A novice zoo keeper couple who gave up their jobs to run a wildlife park in Wales have ended up hundreds of thousands of pounds in debt after the death of two lynxes, as they admit “we didn’t have any idea what we were doing”.

Dean, 50, and Tracy, 47, Tweedy relocated 200 miles from Kent with their three young children and left careers as a street artist and psychotherapist to run Borth Wild Animal Kingdom near Aberystwyth in 2017.

But, after just 15 months the couple reportedly owe creditors around £350,000 after the zoo was temporarily closed and threatened with a ban on keeping lions and leopards as the couple were blamed for the death of two lynxes.

The couple had planned to use the zoo as a sanctuary for animals and to provide therapy sessions for adults, and the zoo was featured in a three part report on BBC’s The One Show.

The couple had already amassed 40 pets at their previous home in Kent and were originally looking for a petting zoo before seeing the then named Borth Animalarium was up for sale last year for £625,000.

"I qualified as a psychotherapist and we wanted a small petting farm to do animal and people therapy,” Mrs Tweedy told The Cambrian News.