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Dartmoor Zoo goes to Hollywood

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Dartmoor Zoo in Plymouth Devon, is the focus of a new film starring Matt Damon ... and the owner, Benjamin Mee, couldn’t be happier. We Bought a Zoo is based on a true story written by Mee, who was a journalist before he turned his hand to zoo-keeping in 2006. The book has been translated into 20 languages and the film opened in the USA on 23rd December 2011 and had taken almost $25 million by the end of the month.
Mee’s story is one of triumph through adversity and followed tragedy in his personal life. He had never intended to buy a zoo but was looking for a large house suitable for his own family – wife Katherine, daughter Ella and son Milo – as well as for his recently-widowed mother and some of his siblings. His sister sent him details of a large 10-bedroomed house on Dartmoor near Plymouth in Devon, and with it came a zoo! Rather than being deterred by this, Mee, who was a genuine animal lover, decided to take on the challenge. Vue Cinema Plymouth
Article about Dartmoor When Mee first saw the zoo in 2005 it was rather dilapidated and needed some serious money invested in it. Having sold his mother’s house to pay the £1 million asking price for the 33-acre zoo, there was little remaining to invest. When Mee and his family moved in to the property in October 2006 they only had £7,000 which barely covered the zoo’s running costs for a fortnight. They borrowed £500,000 and worked hard through the following winter and spring to prepare the zoo for the public.
However, their progress was marred by the tragic news that Mee’s wife had developed a brain tumour. Katherine had originally been diagnosed in 2004 but had recovered. This time she declined rapidly and she died in March 2007.
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And although the family managed to get the zoo open in time for the peak period, they then found that the weather had turned against them.

That first July was the wettest for 100 years and it was followed by a further 3 very poor summers. However, Mee battled through it and today Dartmoor Zoo regularly welcomes capacity crowds of around 1,000 visitors a day, all keen to see the wide range of animals, including tigers, lions, brown bears, reindeer, vervet monkeys, pygmy goats, a jaguar and a cheetah called Sita.
The rights to the book We Bought a Zoo were snapped up by 20th Century Fox, who promptly asked Cameron Crowe, award-winning director of Almost Famous, Elizabethtown, and Jerry Maguire, to take the helm of their newest acquisition. Both Crowe and Mee welcomed Matt Damon as the film’s lead and Mee was particularly touched when Damon agreed to have some photos taken in a Dartmoor Zoo t-shirt to help publicise the place. Ben Mee and Matt Damon

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Mee had no objections to the story being moved to the USA so the film is based in the fictional Rosemoor Wildlife Park in California. There are a few other differences between the book and the film, as is common in the industry. In the film, there is an incident with an escaped bear, while it was a jaguar named Sovereign that escaped in real life. Also, Ella and Milo were only four and six when they moved to the zoo, but they were portrayed as much older children in the film.

Nevertheless, both the book and the film have enjoyed enormous success and Mee sincerely hopes that Dartmoor Zoo will benefit from the good publicity.

 

 

  
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