Owner puts struggling Paignton Zoo on the market

Paignton Zoo is on the market, its owner the charity Wild Planet Trust has confirmed.

No guide price has been released, but a spokesperson confirmed the 85-acre (34-hectare) estate – home to more than 2,000 animals – together with an additional 18 acres (7 hectares) of adjacent land was for sale and “the intention is for it to remain as a zoo”.

The trust, which has previously acknowledged financial pressures, said it had already taken steps to address the challenges it faced.

But “securing investment” was now being explored to “protect the long-term future of our conservation charity and continuing to help halt species decline”, it said in a statement.

“Our unwavering commitment remains on providing our animals with the highest levels of welfare and husbandry, ensuring all of their physical, emotional and environmental needs are met,” said Wild Planet in the statement.

The trust, which owns Paignton Zoo and Newquay Zoo, said in July 2024 that it faced “crippling challenges” and action was required to ensure the future of the institutions, including cutting costs by about £1m in a year.

Its latest accounts blame inflationary pressures and increased staffing costs on its financial problems.

The latest statement said: “We have previously shared information regarding the financial challenges that we face, and whilst we have already taken appropriate action to try to ease these challenges, this is another avenue for us to investigate.”

It added that confidentiality was “crucial to this process, ensuring that all relevant parties have access to consistent, accurate, and timely information”.

“We will share more information when we are able to,” it said.

Paignton Zoo, which opened in 1923, was developed from the private menagerie of eccentric millionaire Herbert Whitley, says the zoo on its website.

Mr Whitley “strongly believed that the zoo should be a place of learning, not just recreation”, it says.

On his death in 1955, a trust was formed that became the Whitley Wildlife Conservation Trust.

In 2003, the Whitley Wildlife Conservation Trust took over Newquay Zoo and opened Living Coasts, Torquay’s coastal zoo.

Living Coasts closed in 2020 following the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and its lockdowns.

The trust welcomed a total of nearly 500,000 visitors to its sites in 2023, according to its latest accounts.

The Whitley Wildlife Conservation Trust became Wild Planet Trust in 2019.