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Urban explorers just shared footage of gorillas living at Bristol Zoo three years after it closed to visitors.
Members of the public reacted with concern to the video, which showed overgrown grounds, deserted buildings, and a gorilla tapping on the window of an enclosure. The Bristol Zoological Society (BZS) described claims that the animals were unhappy as “misleading” and said they have exactly the same enrichment routine as before.
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The explorers, who visited the site multiple times, said that they simply “walked straight through” the entrance to capture the footage. The new video has made headlines – much like a previous clip did in 2024 – and The Daily Mail described the animals as the “world’s loneliest gorillas” and the zoo as “long-abandoned.”
Justin Morris, the chief executive of BZS, told the Guardian, “The idea that they’ve been abandoned is ridiculous. They are absolutely getting the same quality and care as they were when we were open to visitors. This is a really good healthy group of gorillas.”
Darrell Sawczuk, social media manager at Plant Based News (PBN) and a former gorilla keeper, said that the plight of the captive animals in the video “is very close” to his heart. “I’m sad that they are captive, I’m sad that they will never see where their wild counterparts live,” said Sawczuk. However, he added that by describing the gorillas as “abandoned,” publications have missed a lot of nuance, particularly when it comes to the realities of being a captive animal in a zoo that is open to the public.
‘This is the only time in their lives when they can be left to be gorillas’
“The daily occurrence of people banging on enclosure windows will be something the gorillas know all too well,” said Sawczuk. “So is it sad that they are left in a now-closed zoo? In my opinion, it’s the best-case scenario. They will never see the wild; they were born and will die in captivity. So this is the only time in their lives when they can be left to be gorillas.”
Bristol Zoo opened in 1836 and closed in 2022. It housed approximately 1000 animals, but since closing, it has remained home to just eight western lowland gorillas. The BZS is building them a new habitat at Bristol Zoo Project, due in early 2026.
“My hope for them is that they could be released to an ape sanctuary, the likes of Monkey World in Dorset or The Wales Ape and Monkey Sanctuary, but unfortunately, they do not house any gorillas currently,” said Sawczuk. “So for now, we can only hope the enclosure being built at the new Bristol Zoo site is bigger, better, and provides more off-show areas for them to continue to be gorillas, without the constant gaze of their human cousins.”
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Break-ins cause ‘significant’ potential risk to animals and staff
Conservation charity Born Free described the actions of the urban explorers as posing “significant potential risks” to the health and safety of staff and animals.
Last year, Born Free also described footage of the gorillas’ indoor enclosure at the closed zoo as “sadly typical” of great ape habitats, and said “this highlights the conditions these animals have to endure” when living in captivity.
When open, Bristol Zoo was subject to several welfare controversies, including avoidable deaths, escaped animals, and, notoriously, the alleged punching of a seal by a zookeeper in 2013. According to previous research commissioned by the Born Free Foundation, 76 percent of zoos and aquariums break welfare standards.
A report published in July of this year found that great apes, in particular, are routinely prescribed antidepressants by UK zoos to alleviate the stress of unnatural conditions in captivity, and regularly experience other health issues, such as heart disease.
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