Product Description

Chuck it all in and buy a zoo? Why not? thought Benjamin Mee, unaware of the grim living conditions, creditors and escaped big cat that lay in wait! A few years ago, Ben and his wife, Katherine, sold their small flat in Primrose Hill and moved to France to pursue their dream of restoring an old barn near Nimes. That dream then became much, much bigger for, last October, they moved with their two young children, Ben's 76 year-old mother and his brother, into a run-down zoo on the edge of Dartmoor which they had bought, and found themselves responsible for 200 animals including four huge tigers, lions, pumas, three massive bears, a tapir and a wolf pack. Ben's new extended family now included: Solomon, an African lion and scourge of the local golf course; Zak, the rickety Alpha wolf, a broadly benevolent dictator clinging to power; Ronnie, a Brazilian tapir, easily capable of killing a man, but hopelessly soppy; and Sovereign, a jaguar who is also a would-be ninja, and has devised a long term escape plan and implemented it. But tragedy was to strike for, in the midst of dealing with escaping wolves and jaguars, and troublesome adolescent vervet monkeys, Katherine, who had developed, and had removed, a brain tumour while in France, began to experience symptoms again. The prognosis was poor, and so Ben found himself juggling the complexities of managing the zoo and getting it ready for re-opening, and at the same time having to care for his rapidly deteriorating wife, their two young children, and their ever growing menagerie of animals. Ben's story will both move and entertain -- charting, simultaneously, the family's attempts to improve the animals' lives, the build-up to the Zoo's official reopening, as well as Katherine's decline, her final days, and how the family went on.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #55731 in Books
• Published on: 2009-02-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Review
One of the most inspiring books I've read. --Western Daily Press

Review
An engaging tale from someone who dared to do something different

Review
Mee writes movingly about his wife's fatal illness, his children coming to terms with this, his sprightly old mum and, of course, his 200 wild animals in all their diverse glory

Customer Reviews

I bought the book!!
Exceedingly well written, Benjamin's style grips you from page one.
His mother sounds such a wild-card person, l would love to meet her.
be honest how many ladies of 76, decide to sell everything they
own and go in with their son and buy a Zoo.
The Zoo they took on, was in a dire state, and didn't have a licence
to let people see any of the animals, so hope of opening soon as
they bought it went out of the window.
The story tells of his/their ups and downs (and mainly downs),
of getting the zoo together, right up to going to the council
office and seeing if he had passed all the tests councils
require. I read it in 3 days which is quick for me. Very easy
to read, and very entertaining.

Brilliant..totally worth the read and the £££
I picked this up first in Waterstone's and the first few pages had me smiling and then almost crying. So I bought it on here!

Just couldn't put it down, read it cover to cover. Really liked the style of writing, humorous, vulnerable and revealing in that wonderful English way. Felt included in the journey and privvy to the most fascinating parts of the revamp of the zoo and the authors life.

I have given this book to 3 friends and I am so impressed with it no doubt it will be making an appearance under several Xmas trees this year!

They bought a zoo, you should buy this book!
Having visited the place (Dartmoor wildlife park) pre-Mee, I was shocked by the state of the enclosures and the park as a whole. So when I saw that the park had been taken over and that the guy had written a book about his exploits during the renovation and re-opening I was intrigued. This book held me as captive as Mr Mee's animals are (I occasionally escaped to other areas of the house for refreshments etc!), I was unable to put this book down. It is superbly written, filled with interesting titbits of info about animal and human behaviour, adventure, sadness and is sprinkled with humourous moments (I laughed out loud at least 20 times). I thoroughly enjoyed this book and recommend reading it.