Five Sisters Zoo in West Calder respond to complaints from customer who complained of 'bizarre experience'

The owner of Five Sisters Zoo has hit back at criticism in a Facebook post and said they won’t make any changes.

A disappointed customer posted in a Facebook group, complaining that Christmas decorations were still up at the zoo in West Calder.

They said their visit to the zoo was “a bizarre experience”, and criticised it for having “huge enclosures with no animals”.

Brian Curran, co-owner of the Five Sisters Zoo, hit back at these comments on the social media site.

He said that the staff were currently working through removing the festive decorations, but stressed that the time-consuming task had been delayed by bad weather conditions.

Mr Curran urged anyone who would be offended by the sight of Christmas lights on display in February or March to not visit, and offered a refund to any “annoyed” season pass owners.

He added: "Our priority right now is rescuing a bear cub and to us this is much more important than removing Christmas lights”.

The co-owner disputed the fact that large enclosures had nothing in them, and wrote: “Perhaps I have missed these enclosures”.

The owner of Five Sisters Zoo, which is home to three rescued lions, has responded to criticism from a disgruntled visitor. FIVE SISTERS ZOO- LIONS

The disgruntled Facebook poster also complained of a “strange Alice in Wonderland area”, which Mr Curran defended.

He said: “Our Alice in Wonderland garden is home to a family of rabbits and we thought it was a nice display for children”.

"Most visitors seem to like it but we realise we will not please everyone all the time”.

The zoo is home to Eso the European Brown Bear, who was rescued by a charity in Albania from a small roadside cage beside a restaurant. Eso is European Brown Bear Halloween Fun at Five Sisters Zoo, West Calder, West Lothian

The zoo’s resident raven, Robbie, was also the subject of questioning by the dissatisfied visitor, who asked: “why do they need to hold a raven”.

In the post, Mr Curran explained that Robbie has been in the zoo’s care for three years, as he has permanent wing damage and is unable to fly.

The zoo recently found a companion for Robbie. The co-owner said: “Anyone who knows anything about birds will see these two characters are very happy together”.

Mr Curran stressed: “Our priority will always be our animals”.

“I understand and appreciate zoo's are not for everyone but we are proud of what we do here at Five Sisters Zoo and we will not change our principles and our aims for anyone”.

Several people came to the zoo’s defence in the comments of the post.

One individual wrote: "We love the zoo. Everyone has individual preferences but personally we enjoy it better than bigger zoos, the animals are so well cared for and it is a perfect size for little ones to walk around”.

“Who cares if the lights are still there, people need to get a life if that's annoying them so much”.

Another described the zoo as “fabulous”, and said they’d never noticed any empty enclosures when visiting.

Five Sisters Zoo started as a garden centre, which began to re-home pets “that were either no longer wanted or could no longer be cared for”.

It officially opened as a zoo in 2005, and now houses over 165 different species of mammals, birds and reptiles from across the world.

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