It seems hard to believe now, but 80 years ago, in June 1943, a zoo threw open its gates in Croyland Gardens, Wellingborough.
Initially run by a pet shop owner, there were lions, a polar bear penguins and even a baby elephant. Pipe-smoking Boo Boo the Chimp was a favourite, as well as a swearing parrot.
Simba the lion was captured many times by this newspaper going for a drink in his local and taking days out to the cinema.
As the zoo expanded, it changed hands and new enclosures for cats, monkeys and reptiles were opened in the 1960s.
But amid dropping standards, and an awful incident when an intruder lost part of his arm in the leopard enclosure, the zoo shut forever in 1970, replaced by council offices.
Take a look at some pictures from our archive of when the zoo was at its finest.
1. Wellingborough Zoo Park
The entrance to the park, which charged 7p to get in Photo: National World
2. Wellingborough Zoo Park
One of the zoo's chimps, Boo Boo, used to smoke a pipe Photo: NationalWorld
3. Wellingborough Zoo Park
Locals were regularly allowed to get up close to the animals, which were sometimes let out of their cages to meet the public Photo: NationalWorld
