The Scottish Deer Centre is a

zoological park A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility in which animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for conservation purposes. The term ''zoological garden'' refers to zool ...

near

Cupar Cupar ( ; gd, Cùbar) is a town, former royal burgh and parish in Fife, Scotland. It lies between Dundee and Glenrothes. According to a 2011 population estimate, Cupar had a population around 9,000, making it the ninth-largest settlement in Fif ...

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. The attraction is set on the estate of Over Rankeilour, at the former Over Rankeilour Farm close to the hamlet of the Bow of Fife. Opened in 1988 by the farm's owners, the centre attracted over 70,000 visitors in 2019, making it Fife's second most popular paid attraction behind

St Andrews Castle St Andrews Castle is a ruin located in the coastal Royal Burgh of St Andrews in Fife, Scotland. The castle sits on a rocky promontory overlooking a small beach called Castle Sands and the adjoining North Sea. There has been a castle standing a ...

. While opened primarily as a working deer farm with entertainment for the public, it now focuses on conservation, education and research as a member of

BIAZA The British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA) (formerly the Federation of Zoological Gardens of Great Britain and Ireland) is a registered charity and the professional body representing over 100 zoos and aquariums in Britain and ...

. The Scottish Deer Centre is home to 12 species of

deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the reindeer ...

, as well as

wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; plural, : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large Canis, canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of Canis lupus, subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been reco ...

wildcats The wildcat is a species complex comprising two small wild cat species: the European wildcat (''Felis silvestris'') and the African wildcat (''F. lybica''). The European wildcat inhabits forests in Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus, while the ...

bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Nor ...

otter Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine, with diets based on fish and invertebrates. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which also includes wea ...

s and local wildlife. It also contains a

bird of prey Birds of prey or predatory birds, also known as raptors, are hypercarnivorous bird species that actively hunt and feed on other vertebrates (mainly mammals, reptiles and other smaller birds). In addition to speed and strength, these predators h ...

centre which offers daily shows, tours and experiences. A

cafe A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non-caf ...

gift shop A gift shop or souvenir shop is a store primarily selling souvenirs, memorabilia, and other items relating to a particular topic or theme. The items sold often include coffee mugs, stuffed animals, toys, t-shirts, postcards, handmade collect ...

, and several activities such as

go-karting Kart racing or karting is a road racing variant of motorsport with open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on ful ...

are also available.

History

The idea of the Scottish Deer Centre was conceived around a year prior to its opening by Ian and Evelyn Crombie - owners of Over Rankeilour Farm - and John and Nichola Fletcher, farmers from nearby Reediehill Farm in

Auchtermuchty Auchtermuchty ( ; , 'upland of the pigs/boar') is a town in Fife, Scotland. It is beside Pitlour Hill and north of Glenrothes. History Until 1975 Auchtermuchty was a royal burgh, established under charter of King James V in 1517. There is ...

. In order to transform 55 acres of the Rankeilour estate into a tourist attraction, funding was received from the

Scottish Tourist Board VisitScotland, formerly the Scottish Tourist Board, is a national tourism organisation for Scotland. It is an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government, with offices in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Inverness, and other ...

with the hopes of garnering around 50,000 visitors per year. In 1988, the centre opened with visitor attractions, including a shop and exhibition centre, based mainly in the Georgian courtyard of the farm. A restaurant also opened in December of the same year under the name "Staggies". The Scottish Deer Centre was sold to

Edinburgh Woollen Mill Edinburgh Woollen Mill (EWM) is a Carlisle-based retailer specialising in clothing, along with interests in homewares and destination shopping for tourists. It was previously owned by the Dubai-based British billionaire Philip Day. The company' ...

in 1996 after being put up for sale by founders Ian and Evelyn Crombie who wanted to move onto new ventures. This led to a greater focus on the tourism side of the business, including renovations and extensions to customer-facing aspects of the property. Birds of prey had been added to the ever-growing number of attractions by this time. The

British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums The British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA) (formerly the Federation of Zoological Gardens of Great Britain and Ireland) is a registered charity and the professional body representing over 100 zoos and aquariums in Britain and ...

granted the centre membership in 2011, shifting the focus from entertainment and amusement to education, research and conservation as a result. As a result of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

and its economic impact, several workers at the Scottish Deer Centre were made redundant by Edinburgh Woollen Mill, leading to backlash from locals and politicians. Despite direct pleas to the owner, Philip Day, the business refused to rehire these workers (which would enable them to receive

furlough A furlough (; from nl, verlof, "leave of absence") is a temporary leave of employees due to special needs of a company or employer, which may be due to economic conditions of a specific employer or in society as a whole. These furloughs may be s ...

) as Edinburgh Woollen Mill did not anticipate that the workers could return after the pandemic. The entirety of Edinburgh Woollen Mill was struggling at this point, and in November 2020 the company was placed into administration. In May 2021, businessmen David Hamilton - co-founder of Digital Goldfish, a

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

-based game studio sold to

Ninja Kiwi Ninja Kiwi, previously known as Kaiparasoft Ltd, is a mobile and online video game developer founded in Auckland, New Zealand, in 2006 by brothers Chris and Stephen Harris. Ninja Kiwi's first game was a browser based game called ''Cash Sprint'' ...

- and Gavin Findlay - director of Dundee-based G2 Scaffolding - bought the Scottish Deer Centre for an undisclosed sum, bringing it out of administration. Both having young children who enjoy visiting the park, they contacted administrators after learning of its uncertain future. The two entrepreneurs invested into multiple new attractions for the centre, including a nursery, new animals such as

arctic fox The Arctic fox (''Vulpes lagopus''), also known as the white fox, polar fox, or snow fox, is a small fox native to the Arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere and common throughout the Arctic tundra biome. It is well adapted to living in co ...

es, a fire engine and a

Blackburn Buccaneer The Blackburn Buccaneer is a British carrier-capable attack aircraft designed in the 1950s for the Royal Navy (RN). Designed and initially produced by Blackburn Aircraft at Brough, it was later officially known as the Hawker Siddeley Buccanee ...

jet.

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://scottishdeercentre.co.uk Tourist attractions in Fife 1988 establishments in Scotland