Heythrop Zoo closure is ‘end of an era’ after 50 years

Heythrop Zoo in Chipping Norton, which trades as Amazing Animals, announced this week that it will shut down at the end of the month.

Setting up one of the UK’s largest trainers and suppliers of animals to the film and TV industry was the ‘dream’ of owner and co-founder Jim Clubb, who set up the business in 1977 with his wife Sally.

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Mr Clubb said: “It’s difficult talking about it, because obviously it’s a very sad thing for us all.

“We made the decision about two years ago as I’m retiring, as my son doesn’t want to continue with it, which I can quite understand as it was always my dream from the beginning.”

Heythrop Zoo penguins on a visit to a care home (Image: Methodist Homes)

Mr and Mrs Clubb both came from animal training backgrounds and set up Amazing Animals for animal training about 10 years before Heythrop Zoological Gardens was built.

A custom-built film set location, the Clubbs built Heythrop Zoo in 1988 for TV and film productions in Europe, and since then the business supplied animals for major productions like the Harry Potter series, Mission: Impossible, The Mummy Returns, Stardust, Nativity, Sweeney Todd and The Golden Compass.

The last production filmed at Heythrop Zoo was the upcoming latest release from director Christopher Nolan, Odyssey, for which Amazing Animals supplied a tiger, leopard and black panther.

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Now, though, all of the animals have been found new homes, with the last few leaving the zoo next week, in a process which has taken two years.

Mr Clubb said: “Some have gone to new homes locally, lots of them to other collections or zoos with people that have had animals from us before.

All the animals at Heythrop Zoo have been rehomed

“Many of them are not too far away, so we can go and visit them if we want to.

“After all these years, it’s a very sad occasion for us. Amongst the staff, we find it really difficult to talk too much about it – it’s the end of an era.”

The five-decade enterprise has been ‘a real achievement’ for the owner, but he explained that business was ‘crippled’ by the pandemic, which exacerbated the decline of using real animals in film amid improved CGI and special effects.

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Taking animals ‘on the road’ to care homes and schools was one of the ‘highlights’ for the owner, who said the visits have been “an enormous part of it”.

Heythrop Zoo has helped staff move on to other jobs in the industry, many of them locally, and Mr Clubb said his fascination with ‘exotic’ animal species will continue for life.

“I’m still keeping a collection of reptiles and tropical fish,” he said, “as that’s my hobby interest – so I won’t be without animals completely. I’m sure I won’t be without animals for the rest of my life!”