Mole Hall Wildlife Park

Opened in 1963, and closed its doors for the last time on Tuesday 16 September 2008.

The park's administrator, Caroline Williams, said: "Due to the terminal illness of Douglas Johnstone, it is with great sadness and regret that the Johnstone family has decided to close the park with immediate effect. "All animals and birds are in the process of moving to new loving homes, and are settling in well in their new surroundings; the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums and other professional bodies are assisting with the process."

Percy the Peacock Widdington Village website mascot

Angie Surman,

Story of working at the park in the sixties

Hello, Gary,

I came across your page as I was recently telling a friend about things Ihad done in my life - and one of them was working at Mole Hall - must have been sometime in the later sixties. I remember working with a young man called David who I think may have stayed with the Johnstones for quite a while. I was also a bit perplexed at the chimps - when I was there, there were two young females, called Linda and Gloria - no mention of these online, just the seemingly well known Tubman. I unfortunately don't have any photo of my time there but I have plenty of memories of a plethora of birds and mammals that David and I cared for on a day to day basis. Some, of course, stick in one's memory more than others but it was an interesting and rewarding time and a chance to learn about a myriad of species one would not normally come across in everyday life.Mammals were of more interest to me than the avian population but even they grew on me in ways I was not expecting. Mind you - there were some that I remember for the wrong reasons like those bloody cereopsis geese (Cape Barren Geese) and I can still feel their nips through Wellington boots - just about as uncomfortable as a Cockatoo!! The Snowy Owl I adored but trying to catch the Macaws with huge butterfly nets as they sped from one end to the other of their huge aviaries was a job that could take hours! And I had a huge love of the toucan - such superiority! There were funny things I remember like only cutting fruit one way otherwise the recipients wouldn't eat it - but I can't remember which they were. Taking the dingoes for a walk was always hillarious - they weren't very good on leads and I would inevitably land in a heap on the lawn with my legs twozzled up with leads as the pups would use them like maypoles. I remember the less savoury jobs like feeding the otters day old chicks that came in boxes off the train with David having to dispatch them as I didn't have the stomach for it and mincing up pounds of shrimp to feed to the flamingoes and having to make sure we got them all out of the moat at night in case their legs got frozen and broke. It was Pamela that introduced me to Abyssinian cats - she had a couple from memory and I was smitten from then on. I still have Abyssinians to this day - although now only one fairly elderly one. Pamela also had in her collection a rose backed Mangaby - that thing would have killed David or I if it could have got to us - it would rush across its enclosure and shake the living bejesus out of the netting fence if we got even close - but it was never like that with Pamela. She was the only one that ever got close. Not like the chimps - Pamela had been a bit surprised to see me in such close proximity with the girls as she was initially unsure how they would react. Linda was shy and retired and never really made much do about anything but Gloria was a whole different kettle of fish. What a character! They lived in a row of houses that had sleeping quarters behind that could be shut off with a wide "daytime" area that ran the whole length but which was also partitioned off if needs be. My "uniform" was denim jeans and a chambray shirt which I always wore outside the jeans. Part of my duties was to clean down the edges of the "daytime" area and sweep the floor. Part of this had to be done with a handbrush with me being bent over. Gloria, looking for a bit of mischief one day - leapt on my back facing towards my derriere and proceeded to pull up my shirt till she came to my bra elastic. So, from that day forward it was a huge game to her to "ping" my bra elastic against my back - the more I protested that "that hurt" the more she did it!! After Pamela saw the relationship that we had built - she no longer worried about my being in with the chimps. We had a lot of monkeys, it seemed. We had one such sweet natured spider monkey called Felicity and she was housed beside a family of cappuccin monkeys. The dominant male was a character called Antonio and my father said he looked just like a little sicilian cafe owner. I was absolutely devastated one day to find that Antonio had grabbed Felicity through the wire and had bitten off her hand. Despite all the care - we lost poor Felicity. Sad day. We also had a couple of kinkajous. What hillarious creatures they are - they creep about like dry efts - but leave a door ajar and boy - can they move!! I loved those two and also their south compatriots, the coati mundis. There are so many tales of the antics or charges got up to - I can't recall all of them but a lot of my life had been devoted to animal life ( I was an animal nurse for a long time) both in the UK and where I now live in New Zealand. I have travelled extensively and enjoyed wildlife on trips to Botswana and Zimbabwe. My only regret was I never got to travel to Antarctica as Pamela did. I have friends who have been and it was magical. It was quite sad reading about the gradual decline of the place I had such good memories of but it was an astronomic challenge to be able to keep the place going as it had been. Even the big zoos must struggle these days. So sad. This ramble is probably of no use to you for your research but it has given me a chance to relive some of my early working life over 50 years ago. How time flies!

Greetings from New Zealand.

Angie Surman

If you have any old photo of the Wild Life Park, please email me
Many Thanks Gary

Information From the Wales Ape & Monkey Sanctuary.
Tubman is said to have been born in Liberia and apparently belonged to the Royal Family there. He was first logged in January 1967 and taken to the Netherlands in 1968.

This is where he came to the attention of Mrs Johnstone of Mole Hall. She told us that she rescued him from a fate in a laboratory and brought him to Mole Hall in 1969 where he stayed until January 1984 when he moved to join Joey with Keith McGregor.
In January 1986 both Joey and Tubman moved to Mole Hall and there they stayed for twenty- three years living in an enclosure right on the edge of the Park not far from the main house.

Mole Hall closed at the end of September 2008 and plans were being made for the chimps’ future, which seemed grim for as usual no Zoo would help them and give them a new home. A home in Spain seemed possible but a highly respected International Vet advised against this course of action due to the age of the chimps and their lifestyle. This is when the Johnstone family discovered our Sanctuary and approached us. We travelled up to Mole Hall to meet the two characters and immediately decided that nothing would stop them coming here, which they did on March 19th 2009. Wales Ape & Monkey Sanctuary.
If you have a photo or two of our Mole Hall wildlife park
Please email me
Thanks Gary