Milngavie's short-lived Craigend Zoo and the elephant that followed his keeper to the pub
A trip to Blair Drummond Safari Park is a classic day out for any Glasgow family and more than worth the 40-minute drive to ooh, ahh and coo over all the park's animals.
But once upon a time, Glasgow was home to an animal wonderland much closer to home in nearby Milngavie, filled with creatures great and small, with some maybe even remembering its heyday.
If we cast out minds back to 1948, the. Craigend Estate - located within Mugdock Park - was purchased by Andrew Wilson and his zoologist son WIlliam.
Already well-known in Glasgow as the owners of Wilson’s Zoo in the city's Oswald Street, the father and son turned Craigend into a zoo filled with more than 2,000 animals by the time of its opening in April 1949.
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Tens of thousands of visitors flocked for the chance to feast their eyes upon reptiles, birds, critters and mammals. Craigend Castle was transformed, with two of the public rooms turned into dining areas and the nearby lochs available for renting row boats on.
And while the zoo housed everything from lions to crocodiles to chimpanzees, the star of the show was undoubtedly Charlie the Indian elephant.
Living in the stables alongside his keeper Singh Ibrahim, Charlie was said to be inseparable from Singh. So much was Charlie's devotion to his keeper that when he one day went for a drink at a nearby pub in Milngavie, Charlie quietly kept close watch.
Astonishingly, Charlie wasn't noticed until he attempted to enter the pub and found himself stuck in the doorway - impressive stealth skills from an enormous three-tonne elephant!
Poor Charlie had to be rescued by the local fire service, who took quite some time to rescue him from the (admittedly self-inflicted) blunder.
Despite its initial popularity, Craigend Zoo was not to last, with its failure chalked up to the withdrawal of the local bus service and particularly poor summer weather. By 1955 - just six years after it opened - the zoo was closed and the animals were shipped off to various new locations. The Craigend Castle fell into disrepair after the closure and is now derelict.
But what became of Charlie? The elephant was bought by Billy Butlin who brought him to his holiday camp in Ayr and later to Yorkshire.