Our trip
We heard of it closing through social media and knew we needed to go, its not too local to us but most of the group have personal connections to the place and have been there themselves. It was an amazing explore and i think definitely worth a report, it was all just left behind (other than the animals, though i saw a lot of spiders). The best part of the explore is definitely the place for all the animals as it is all just left begind and is a mini rainforest. The whole place had a really odd smell, not sure if it was gas or some type of mold but just in case we wore our masks so anyone thinking of going I recommend one too. The building also has running water still in the back areas of the building.
History and reasoning for closing
Bugtopia was a zoo located in rutland and something I even went to when it was open. It was rebranded as rutland sanctuary zoo in September 2020 by new owners, Jez and Joanna. It was reopened in May 2021 after the disruption of covid. They ran and looked after all the animals which became a big family to them, through out lockdowns they kept the zoo alive but they couldn’t keep up the running costs. The couple who own the zoo announced that they were devastated to have to close the zoo but due to an increase in bills and electricity thet couldnt keep up anymore. They also stated that the same issue happened to other small family zoos. In September 2022 they tried to deal with the running costs by reducing the opening times to only the weekends. The owners said that the running bills went from £1,700 to £6,500, there was no funding left to properly care for the animals. A lot of the animals were re -homed to other zoos and people who keep animals but the couple themselves kept some of the birds and built a 30ft aviary in their garden. The owners brother Richard who runs the zoo with them kept the monitor lizard called Bean. The owners said they think the zoo was not only important to look after these animals but also to educate people on them.
The photos
