World War Zoo gardens
Encyclopedia
World War Zoo gardens is a research project and recreation of a wartime "dig for victory" garden, created at Newquay Zoo
in 2009 based on those created in many a zoo
and botanic garden throughout Britain and Europe during and after World War II
.
of how zoos and people will deal with future resource shortages such as peak oil
, food miles
, climate change
, sustainability
, composting and recycling
compared with the original wartime resource shortages of fuel rationing
, food rationing and government salvage
drives in many countries around the world. Food grown on the plot is used for animal feeding and scent enrichment
, something also practised on a large scale in the market garden at Jersey Zoo and the Verti-Crop automated hydroponics polytunnel at Paignton Zoo
.
A similar comparative study project of learning lessons for climate change and resource shortage from the 1940s The New Home Front has been set up in 2011 by UK Green Party MP Carolyn Lucas.
The World War Zoo garden was launched in 2009 at Newquay Zoo on the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of war on 3 September 1939 when zoos as places of entertainment across Britain were closed and some animals euthanized (in response to expected air raids). Research is heavily based on archive accounts in newspapers and official histories and memoirs of staff at zoos such as London Zoo
, Chester Zoo
, Chessington Zoo, Maidstone Zoo (closed) Bristol Zoo
, Dudley Zoo
, Edinburgh Zoo
, Whipsnade
, Belle Vue Zoo
(now closed) and Paignton Zoo
, sister zoo to the project headquarters at Newquay Zoo.
London Zoo keepers helped to set up Pig Clubs, feeding and fattening livestock on food scraps including the London police pig club, run in the empty cages of ZSL Regent's Park London Zoo, the usual occupants having been evacuated to Whipsnade. Zoo staff at London Zoo planted a 10 pole plot allotment with tomato seeds sent from America and also hosted a National Wartime Utility farm and garden exhibition was set up at ZSL London Zoo, entitled the "Off The Ration" Exhibition to encourage visitors to grow their own crops and livestock.
and restrictions on everything from fuel, food to building materials for repairs such as glass.
Many zoo staff were called up, enlistment or conscription
as in World War I
leading to limited employment of female zoo keepers on large scale for the first time, including Women's Land Army
Land Girls. Sadly war memorials at ZSL Regent's Park London Zoo
and Belle Vue Zoo [now closed] list the names of a few of the many zoo staff killed on active service in World War One and World War Two. Sadly the Belle Vue zoo staff war memorial in Gorton Cemetery Manchester is now badly damaged.
A historical collection of wartime artifacts has been added to the Newquay Zoo archive to illustrate elements of everyday life for zoo staff, zoo animals, zoo families (including children evacuated to zoos in the countryside) and zoo visitors of the time.
Similar resource problems existed for zoos across Europe and around the world, with no animal collecting trips or exchanges on breeding loan, limited food resources and difficulties dealing with air raid and fire damage to enclosures. Zoo directors such as George Mottershead at Chester Zoo used salvaged building materials including surplus wartime concrete tank traps in order to repair and build new enclosures.History of Chester Zoo
were badly damaged during Allied air raids in 1944. Other zoos such as Warsaw Zoo
and Budapest Zoo were effectively destroyed during fighting and rebuilt after the war.
. Many of the wartime gardening publications and also cookery books by famous chefs such as Marguerite Patten
have been used to research varieties and food uses at the time.
As part of the Global Plant Conservation Strategy and Global Plant Conservation Day adopted in many botanic gardens, especially members of Botanic Gardens Conservation International
BGCI, period varieties of fruit and vegetables are being grown after research into surviving 1940s varieties.
Imperial War Museum
exhibition London in 2010 called Ministry of Food and the exhibition book covered the background subjects.http://food.iwm.org.uk/
Newquay Zoo
Newquay Zoo is a zoological garden located in Newquay, England. The zoo was opened in Cornwall on Whit Monday May 26, 1969 by the local council , it was privately owned by Mike Thomas and Roger Martin from 1993 until 2003...
in 2009 based on those created in many a zoo
Zoo
A zoological garden, zoological park, menagerie, or zoo is a facility in which animals are confined within enclosures, displayed to the public, and in which they may also be bred....
and botanic garden throughout Britain and Europe during and after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Aims of the World War Zoo Gardens project
The project investigates the similarities through creating an allotmentAllotment
Allotment may refer to:* Allotment , a small area of land, let out at a nominal yearly rent by local government or independent allotment associations, for individuals to grow their own food...
of how zoos and people will deal with future resource shortages such as peak oil
Peak oil
Peak oil is the point in time when the maximum rate of global petroleum extraction is reached, after which the rate of production enters terminal decline. This concept is based on the observed production rates of individual oil wells, projected reserves and the combined production rate of a field...
, food miles
Food miles
Food miles is a term which refers to the distance food is transported from the time of its production until it reaches the consumer. Food miles are one factor used when assessing the environmental impact of food, including the impact on global warming....
, climate change
Climate change
Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...
, sustainability
Sustainability
Sustainability is the capacity to endure. For humans, sustainability is the long-term maintenance of well being, which has environmental, economic, and social dimensions, and encompasses the concept of union, an interdependent relationship and mutual responsible position with all living and non...
, composting and recycling
Recycling
Recycling is processing used materials into new products to prevent waste of potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce energy usage, reduce air pollution and water pollution by reducing the need for "conventional" waste disposal, and lower greenhouse...
compared with the original wartime resource shortages of fuel rationing
Rationing
Rationing is the controlled distribution of scarce resources, goods, or services. Rationing controls the size of the ration, one's allotted portion of the resources being distributed on a particular day or at a particular time.- In economics :...
, food rationing and government salvage
Salvage
Salvage means 'rescue' and as such may refer to:* Marine salvage, the process of rescuing a ship, its cargo and sometimes the crew from peril* Salvage tug, a type of tugboat used to rescue or salvage ships which are in distress or in danger of sinking...
drives in many countries around the world. Food grown on the plot is used for animal feeding and scent enrichment
Enrichment
Enrichment may mean:*Education. *The process of adding nutrients to cereals or grain: see food fortification.*The process of adding sugar to grape must during winemaking in order to achieve a higher alcohol content of the wine, more commonly referred to as chaptalization.*Behavioral...
, something also practised on a large scale in the market garden at Jersey Zoo and the Verti-Crop automated hydroponics polytunnel at Paignton Zoo
Paignton Zoo
Paignton Zoo Environmental Park, is a zoo in Paignton, Devon, England. The zoo is part of South West Environmental Parks Ltd which is owned by the Whitley Wildlife Conservation Trust . It is a combined zoo and botanic garden that welcomes over half a million visitors a year. WWCT also runs Living...
.
A similar comparative study project of learning lessons for climate change and resource shortage from the 1940s The New Home Front has been set up in 2011 by UK Green Party MP Carolyn Lucas.
The World War Zoo garden was launched in 2009 at Newquay Zoo on the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of war on 3 September 1939 when zoos as places of entertainment across Britain were closed and some animals euthanized (in response to expected air raids). Research is heavily based on archive accounts in newspapers and official histories and memoirs of staff at zoos such as London Zoo
London Zoo
London Zoo is the world's oldest scientific zoo. It was opened in London on 27 April 1828, and was originally intended to be used as a collection for scientific study. It was eventually opened to the public in 1847...
, Chester Zoo
Chester Zoo
Chester Zoo is a zoological garden at Upton-by-Chester, in Cheshire, England. It was opened in 1931 by George Mottershead and his family, who used as a basis some animals reported to have come from an earlier zoo in Shavington. It is one of the UK's largest zoos at...
, Chessington Zoo, Maidstone Zoo (closed) Bristol Zoo
Bristol Zoo
Bristol Zoo is a zoo in the city of Bristol in South West England. The zoo's stated mission is "Bristol Zoo Gardens maintains and defends biodiversity through breeding endangered species, conserving threatened species and habitats and promoting a wider understanding of the natural...
, Dudley Zoo
Dudley Zoo
Dudley Zoological Gardens is a zoo located within the grounds of Dudley Castle in the town of Dudley, in the Black Country region of the West Midlands, England...
, Edinburgh Zoo
Edinburgh Zoo
Edinburgh Zoo, formally the Scottish National Zoological Park, is a non-profit zoological park located in Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland...
, Whipsnade
Whipsnade
Whipsnade is a small village and civil parish in the county of Bedfordshire. It lies on the eastward tail spurs of the Chiltern Hills, about 2.5 miles South-South-West of Dunstable...
, Belle Vue Zoo
Belle Vue Zoo
Belle Vue Zoological Gardens was a large zoo, amusement park, exhibition hall complex and speedway stadium in Belle Vue , Manchester, England, opened in 1836...
(now closed) and Paignton Zoo
Paignton Zoo
Paignton Zoo Environmental Park, is a zoo in Paignton, Devon, England. The zoo is part of South West Environmental Parks Ltd which is owned by the Whitley Wildlife Conservation Trust . It is a combined zoo and botanic garden that welcomes over half a million visitors a year. WWCT also runs Living...
, sister zoo to the project headquarters at Newquay Zoo.
London Zoo keepers helped to set up Pig Clubs, feeding and fattening livestock on food scraps including the London police pig club, run in the empty cages of ZSL Regent's Park London Zoo, the usual occupants having been evacuated to Whipsnade. Zoo staff at London Zoo planted a 10 pole plot allotment with tomato seeds sent from America and also hosted a National Wartime Utility farm and garden exhibition was set up at ZSL London Zoo, entitled the "Off The Ration" Exhibition to encourage visitors to grow their own crops and livestock.
Zoos in Wartime Britain
Zoos in Britain endured several weeks of closure in September 1939 like many places of entertainment. However, after reopening as a morale booster and to support zoo finances, zoological collections struggled with shortages, rationingRationing
Rationing is the controlled distribution of scarce resources, goods, or services. Rationing controls the size of the ration, one's allotted portion of the resources being distributed on a particular day or at a particular time.- In economics :...
and restrictions on everything from fuel, food to building materials for repairs such as glass.
Many zoo staff were called up, enlistment or conscription
Conscription
Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
as in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
leading to limited employment of female zoo keepers on large scale for the first time, including Women's Land Army
Women's Land Army
The Women's Land Army was a British civilian organisation created during the First and Second World Wars to work in agriculture replacing men called up to the military. Women who worked for the WLA were commonly known as Land Girls...
Land Girls. Sadly war memorials at ZSL Regent's Park London Zoo
London Zoo
London Zoo is the world's oldest scientific zoo. It was opened in London on 27 April 1828, and was originally intended to be used as a collection for scientific study. It was eventually opened to the public in 1847...
and Belle Vue Zoo [now closed] list the names of a few of the many zoo staff killed on active service in World War One and World War Two. Sadly the Belle Vue zoo staff war memorial in Gorton Cemetery Manchester is now badly damaged.
A historical collection of wartime artifacts has been added to the Newquay Zoo archive to illustrate elements of everyday life for zoo staff, zoo animals, zoo families (including children evacuated to zoos in the countryside) and zoo visitors of the time.
Similar resource problems existed for zoos across Europe and around the world, with no animal collecting trips or exchanges on breeding loan, limited food resources and difficulties dealing with air raid and fire damage to enclosures. Zoo directors such as George Mottershead at Chester Zoo used salvaged building materials including surplus wartime concrete tank traps in order to repair and build new enclosures.History of Chester Zoo
German and European Zoos during World War Two and Nazi Germany
Some zoos in Germany such as Berlin Zoo and Dresden ZooDresden Zoo
Dresden Zoo, or Zoo Dresden, is a zoo situated in the city of Dresden in Germany. It was opened in 1861, making it Germany's fourth oldest zoo. It was originally designed by Peter Joseph Lenné....
were badly damaged during Allied air raids in 1944. Other zoos such as Warsaw Zoo
Warsaw Zoo
The Warsaw Zoological Garden, known simply as the Warsaw Zoo is a scientific zoo on Ratuszowa Street in Warsaw, Poland. The zoo covers about in downtown Warsaw, and sees 600,000 visitors annually...
and Budapest Zoo were effectively destroyed during fighting and rebuilt after the war.
"Dig For Victory" gardens
"Dig for Victory" gardens were encouraged by many governments, including the famous 1941 Ministry of Food campaign in Britain, supported by propaganda by Lord Woolton as Minister of Food, radio broadcasts by radio gardeners such as C.H. MiddletonC.H. Middleton
Cecil Henry Middleton , widely known simply as "Mr. Middleton", was a gardener, writer and one of the earliest radio broadcasters on gardening for the BBC....
. Many of the wartime gardening publications and also cookery books by famous chefs such as Marguerite Patten
Marguerite Patten
Hilda Elsie Marguerite Patten, CBE , née Brown, is an English home economist, food writer and broadcaster.- Early life and career :...
have been used to research varieties and food uses at the time.
As part of the Global Plant Conservation Strategy and Global Plant Conservation Day adopted in many botanic gardens, especially members of Botanic Gardens Conservation International
Botanic Gardens Conservation International
Botanic Gardens Conservation International is a plant conservation charity based in London, England. It is a membership organisation, working with 800 botanic gardens in 118 countries, whose combined work forms the world's largest plant conservation network.Founded in 1987, BGCI is a registered...
BGCI, period varieties of fruit and vegetables are being grown after research into surviving 1940s varieties.
Links
A World War Zoo Gardens project blog at Newquay Zoo has been established to update people with research findings and the garden's progress prior to publication of a book based on the subject.Imperial War Museum
Imperial War Museum
Imperial War Museum is a British national museum organisation with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. The museum was founded during the First World War in 1917 and intended as a record of the war effort and sacrifice of Britain and her Empire...
exhibition London in 2010 called Ministry of Food and the exhibition book covered the background subjects.http://food.iwm.org.uk/