A WELL-KNOWN TV vet has commended Dalton zoo for improvements made following an inspection.

Cumbria Zoo Company Ltd was issued a licence in May 2017 by Barrow Borough Council after site owner David Gill was refused permission to operate a zoo.

In May 2019 council-appointed inspectors visited the zoo and raised concerns about ventilation and record-keeping.

Dr Matt Brash, appointed as the council’s veterinary advisor, was not satisfied that adequate ventilation was being provided within a number of areas where animals were being kept.

Mr Brash presented ITV’s Zoo Vet and Zoo Vet At Large and acted as advisor to the Harry Potter films.

He highlighted an ‘eight month backlog’ in maintaining records and found ‘the daily diaries were poor, sparsely populated with information in some instances, although or in other areas more comprehensive. For example in one case, no information has been written for the months of November and December’.

Councillors on the licensing regulatory committee are due to hear reports at a meeting this week following a subsequent inspection in November 2019 to see if improvements had been made.

Dr Brash found a part time zoo secretary had been employed whose role is solely to ensure that the data is all collated.

A new daily diary system has also been introduced with records now ‘reasonably complete’.

In his latest report, Dr Brash concluded: “Considerable efforts have been made to input the backlog of data from the last year, and the zoo is to be commended for this effort.”

The zoo was also visited in September by its zoological practitioner Karen Archer who confirmed there were now ‘no concerns’ about the ventilation in the meat kitchen, Tambopata, Giraffe house and veterinary hospital at the Dalton zoo.

Councillors had been recommended to note the contents of the report following the latest inspections and to note ‘the progress being made’.