Sandown Zoo

At the very end of Sandown (IOW) seafront stands what was once Sandown Fort, a Victorian fort built to protect the bay around 1864. It also served in WW2 notably holding pumps for Operation Pluto. The zoo was established here in the 1950’s, and taken over by Jack Corney in 1976. I Visited before, in the 80’s, while under his care. My memory (which might well be incorrect!) is that he had a passion for snakes, and that at the time it held the largest collection of venomous snakes in the UK (certainly I remember the Cobra). I’ve always had a love/hate thing with snakes – I can’t stand them and they give me the “heebie-jeebies” but at the same time, I can’t not go and look!! I also seem to remember the general surroundings being a little better, more plants etc. Now it does all look a little sad and make shift. For once that’s a good thing…

The snakes are gone, I could find only one non-venomous one. That’s because as time has gone by general attitudes to zoo’s have changed and this is no longer the “Ilse of Wight Zoo” but the Wildheart Animal Sanctuary. Here, now, most of the animals have been rescued. The Tigers I wrote about before: Softi and Toph, rescued from the Belarussian border in 2019. Two bears you will see: Benji and Balu, from Azerbaijan.

All the “profit” is ploughed back in to look after, recue, and care for the animals rather than the humans – and that’s fine with me! It’s just sad they need rescuing from humans in the first place – perhaps it is us who are the dangerous ones and should be put in cages!