page_title: Paignton Zoo
section_title: Timeline
hierarchical_section_title: Paignton Zoo / Timeline
caption_attribution_description: English: Paignton Zoo Great Gorillas 2013
context_page_description: Paignton Zoo is a zoo in Paignton, Devon, England. The zoo is part of South West Environmental Parks Ltd which is owned by Wild Planet Trust, formerly known as the Whitley Wildlife Conservation Trust. Wild Planet Trust also runs Living Coasts in Torquay, Devon and Newquay Zoo in Newquay, Cornwall. All three are registered charities.
  The zoo is a registered educational and scientific charity that has a collection of about 2,000 animals representing nearly 300 species, and it also cultivates about 1,600 different species of plant. It currently employs over 100 permanent staff and an additional 120 seasonally.
context_section_description: 1923 – Paignton Zoo opened to the public
  1955 – Herbert Whitley died
  1995 – European Regional Development Fund grant started redevelopment of Zoo
  1996 – Became Paignton Zoo Environmental Park
  1998 – Zoo Keepers BBC TV documentary series broadcast
  2004 – Zoo Story ITV TV documentary series broadcast
  2005 – Monkey Heights, the state-of-the-art monkey exhibit, opened
  2008 – Crocodile Swamp exhibit opened
  2012 -  Dr David Stradling, chairman of WWCT, died; the Zoo became the first in the UK to witness a giant Titan arum bloom
  2013 - Great Gorilla Project - life-sized gorillas were placed across Devon for charity - £100,000 were raised
  2016 - Great Big Rhino Project raised £123,000 for conservation
  2019 - The Whitley Wildlife Conservation Trust is re-named and re-branded as the Wild Planet Trust
  2019 - Duchess, the zoo's only African Elephant, died.
caption: Great Gorillas Project 2013
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