Noah's Ark Zoo Farm
Encyclopedia
Noah's Ark Zoo Farm is a 100 acres (40.5 ha) tourist attraction—a zoo
and entertainment centre based around a working farm
—in Wraxall
, North Somerset
, about 6 miles (9.7 km) from Bristol
, England. The zoo has won several national awards, including 'Silver' in the Green Tourism Business Scheme and the 'Learning Outside the Classroom' Quality Badge. The zoo has also been criticised for promoting creationism
.
In December 2009 it was expelled from the zoo industry's regulatory body for bringing the association into disrepute following a BBC investigation into its links with the Great British Circus
.
dairy farmers
. In 1995 they purchased the farm, sold the Friesian herd, and converted the farm's 310 acres (125.5 ha) to arable
land and sheep raising.
In its early years, the zoo exhibited farm animals, small domestic animals such as rabbit
s and guinea pig
s, and some exotics such as wallabies
, rheas
and llama
s. In the early 21st century, the collection expanded to include tamarin
s, lemur
s, marmoset
s, a "finch
fountain," meerkat
s, camel
s, tiger
s, african lions, white rhinos, bison
, giraffe
s, capybara
, zebra
, tapir
s, prairie dog
s, emu
, ostriches, agouti
s, coati
s, mara
s and various reptiles. The zoo promotes animal protection and conservation, especially emphasising white rhinos, Siamang gibbons
, and black and white ruffed lemur
s. A webcam
at the zoo showed the live birth of a male Brazil
ian tapir
in April 2009.
Other attractions include twelve indoor play areas, a stage and seating for 500, and an indoor "Beehive Maze". In 2009 a wind turbine
was installed to cut energy costs and reduce the zoo's carbon footprint
. The zoo reports more than 130,000 visitors annually.
On 1 September 2011, Ann Widdecombe
launched the zoo's "Elephant Eden" facility,
an elephant sanctuary designed to house four elephants. It is set to become the largest elephant sanctuary of its kind in Europe at 20 acres (80,000 m2) . The Born Free Foundation
has criticised the scheme as being to small for its purpose.
, planted in 2003, is 3.2 kilometres (2 mi) long. It has two parts; one is a large rectangle in green beech
(representing Noah's Ark), in the other part seven 'monster animals' outlined in copper beech. Green beech cuttings are used to feed the camels and giraffes.
Gibbon parents Samson and Salome are part of a European Endangered Species Programme for managed breeding. In July 2009 they gave birth to a male gibbon called Sultana and then in December 2010 gave birth to a second male Siamang called Sidney.
The zoo holds the Quality Badge from the Learning Outside the Classroom Scheme, a national award which Noah’s Ark received for the quality of its educational programme for schools.
Noah’s Ark is a Quality Assured Visitor Attraction. The scheme is managed by VisitEngland
and monitors the customer experience at visitor attractions across England.
and the Captive Animals Protection Society
charged that the zoos tigers and camels were owned by the Great British Circus
and that the owners had kept this arrangement secret from visitors and from the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums
(BIAZA). The zoo owners replied that the zoo did not hold circus tigers and that its tigers came from Linctrek Ltd, a DEFRA-licensed collection that provides animals for films, television and zoos, and that Noah's Ark had accurately described the source of their tigers to interested visitors as a 'private collection'. One of the directors of Linctrek, Martin Lacey
, is also the owner of the Great British Circus
.
A BBC programme showed a tiger's head in a freezer at the farm and described the burial of a deceased tiger on the zoos private farmland contrary to DEFRA regulations. The documentary described how the head, paws and skin were kept with the owners permission and the intention to display these articles for educational purposes.
In December 2009, BIAZA terminated the zoo from its membership for what it claimed was the refusal of NAZF to provide BIAZA requested information and for bringing "the association into disrepute."
Earlier in the year, the Western Animal Rights Network
(WARN) and the Captive Animals Protection Society
(CAPS) made several claims of animal cruelty against the zoo, and charged that it regularly culled animals during winter months to reduce costs. The zoo denied these charges and explained that it had euthanised some chickens to protect the quality of the flock. In March 2010, an investigation by North Somerset
Council into the claims made found that all CAPS allegations of animal cruelty against the zoo were "grossly unfair". However, zoo inspectors said there were some failures to comply with the Secretary of State's Standards of Modern Zoo Practice. As a result tighter licence conditions were imposed including bringing independent vets in to check every six months.
Anthony Bush is an Oxford graduate and Anglican Christian
who advocates creationism. The Bushes named the zoo farm for the biblical Noah's Ark
, and zoo displays argue the historical truth of both creation and Noah's flood. Bush has said, 'From the outside, our farm is not overtly Christian. But, from the inside, we are very strongly Christian. I am a Creationist, and we see the farm as a mission station to give people scientific permission to believe in God'.
Although Anthony Bush believes in Noah's Ark, he does not accept flood geology
and believes that age of the earth
is 100,000 years old—much older than the 6,000-10,000 years that Young Earth creationists believe, but much younger than the 4.54 billion year accepted by scientific consensus
and Old Earth creationists.
Bush claims to be offering a mediating origins hypothesis despite scientific consensus
that the fossil record contains evidence of common descent and that radiometric dating
is not inaccurate:
The zoo has been criticised by the anti-creationist British Centre for Science Education
for 'contradicting vast swaths of science needed to pass public examinations'. Medical doctor and journalist Ben Goldacre
, author of the Bad Science column in The Guardian
, especially criticised the zoo's statement, 'To follow Darwinism is to recognise only the fleshly side of our natures, and, as we know, the flesh perishes; Darwinism, in other words, is a philosophy of death'. To which Goldacre retorted, 'Harsh words. Bring on the darkness'. Goldacre also said that the attraction had 'the distinction of being the only pseudoscience zoo in the UK'. In February 2009 psychology professor Bruce Hood, director of the Bristol Cognitive Development Centre at the University of Bristol
, described the zoo proprietor as 'the delightful but completely delusional Anthony Bush' and claimed that although Bush had rejected young creationism, he 'had constructed an elaborate but equally unscientific account of life on earth'. In August 2009, the British Humanist Association
urged tourist boards to stop promoting the zoo out of concern that it might 'undermine education and the teaching of science', and vicar Michael Roberts, an authority on Darwin and geology, agreed that the BHA was 'justified in criticising' the zoo and argued that church groups should have been more forthright in their criticism.
Zoo
A zoological garden, zoological park, menagerie, or zoo is a facility in which animals are confined within enclosures, displayed to the public, and in which they may also be bred....
and entertainment centre based around a working farm
Farm
A farm is an area of land, or, for aquaculture, lake, river or sea, including various structures, devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food , fibres and, increasingly, fuel. It is the basic production facility in food production. Farms may be owned and operated by a single...
—in Wraxall
Wraxall, Somerset
Wraxall is a village in North Somerset in England. The parish of the same name also included Nailsea and Flax Bourton until 1811. It is now within the parish of Wraxall and Failand.-History:...
, North Somerset
North Somerset
North Somerset is a unitary authority in England. Its area covers part of the ceremonial county of Somerset but it is administered independently of the non-metropolitan county. Its administrative headquarters is in the town hall in Weston-super-Mare....
, about 6 miles (9.7 km) from Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
, England. The zoo has won several national awards, including 'Silver' in the Green Tourism Business Scheme and the 'Learning Outside the Classroom' Quality Badge. The zoo has also been criticised for promoting creationism
Creationism
Creationism is the religious beliefthat humanity, life, the Earth, and the universe are the creation of a supernatural being, most often referring to the Abrahamic god. As science developed from the 18th century onwards, various views developed which aimed to reconcile science with the Genesis...
.
In December 2009 it was expelled from the zoo industry's regulatory body for bringing the association into disrepute following a BBC investigation into its links with the Great British Circus
Great British Circus
Great British Circus Ltd is a company that specialises in circus entertainment. Unusually for a UK-based circus company it includes live animals such as tigers, camels horses and ponies in its acts.-Use of wild animals:...
.
Development
For 35 years, Noah's Ark proprietors Anthony and Christina Bush worked Moat House Farm as tenantTenant farmer
A tenant farmer is one who resides on and farms land owned by a landlord. Tenant farming is an agricultural production system in which landowners contribute their land and often a measure of operating capital and management; while tenant farmers contribute their labor along with at times varying...
dairy farmers
Dairy farming
Dairy farming is a class of agricultural, or an animal husbandry, enterprise, for long-term production of milk, usually from dairy cows but also from goats and sheep, which may be either processed on-site or transported to a dairy factory for processing and eventual retail sale.Most dairy farms...
. In 1995 they purchased the farm, sold the Friesian herd, and converted the farm's 310 acres (125.5 ha) to arable
Agronomy
Agronomy is the science and technology of producing and using plants for food, fuel, feed, fiber, and reclamation. Agronomy encompasses work in the areas of plant genetics, plant physiology, meteorology, and soil science. Agronomy is the application of a combination of sciences like biology,...
land and sheep raising.
In its early years, the zoo exhibited farm animals, small domestic animals such as rabbit
Rabbit
Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world...
s and guinea pig
Guinea pig
The guinea pig , also called the cavy, is a species of rodent belonging to the family Caviidae and the genus Cavia. Despite their common name, these animals are not in the pig family, nor are they from Guinea...
s, and some exotics such as wallabies
Wallaby
A wallaby is any of about thirty species of macropod . It is an informal designation generally used for any macropod that is smaller than a kangaroo or wallaroo that has not been given some other name.-Overview:...
, rheas
Rhea (bird)
The rheas are ratites in the genus Rhea, native to South America. There are two existing species: the Greater or American Rhea and the Lesser or Darwin's Rhea. The genus name was given in 1752 by Paul Möhring and adopted as the English common name. Möhring's reason for choosing this name, from the...
and llama
Llama
The llama is a South American camelid, widely used as a meat and pack animal by Andean cultures since pre-Hispanic times....
s. In the early 21st century, the collection expanded to include tamarin
Tamarin
The tamarins are squirrel-sized New World monkeys from the family Callitrichidae in the genus Saguinus. They are closely related to the lion tamarins in the genus Leontopithecus.- Range :...
s, lemur
Lemur
Lemurs are a clade of strepsirrhine primates endemic to the island of Madagascar. They are named after the lemures of Roman mythology due to the ghostly vocalizations, reflective eyes, and the nocturnal habits of some species...
s, marmoset
Marmoset
Marmosets are the 22 New World monkey species of the genera Callithrix, Cebuella, Callibella, and Mico. All four genera are part of the biological family Callitrichidae. The term marmoset is also used in reference to the Goeldi's Monkey, Callimico goeldii, which is closely related.Most marmosets...
s, a "finch
Finch
The true finches are passerine birds in the family Fringillidae. They are predominantly seed-eating songbirds. Most are native to the Northern Hemisphere, but one subfamily is endemic to the Neotropics, one to the Hawaiian Islands, and one subfamily – monotypic at genus level – is found...
fountain," meerkat
Meerkat
The meerkat or suricate, Suricata suricatta, is a small mammal belonging to the mongoose family. Meerkats live in all parts of the Kalahari Desert in Botswana, in much of the Namib Desert in Namibia and southwestern Angola, and in South Africa. A group of meerkats is called a "mob", "gang" or "clan"...
s, camel
Camel
A camel is an even-toed ungulate within the genus Camelus, bearing distinctive fatty deposits known as humps on its back. There are two species of camels: the dromedary or Arabian camel has a single hump, and the bactrian has two humps. Dromedaries are native to the dry desert areas of West Asia,...
s, tiger
Tiger
The tiger is the largest cat species, reaching a total body length of up to and weighing up to . Their most recognizable feature is a pattern of dark vertical stripes on reddish-orange fur with lighter underparts...
s, african lions, white rhinos, bison
Bison
Members of the genus Bison are large, even-toed ungulates within the subfamily Bovinae. Two extant and four extinct species are recognized...
, giraffe
Giraffe
The giraffe is an African even-toed ungulate mammal, the tallest of all extant land-living animal species, and the largest ruminant...
s, capybara
Capybara
The capybara , also known as capivara in Portuguese, and capibara, chigüire in Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador ronsoco in Peru, chigüiro, and carpincho in Spanish, is the largest living rodent in the world. Its closest relatives are agouti, chinchillas, coyphillas, and guinea pigs...
, zebra
Zebra
Zebras are several species of African equids united by their distinctive black and white stripes. Their stripes come in different patterns unique to each individual. They are generally social animals that live in small harems to large herds...
, tapir
Tapir
A Tapir is a large browsing mammal, similar in shape to a pig, with a short, prehensile snout. Tapirs inhabit jungle and forest regions of South America, Central America, and Southeast Asia. There are four species of Tapirs: the Brazilian Tapir, the Malayan Tapir, Baird's Tapir and the Mountain...
s, prairie dog
Prairie dog
Prairie dogs are burrowing rodents native to the grasslands of North America. There are five different species of prairie dogs: black-tailed, white-tailed, Gunnison's, Utah and Mexican prairie dogs. They are a type of ground squirrel, found in the United States, Canada and Mexico...
s, emu
Emu
The Emu Dromaius novaehollandiae) is the largest bird native to Australia and the only extant member of the genus Dromaius. It is the second-largest extant bird in the world by height, after its ratite relative, the ostrich. There are three subspecies of Emus in Australia...
, ostriches, agouti
Common agouti
The popular term Agouti designates several rodent species of the genus Dasyprocta that inhabit areas of Middle America, the West Indies, and northern South America. They are related to guinea pigs and look quite similar but have longer legs. The species vary in color from tawny to dark brown with...
s, coati
Coati
Coatis, genera Nasua and Nasuella, also known as the Brazilian aardvark, Mexican tejón, hog-nosed coon, pizotes, crackoons and snookum bears, are members of the raccoon family . They are diurnal mammals native to South America, Central America, and south-western North America...
s, mara
Mara (mammal)
The maras are a genus of the cavy family. They are the sole representatives of the subfamily Dolichotinae. These large relatives of guinea pigs are common in the Patagonian steppes of Argentina but live in other areas of South America as well such as Paraguay...
s and various reptiles. The zoo promotes animal protection and conservation, especially emphasising white rhinos, Siamang gibbons
Siamang
The siamang is a tailless, arboreal, black-furred gibbon native to the forests of Malaysia, Thailand, and Sumatra. The largest of the lesser apes, the siamang can be twice the size of other gibbons, reaching 1 m in height, and weighing up to 14 kg...
, and black and white ruffed lemur
Ruffed lemur
The ruffed lemurs of the genus Varecia are strepsirrhine primates and the largest extant lemurs within the family Lemuridae. Like all living lemurs, they are found only on the island of Madagascar...
s. A webcam
Webcam
A webcam is a video camera that feeds its images in real time to a computer or computer network, often via USB, ethernet, or Wi-Fi.Their most popular use is the establishment of video links, permitting computers to act as videophones or videoconference stations. This common use as a video camera...
at the zoo showed the live birth of a male Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian tapir
Tapir
A Tapir is a large browsing mammal, similar in shape to a pig, with a short, prehensile snout. Tapirs inhabit jungle and forest regions of South America, Central America, and Southeast Asia. There are four species of Tapirs: the Brazilian Tapir, the Malayan Tapir, Baird's Tapir and the Mountain...
in April 2009.
Other attractions include twelve indoor play areas, a stage and seating for 500, and an indoor "Beehive Maze". In 2009 a wind turbine
Wind turbine
A wind turbine is a device that converts kinetic energy from the wind into mechanical energy. If the mechanical energy is used to produce electricity, the device may be called a wind generator or wind charger. If the mechanical energy is used to drive machinery, such as for grinding grain or...
was installed to cut energy costs and reduce the zoo's carbon footprint
Carbon footprint
A carbon footprint has historically been defined as "the total set of greenhouse gas emissions caused by an organization, event, product or person.". However, calculating a carbon footprint which conforms to this definition is often impracticable due to the large amount of data required, which is...
. The zoo reports more than 130,000 visitors annually.
On 1 September 2011, Ann Widdecombe
Ann Widdecombe
Ann Noreen Widdecombe is a former British Conservative Party politician and has been a novelist since 2000. She is a Privy Councillor and was the Member of Parliament for Maidstone from 1987 to 1997 and for Maidstone and The Weald from 1997 to 2010. She was a social conservative and a member of...
launched the zoo's "Elephant Eden" facility,
an elephant sanctuary designed to house four elephants. It is set to become the largest elephant sanctuary of its kind in Europe at 20 acres (80,000 m2) . The Born Free Foundation
Born Free Foundation
The Born Free Foundation is a conservation and animal rescue organization in the United Kingdom. It originated in 1984 as the "Zoo Check Campaign" by actors Virginia McKenna and her husband Bill Travers along with their son Will Travers and four associates....
has criticised the scheme as being to small for its purpose.
Maze
The zoo's hedge mazeHedge Maze
A hedge maze is an outdoor garden maze or labyrinth in which the "walls" or dividers between passages are made of vertical hedges.-History:...
, planted in 2003, is 3.2 kilometres (2 mi) long. It has two parts; one is a large rectangle in green beech
Beech
Beech is a genus of ten species of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia and North America.-Habit:...
(representing Noah's Ark), in the other part seven 'monster animals' outlined in copper beech. Green beech cuttings are used to feed the camels and giraffes.
Successful breeding of endangered species
Since the summer of 2009 there have been two Siamang gibbons born at Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm . The Siamang Gibbon is classed as endangered according to the International Union For Conservation .Gibbon parents Samson and Salome are part of a European Endangered Species Programme for managed breeding. In July 2009 they gave birth to a male gibbon called Sultana and then in December 2010 gave birth to a second male Siamang called Sidney.
Awards
Noah’s Ark is a member of the Green Tourism Business Scheme (GTBS) and won the Silver award from the GTBS in 2009 in recognition of its efforts to be sustainable. The farm zoo has scored over 65% in a number of criteria including waste recycling, harvesting rainwater and protecting local wildlife.The zoo holds the Quality Badge from the Learning Outside the Classroom Scheme, a national award which Noah’s Ark received for the quality of its educational programme for schools.
Noah’s Ark is a Quality Assured Visitor Attraction. The scheme is managed by VisitEngland
and monitors the customer experience at visitor attractions across England.
Alleged links with circus
In October 2009 the BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
and the Captive Animals Protection Society
Captive Animals Protection Society
The Captive Animals' Protection Society is a UK charity campaigning to end the use of animals in entertainment, including circuses, zoos, the exotic pet trade and the audio-visual industry.-History:...
charged that the zoos tigers and camels were owned by the Great British Circus
Great British Circus
Great British Circus Ltd is a company that specialises in circus entertainment. Unusually for a UK-based circus company it includes live animals such as tigers, camels horses and ponies in its acts.-Use of wild animals:...
and that the owners had kept this arrangement secret from visitors and from the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums
British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums
The British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums is a conservation, education and scientific wildlife charity. Founded in 1966 within the zoo and aquarium community to see the principles and practices of animal management adopted in the British Isles...
(BIAZA). The zoo owners replied that the zoo did not hold circus tigers and that its tigers came from Linctrek Ltd, a DEFRA-licensed collection that provides animals for films, television and zoos, and that Noah's Ark had accurately described the source of their tigers to interested visitors as a 'private collection'. One of the directors of Linctrek, Martin Lacey
Martin Lacey
Martin Lacey is a circus ringmaster, company director and trainer of wild animals. He trained most of the tigers that were used in the Esso television advertisements in the 1970s-Professional life:...
, is also the owner of the Great British Circus
Great British Circus
Great British Circus Ltd is a company that specialises in circus entertainment. Unusually for a UK-based circus company it includes live animals such as tigers, camels horses and ponies in its acts.-Use of wild animals:...
.
A BBC programme showed a tiger's head in a freezer at the farm and described the burial of a deceased tiger on the zoos private farmland contrary to DEFRA regulations. The documentary described how the head, paws and skin were kept with the owners permission and the intention to display these articles for educational purposes.
In December 2009, BIAZA terminated the zoo from its membership for what it claimed was the refusal of NAZF to provide BIAZA requested information and for bringing "the association into disrepute."
Earlier in the year, the Western Animal Rights Network
Western Animal Rights Network
The Western Animal Rights Network first appeared in 2005 as a coalition for animal rights groups in the West of England and South Wales and acted as a news service for animal rights demos and action reports....
(WARN) and the Captive Animals Protection Society
Captive Animals Protection Society
The Captive Animals' Protection Society is a UK charity campaigning to end the use of animals in entertainment, including circuses, zoos, the exotic pet trade and the audio-visual industry.-History:...
(CAPS) made several claims of animal cruelty against the zoo, and charged that it regularly culled animals during winter months to reduce costs. The zoo denied these charges and explained that it had euthanised some chickens to protect the quality of the flock. In March 2010, an investigation by North Somerset
North Somerset
North Somerset is a unitary authority in England. Its area covers part of the ceremonial county of Somerset but it is administered independently of the non-metropolitan county. Its administrative headquarters is in the town hall in Weston-super-Mare....
Council into the claims made found that all CAPS allegations of animal cruelty against the zoo were "grossly unfair". However, zoo inspectors said there were some failures to comply with the Secretary of State's Standards of Modern Zoo Practice. As a result tighter licence conditions were imposed including bringing independent vets in to check every six months.
Creationism
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
who advocates creationism. The Bushes named the zoo farm for the biblical Noah's Ark
Noah's Ark
Noah's Ark is a vessel appearing in the Book of Genesis and the Quran . These narratives describe the construction of the ark by Noah at God's command to save himself, his family, and the world's animals from the worldwide deluge of the Great Flood.In the narrative of the ark, God sees the...
, and zoo displays argue the historical truth of both creation and Noah's flood. Bush has said, 'From the outside, our farm is not overtly Christian. But, from the inside, we are very strongly Christian. I am a Creationist, and we see the farm as a mission station to give people scientific permission to believe in God'.
Although Anthony Bush believes in Noah's Ark, he does not accept flood geology
Flood geology
Flood geology is the interpretation of the geological history of the Earth in terms of the global flood described in Genesis 6–9. Similar views played a part in the early development of the science of geology, even after the Biblical chronology had been rejected by geologists in favour of an...
and believes that age of the earth
Age of the Earth
The age of the Earth is 4.54 billion years This age is based on evidence from radiometric age dating of meteorite material and is consistent with the ages of the oldest-known terrestrial and lunar samples...
is 100,000 years old—much older than the 6,000-10,000 years that Young Earth creationists believe, but much younger than the 4.54 billion year accepted by scientific consensus
Scientific consensus
Scientific consensus is the collective judgment, position, and opinion of the community of scientists in a particular field of study. Consensus implies general agreement, though not necessarily unanimity. Scientific consensus is not by itself a scientific argument, and it is not part of the...
and Old Earth creationists.
Bush claims to be offering a mediating origins hypothesis despite scientific consensus
Scientific consensus
Scientific consensus is the collective judgment, position, and opinion of the community of scientists in a particular field of study. Consensus implies general agreement, though not necessarily unanimity. Scientific consensus is not by itself a scientific argument, and it is not part of the...
that the fossil record contains evidence of common descent and that radiometric dating
Radiometric dating
Radiometric dating is a technique used to date materials such as rocks, usually based on a comparison between the observed abundance of a naturally occurring radioactive isotope and its decay products, using known decay rates...
is not inaccurate:
The zoo has been criticised by the anti-creationist British Centre for Science Education
British Centre for Science Education
The British Centre for Science Education is a volunteer-run organization in the United Kingdom that has the goal of "countering creationism within the UK" and was formed to campaign against the teaching of creationism in schools.- Activities :...
for 'contradicting vast swaths of science needed to pass public examinations'. Medical doctor and journalist Ben Goldacre
Ben Goldacre
Ben Michael Goldacre born 1974 is a British science writer, doctor and psychiatrist. He is the author of The Guardian newspaper's weekly Bad Science column and a book of the same title, published by Fourth Estate in September 2008....
, author of the Bad Science column in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, especially criticised the zoo's statement, 'To follow Darwinism is to recognise only the fleshly side of our natures, and, as we know, the flesh perishes; Darwinism, in other words, is a philosophy of death'. To which Goldacre retorted, 'Harsh words. Bring on the darkness'. Goldacre also said that the attraction had 'the distinction of being the only pseudoscience zoo in the UK'. In February 2009 psychology professor Bruce Hood, director of the Bristol Cognitive Development Centre at the University of Bristol
University of Bristol
The University of Bristol is a public research university located in Bristol, United Kingdom. One of the so-called "red brick" universities, it received its Royal Charter in 1909, although its predecessor institution, University College, Bristol, had been in existence since 1876.The University is...
, described the zoo proprietor as 'the delightful but completely delusional Anthony Bush' and claimed that although Bush had rejected young creationism, he 'had constructed an elaborate but equally unscientific account of life on earth'. In August 2009, the British Humanist Association
British Humanist Association
The British Humanist Association is an organisation of the United Kingdom which promotes Humanism and represents "people who seek to live good lives without religious or superstitious beliefs." The BHA is committed to secularism, human rights, democracy, egalitarianism and mutual respect...
urged tourist boards to stop promoting the zoo out of concern that it might 'undermine education and the teaching of science', and vicar Michael Roberts, an authority on Darwin and geology, agreed that the BHA was 'justified in criticising' the zoo and argued that church groups should have been more forthright in their criticism.