His Place Is a Zoo

30 Mar, 2012 By: Ashley Ratcliff

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Benjamin Mee lives the ‘We Bought a Zoo’ experience 365 days a year

U.K. resident Benjamin Mee since the age of 4 has been intrigued by animals and what they think. He was in the midst of writing a book on the subject in France when a “pesky” zoo back home in England came calling.

Searching for a home where he and his family — his mother, brother Duncan, wife Katherine, children Milo and Ella — could regroup, the Mees haphazardly became enthralled with the property, complete with 12 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, seven tigers, three lions, a pack of wolves, three bears, four otters, two pumas, two flamingos, many emus and more. Learning that the 30-acre Dartmoor Zoo would be permanently closed and all the animals killed had they not taken over, the Mees were compelled to give zoo ownership a try.

“No one in their right mind would do this, but we made the mistake of going to actually see it,” Mee said. “And that was it. We realized it was an amazing place; Dartmoor Zoo is like a little gem in the English countryside, with English trees and lions sitting amongst the bluebells. It’s astonishing.”

Dartmoor Zoological Park became Rosemoor Wildlife Park, set in Southern California, in the film We Bought a Zoo, an adaptation of Mee’s autobiographical book of the same title. 20^th Century Fox Home Entertainment April 3 releases the family comedy on DVD ($29.98) and as a Blu-ray/DVD/digital copy combo pack ($39.99), with deleted and extended scenes, a gag real, featurettes and a commentary.

“[Director] Cameron Crowe has taken reality and slimmed it down and smoothed it out for a cinema audience, but most of the things that happened in the film have some basis in the original book,” Mee said.

While a behemoth bear escapes in the film, it was a jaguar that escaped in real life on the fourth day that the Mees owned the zoo. It ran free, jumped into a tiger enclosure, where it picked a fight, got smacked around and then lost interest. The keepers eventually were able to subdue the large cat with a tranquilizer gun.

That, however, wasn’t as terrifying as the time a vet made the potentially fatal mistake of giving a tigress horse tranquilizer while transporting her to zoo in France, in a scenario Mee calls “the closest I’ve ever come to being eaten.”

“In the middle of carrying her, she just stood up, and we were out in the open,” he said. “… There she was. I was right next to her, and I could see her eyes watching me. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see people scattering in every direction … but I had to stand completely still. She had drifted within a yard of me, but she didn’t see me, and I was so beyond fear. In those situations you sort of know that if you’re scared that’s actually going to make it worse.”

But these flukes are what keep zoo ownership exciting.

Mee said he was pleased that Matt Damon was brought on to portray him in this on-screen adventure, even though he didn’t get a chance to meet him prior to filming.

“Matt Damon was actually at the top of my list of people. … I’m a really big Damon fan,” Mee said. “He’s got a sense of humor, and he’s very clever. He’s also a very grounded man. He’s interested in the environment. He’s a solid-thinking man. And, of course, he has a lot of hair, which I don’t. So he’s made me look very good.”

We Bought a Zoo also stars Scarlett Johansson, Thomas Haden Church, Colin Ford, Maggie Elizabeth Jones, Elle Fanning and JB Smoove.

While the film has brought new visitors, including plenty of Americans, to Dartmoor, the Mees have constantly battled to keep the doors open since it reopened in 2007.

“My credit card for the company was declined at the beginning of the month after we paid the wages and the mortgage,” Mee said. “… We’re right on the edge still. That sense of closure is always there. I think this year will be a very good year, but don’t think that because the film’s out that we’ve made it. We’ve not made it yet, and all help and support are greatly received.”

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