Southampton Zoo

A Memory of Southampton.

i remember being taken to the zoo on the common many times as a kid. it was very small and probably not a nice place for some of the animals to live. i particularly remember watching the big cats pacing up an down in their cages as we looked on. even as a kid of about 8 (1972) i could see they were in distress. there was a kids area where behind a low wall you could lean over and pet rabbits and guinea pigs as they ran about. there were spitting llamas which you could feed your crisps to and if you weren't quick enough the bag would be snatched out of your hand and eaten too! there was a snake house, i can still recall the heat and aroma upon entering. the huge pythons used to be coiled up against the glass tanks. i was fascinated by the look of them up close and of course couldn't resist tapping on the glass to try and wake them up. there was a chimp there called james who used to smoke fags and i was told a story that he escaped once up one of the trees and the only way he was enticed to come down was with fags! i remember he also spat...what a character. up near the big cats there was an elephant and giraffes. all these animals could be touched and fed. i believe one of the elephants sadly died after consuming a carrier bag taken from a member of the public who had been feeding it.