to take action?"

News of the second lynx fatality came amid controversy over how one and a half-year-old Lillith was shot dead by a marksman on Friday, having been on the run since late October.

The local council said the killing had been necessary to protect the public, and farmers claimed the lynx had killed seven sheep, but Dean and Tracy Tweedy, the husband and wife owners of Borth Wild Animal Kingdom declared themselves “outraged”.

Now the zoo has confirmed that another female lynx died in a handling accident last week.

In an announcement on its Facebook page, it said: “It is with deep sadness and regret we announce the demise last week of Nilly, an adult female lynx, who was unrelated to Lillith but shared an enclosure.

“Over the past few weeks our staff have been under incredible pressure and when the authorities gave us 24-hour notice that they would be carrying out a full cat inspection we took the decision to move Nilly to a more suitable enclosure.

“Unfortunately, there seems to have been a terrible handling error where it seems she twisted in the catch-pole and became asphyxiated.

“An internal investigation is underway, and a key member of staff has been unable to work since the ordeal as they are truly devastated by what has happened.

“The authorities were notified after the incident and will be carrying out their own full investigation.”

When news of Lillith’s escape first emerged last month, it was reported that Dyfed-Powys police were only told on October 29 that the lynx, about twice the size of a domestic cat, had been missing for five days.

On Friday November 10 Ceredigion County Councillor Ceredig Davies announced that the decision was taken to shoot the lynx after it strayed into a populated area and a specialist vet advised that the threat it posed had increased from moderate to “severe”.

But Mr and Mrs Tweedy declared themselves “truly devastated and outraged”, with Mrs Tweedy adding that she thought it was "highly unlikely" that Lillith had killed any sheep.

The couple, who bought the £625,000 zoo about six months ago, received sympathy from some quarters, with some suggesting that the marksman could have used a tranquiliser dart rather than a bullet.

But after news of the second lynx death emerged, the Lynx UK Trust posted a highly critical statement on Facebook, saying: “We are appalled to see the zoo attempting to court public sympathy for the loss of "our baby lynx" Lillith. Borth Zoo must be closed immediately.”

In its online petition, which has attracted more than 2,000 signatures in the space of a few hours, the trust added: “Most "hobby zoos" like Borth, run by inexperienced owners, do not provide any benefit to conservation or education, fail to meet basic animal welfare standards, and create a significant threat to the public as unpredictable, captive-bred, human-habituated animals are left to escape.”

Ceredigion County Council has announced it is to evaluate the zoo’s existing arrangements for hosting big cats, and will conduct a full inspection involving an approved vet before the end of the month.

The Born Free Foundation, which runs a Zoo Check programme to monitor the condition of animals in captivity, also said it was “very concerned for the welfare of the remaining lynx” at Borth.

Mr and Mrs Tweedy have denied the suggestions that theirs is a "hobby zoo". They have voluntarily decided to close the zoo until further notice. In August the couple, who have three daughters, had described buying the zoo and moving from Kent to Wales to run it with the help of a team of zookeepers.

Explaining how they had gone from looking after a collection of 30 family pets to helping to care for 300 animals including lions, leopards and crocociles, Mr Tweedy told Mailonline: “We already have 30 pets so we're used to living with animals but this is obviously on a whole new level.

“It's a dream come true for the kids - they're loving every minute. When we tell people what we've done we often have to repeat ourselves a few times before they realise they haven't misheard us.”

The couple said they had initially just been looking for a petting farm to house more animals for Mrs Tweedy’s work as a psychotherapist.

Following the escape of Lillith, the Tweedys have released a series of Facebook statements in which they have explained: “When we took over this business just six months ago we knew it was in a terrible state, with many of the enclosures rotting and not fit for purpose.

“The lynx enclosure especially was not fit for purpose and certainly not up to modern zoo standards. Plans are in place to build a whole new enclosure on the hill for the lynx which will give them all the individual space that they need.

“This summer we have been working hard to make vast improvements [to the whole zoo], but it does seem to be that we are swimming against the tide. There are many serious issues with this establishment that need to be addressed before we go forward. Hopefully we can work with the authorities to bring this place up to code and create a home for these animals that is safe and secure.”

Insisting their zoo served a useful purpose, the couple added: “We bought this place not to make money, but because we are animal lovers and could see that this place in this beautiful location needed some serious love and attention.

“Many of the animals are rescued from the animal trade or are exotic pets that the owner cannot look after any more.

“This is the only zoo in the county of Ceredigion and it would be a real loss to the area if this much-loved home for rescued exotic animals was not allowed to continue after refurbishment.”

In 2013, before the Tweedys took over at Borth, Rajah, an African leopard, nearly escaped from the zoo after its cage was left open during feeding time.

It was reported that just as Rajah was about to get out, the zoo’s then owner noticed what was about to happen and used a stepladder to block the big cat’s escape route.

Concerns about conditions in some British zoos were heightened earlier this year when it emerged that 486 animals had died in less than four years at South Lakes Safari Zoo in Dalton-in-Furness, Cumbria.

Among those said by government inspectors to have died between December 2013 and September 2016 were two baby snow leopards, Miska and Natasja, found partially eaten by other leopards in their enclosure and, Indiana, the white rhino, which was crushed against a barrier by another rhino.

Lion cubs and giraffes had also died and lemurs and birds had been run over and killed by the miniature train.

The Captive Animals’ Protection Society (Caps) reacted by saying the findings at the zoo were among the worst it had ever heard of, and in March the zoo’s founder David Gill was refused a licence to run the attraction.

By then, however, Mr Gill had already handed responsibility for the business to the Cumbria Zoo Company, which had been formed in January, and in May Barrow Borough Council granted this new firm a licence to run the attraction.

The council’s decision came after government-appointed inspectors declared themselves “impressed by the improvements made the palpable change of culture and attitude of all staff, and ambitious plans to move forward now that the owner/previous director is no longer involved.”

Caps, however, remained sceptical, saying that although improvements had been made since the takeover, some of the directors of the new company had held senior positions in the old management structure of South Lakes Safari Zoo.

Mr Gill, who had opened the zoo in 1994 and is married to a former Miss Peru finalist, had reportedly described himself as someone whose childhood menagerie of raccoons, goats and wallabies attracted people from miles around to see “Dalton’s Doctor Doolittle”.

After the news of the second Borth lynx death emerged, Maddy Taylor of Caps told The Independent: “We know people setting up zoos love working with animals, but sometimes they have very little of the knowledge, qualifications and experience in animal welfare and behaviour that is required.”

Will Travers, president and co-founder of the Born Free Foundation, told The Independent that while those running and working in zoos “might be passionate about animals”, the inspection regime needed to be “radically tougher”.

He said: “The power to grant licences should be taken away from local authorities, which have a clear potential conflict of interest: if a zoo is bringing in visitors and generating money for the local economy are you really going to be inclined to be punitive?

“Currently, I think the inspection process looks at things on the basis of minimums – is there water, food and enough warmth in winter?

“It should go beyond that to look at social compatibility – are species that should be living in groups being kept in groups? Is the environment stimulating and is the zoo providing a truly educational experience?

“And can it demonstrate it really is saving wildlife – if the zoo has animals on display and millions in turnover, but almost no species on breeding programmes and a derisory amount of money being churned out for conservation in the field, then the answer must be no.”

Mr Travers added: “If you used criteria like how many zoos are involved in properly accredited co-operative breeding programmes, and how many are doing useful research, I suspect the number of licensed UK zoos would wither away from hundreds to about 25 that would survive scrutiny.”