Five Sisters Zoo — Zoo in West Lothian

Five Sisters Zoo and its collection

Five Sisters Zoo, opened in 2005, is a zoo in West Calder, United Kingdom.

The mammal collection includes arctic wolves, fishing cats, snow leopards, Scottish wildcats, red pandas, fossa, clouded leopards and cheetahs. Lions have been kept since 2015, when four males confiscated from a Belgian circus that was holding them unlawfully were taken in. The name comes from nearby shale bings.

History

It started as a rabbit pen put in a garden centre to occupy children while their parents shopped, and was founded by Brian and Shirley Curran as a sideline to that business, opening formally in 2005 once it was licensed to show wild animals. Early arrivals came from Edinburgh Zoo, Gorgie City Farm and a Fife sanctuary, along with a hedgehog, and customs officers handed over confiscated African spurred tortoises. In January 2024 it took in Yampil, a 12-year-old Asiatic black bear hurt by shelling at a zoo in Donetsk, and in August 2025 Stumpy, reckoned the oldest ring-tailed lemur anywhere, died aged 39 after two decades on the site.

What the venue says

• With an on-site restaurant, play park, indoor soft play and gift shop come along and make a day of it.
• The main visitor car park is located directly on-site, but visitors note that the surface is gravelly and can be challenging for wheelchair users or anyone with limited mobility.
• The zoo grounds are largely considered pushchair and wheelchair friendly with flat main paths, though reviewers point out that there are some inclines and slopes throughout the site that may require extra effort if using a manual chair.
• Accessible toilets and baby-changing facilities are available on-site (such as near the play park area).