Recently I've been rummaging through my sentimental keepsakes, which there are a very large amount of, and kept coming across items that reminded me of Sandown Zoo, inspiring the topic of this post. Though the Zoo opened in the 50s, it wasn't until 1976 that the owner that I knew, Jack Corney, took over after saving it from inevitable closure due to being named 'The Slum Zoo of Britain'. Whilst I was growing up, I often accompanied my Mum whilst she was working as a hairdresser. Needless to say, the Zoo was by far the most exciting destination! Of all the animals there, Jack Corney's dogs scared me the most though I never really came into contact with them as they were normally in the back garden barking at us when we arrived at the house, which is on Zoo grounds. Opposite Jack's house was absolutely my favourite part, an enclosure where new arrivals, mostly Lemurs, were brought before being transfered to the main Zoo. I was frequently allowed into the enclosure with the Lemurs, when they were only young themselves and it's safe to say that experiences like that cemented my fascination with animals. I also have a clear memory of playing with the White Tiger cub 'Zena' when she first arived at the zoo, visiting Jack's daughter in her room where she was looking after a Ring Tailed Lemur and a Spider Monkey, also several photos with Pythons and walking into his lounge then him giving me several Milk Snakes to hold. Jack himself was very interested in snake venom/anti venom, the Zoo starting off as a Herpetological Centre, having been admitted to intensive care for snake bites on several occasions. Though saying this, in the early days he was also very well known for walking his Tigers on the beach infront of the Zoo! Unfortunately Jack died in 2003 but as I said previously, both Jack and his wife Judith played a large part in my current enthusiasm for worldwide fauna. For many years, the family would send us a christmas card with a photo of one of their animals on the front. The first I've posted is a Black and White Ruffed Lemur named Mogwai, one of the Lemurs that I used to know but sadly him and the other Lemurs are long dead. The name of another was E.T. and I know the third had another alien related name but I can never remember it! For Christmas 1995, we received a card with 'Czar' the Tiger on the front and in 1997 with 'Chiquita' the Jaguaress. Chiquita remains at the Zoo to this day, according to the website, and in the card Jack wrote 'As seen in the new James Bond film - Tomorrow Never Dies!'.
As the first Tiger to be given to the Zoo was named Tamyra when Jack could get away with walking Tigers on the beach, I'm assuming that's her in the black and white photo. To the right are replicas of a Sabre-Tooth Tiger's tooth and that of a modern day Tiger.
