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Drusillas Zoo Park

zoo in East Sussex, England

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 17, 2026
Entity authorityQ5309411 ↗
Source-derived summary

Drusillas Zoo Park is a small 10 acres (4.0 ha) zoo near to Alfriston, East Sussex, England, United Kingdom. It attracts between 350,000 and 370,000 visitors per year and until December 2021, was home to the first Hello Kitty-themed attraction in Europe.

The zoo cares for both wild and domestic animals, including ring-tailed lemurs, meerkats, camels, giant anteaters and penguins. There are many hands-on activities, an adventure play area separated for different age groups: children under nine in one and ten and up in a different area, an indoor soft play centre, and the Safari Express train ride that runs daily and six other rides. There are also cafés, shops, and restaurants.

History

The enterprise began in 1925 as "Drusilla's Tea Cottage", operated by Douglas Ann and his first wife Drusilla. Animals were included later. It was closed between April and November 1954 due to a fire. In 1959, management passed to Ann's sons. It is now owned by Laurence and Christine Smith, who bought it from the Ann family in 1997.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Drusillas Zoo Park” as zoo in East Sussex, England. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2021, 1925, 1954, 1959—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1920. The account is most persuasive where Drusillas, Park and East can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as zoo in East Sussex, England. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5309411. Authority coordinates are 50.824, 0.163. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2021, 1925, 1954 and 1959.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
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The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Drusillas Zoo Park”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Drusillas Zoo Park primary sources, Drusillas Zoo Park archive and Drusillas research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Drusillas Zoo Park”?
  2. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
  3. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Drusillas Zoo Park” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.