South Lakes Safari Zoo hit the headlines when it was revealed that almost five hundred animals had died there in under four years. The zoo's founder David Gill was denied a new license to run the park, and in early 2017 remaining staff formed a new company to try and rescue the animal park. This observational documentary charts the events in the summer that followed, as the staff at the embattled zoo try to rescue their reputation by improving their practices, whilst struggling to meet financial targets to survive the rest of the year.
The zoo has also had to take on a new director of animals, Andreas Kaufmann, to help them modernise standards. Andreas is particularly concerned with what the animals eat, which species he believes the zoo should keep, and how they play a role in global conservation efforts.
Across five months of filming at South Lakes Safari Zoo, food supply problems have serious implications for one of the zoo's favourite animals and Andreas battles with the staff to vastly reduce the number of animals kept on-site. He believes they should only keep what they have capacity to care for, but others on the zoo's board worry these changes might affect visitor numbers, and the zoo's chances of survival.
