Benjamin Mee

When Benjamin Mee decided to uproot his family and move them to an unlikely new home--a dilapidated zoo where more than 200 exotic animals would be their new neighbors--his friends and colleagues thought he was crazy. But, inspired by the memory of his wife and the healing power of animals, Benjamin and his kids resolved to move forward.

We Bought a Zoo

The author describes how he uprooted his family to the English countryside and purchased a dilapidated zoo, which he planned to refurbish and reopen as a family business, a scheme complicated by a lack of money and his wife's devastating illness.

The Amazing True Story of a Young Family, a Broken Down Zoo, and the 200 Wild Animals That Change Their Lives Forever

mattie westbury

Pam Sartain

The remarkable true story of a family who move into a rundown zoo–already a BBC documentary miniseries and excerpted in The Guardian. In the market for a house and an adventure, Benjamin Mee moved his family to an unlikely new home: a dilapidated zoo in the English countryside. Mee had a dream to refurbish the zoo and run it as a family business. His friends and colleagues thought he was crazy. But in 2006, Mee and his wife with their two children, his brother, and his 76-year-old mother moved into the Dartmoor Wildlife Park. Their 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 and would-be ninja, who has devised a long term escape plan and implemented it. Nothing was easy, given the family’s lack of experience as zookeepers, and what follows is a magical exploration of the mysteries of the animal kingdom, the power of family, and the triumph of hope over tragedy. We Bought a Zoo is a profoundly moving portrait of an unforgettable family living in the most extraordinary circumstances.

We Bought a Zoo

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