About the Zoo & Wildlife

Living Coasts was a coastal zoo at the site of Torquay Marine Spa in Devon, England. It was owned by South West Environmental Parks as part of the Wild Planet Trust, formerly known as Whitley Wildlife Conservation Trust, which also operates Newquay Zoo and Paignton Zoo. It was a registered charity, based around seabirds and other coastal wildlife. The site had a covered giant aviary which included several animal enclosures and habitats including an artificial tidal estuary, a penguin beach, a tropical mangrove swamp, and underwater viewing areas. Living Coasts was also home to the oldest African Penguin in the UK, named Pat, before he was euthanized in 2015 at the age of 37. Living Coasts was Britain's first and only coastal zoo. It was a member of the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA), the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA), and the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA). On 16 June 2020, Living Coasts announced it would not be reopening following its closure during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of the species they had during the almost twenty years before closure were common cuttlefish, common octopus, lesser octopus, tropical white spotted octopus, wonderpus, African penguins, gentoo penguins, macaroni penguins, South American fur seals, Asian short clawed otter, atlantic mudskipper, tufted puffin, inca tern, common tern, Australian big bellied seahorse, short snouted seahorse, black necked stilt, red billed choughs, spiny starfish, Red-Legged kittiwake, black legged Kittiwake, Indian bluespotted Ribbontai ray, whiptail ray, upside down jellyfish, common redshank, white spotted pufferfish, figure of eight pufferfish, pied avocet, pigeon guillemots, common guillemots, edible crab, broad clawed porcelain crab, common hermit crab, European spider crab, land hermit crab, ruffs, red lionfish, common lobster, banded archerfish, Scatophagus argus, striped mullet, thick lipped grey mullet, Barrow's goldeneye, bank cormorant, common murre, snake lock anemone, strawberry anemone, rhino beetle, sun beetle, tompot blenny, Chough, orange chromide, shore clingfish, death head cockroach, four eyed fish, leopard gecko, goby, stick insect, silver moony, oyster catcher, greater pipefish, broadnose pipefish, common sea urchin, green sea urchin, blue baboon spider, corkwing wrasse, longtailed duck, bristletail filefish, bearded reedling, wolffish, horseshoe crab, blacktailed godwit, black rat, black scoter, and common scoter.