# data[].attributes.body
We Bought a Zoo is a nonfiction story written by Benjamin Mee about his own life. When his wife, Katherine, is diagnosed with glioblastoma and dies within three years, he, his siblings, and his mother buy a rundown zoo. Benjamin, who also has two young kids, mostly write about his  experience of caring for his wife, parenting his children, and managing a once worn-out zoo.

# data[].attributes.body
(Information about the Author)

# data[].attributes.body
"You know, sometimes all you need is twenty seconds of insane courage. Just literally twenty seconds of just embarrassing bravery. And I promise you, something great will come of it." (pg 191)

# data[].attributes.headline
The house that Benjamin bought which included the zoo

# data[].attributes.subject
The house that Benjamin bought which included the zoo

# data[].attributes.body
Author, Benjamin Mee (far right), pictured with his children, brother, and mother. These are also the main characters in his story.

# data[].attributes.body
"It had been an incredible journey to get there. A new beginning, it also marked the end of a long and tortuous road, involving our own family." (pg 3)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Benjamin Mee of Dartmoor Zoo has spoken out about how his wife's terminal cancer and how becoming a single dad led to him being the inspiration for a Hollywood film.

When Benjamin first set his eyes on Dartmoor Zoo, his wife was suffering with a rare form of brain cancer but this did not stop the pair believing that they could revitalise the failing park.

In a bid to save the animals - many of which were facing being put down - they bought the zoo and began breathing life back into the 30 acre area.

Benjamin told Devon Live how his wife was having brain scans constantly to monitor her condition and the family's positivity waned as they realised that her prognosis did not look good.

He said: "Katherine had a brain scan every month and for two years she had been clear. "It was an odd process. We'd have a fortnight of elation, followed by two weeks of growing nervousness about the next scan.

"On one level, we knew that the average life expectancy with Katherine's condition was just ten months.

"But still I thought, somehow, there would be some cure, some new treatment - or that the cancer just wouldn't come back."

Unfortunately the optimism felt was unfounded when, just two months after the family had moved to the zoo back in 2006, Katherine's scan showed her cancer had spread.

"Her scan on December 22, just before Christmas, was disastrous - the cancer was back in eight places. There was nothing they could do. It was a case of palliative care," Benjamin said.

Within three months Katherine had died and Benjamin was a single father to their children Milo, and Ella, who are now both in their teens. What is more, the zoo's licence had been taken away.

"It was so run-down under the previous ownership, it was dangerous."

It was now all up to Benjamin to get the 30-acre business back on its feet.

Katherine had passed away on March 31 2007, after a heartbreaking period of increasing illness.

But Benjamin could not give in to grief for long because he had only two months to go until the zoo was set to open.

"At the time, I would have preferred not to have the pressure but, with hindsight, the zoo and all its demands probably kept me sane." On July 7 2007, the newly re-licensed Dartmoor Zoological Park opened, complete with new signs that Katherine, a graphic designer, had created.

"Opening day was such a relief," Benjamin said. "But people kept coming up to me saying, 'Katherine would be so proud of you.'

"It knocked me sideways. Then I saw my favourite picture of her on the wall. When I saw her there looking at me, I cried buckets.

"Then I pulled myself together and went back to the party."

Benjamin later wrote about their time together and, a year after his book We Bought a Zoo came out, a film company bought the rights.

He added: "I had an odd phone call from an American woman saying, 'I loved your book, it would make a terrific movie.' But when she said, 'I'm from Twentieth Century Fox' I sat up and started listening."

In 2011, his story became a major Hollywood movie starring Matt Damon as Benjamin. The real Benjamin and both children also had cameo roles in the film.

"The kids and I went to Hollywood to play visitors to the zoo in the film - I wore a Dartmoor Zoo hat in the film as an in-joke. We stayed in a five-star hotel, met a lot of Hollywood A-listers and appeared on talk shows - it was surreal but the kids loved it."

But the family chose to take positives from the sad loss of their wife and mother.

"Well, although I would never wish what happened to our family on anyone, there is no doubt I am closer to my children than I would have been had Katherine survived," Benjamin told Devon Live.

"When she was alive, I worked from home and tried to share the childcare 50:50 but doing 100% really does mean you are so close. We're a very Interview tight unit. I'm so proud of them. And living in a zoo is an enchanting place for children. Our home is here, so after hours we can go and say hello to tigers - who else can say that?"

Milo has been home-educated ("his choice") and is currently studying for an Open University Science unit. Ella is happily at school locally: "she prefers to be with her gang of friends" and both are, says Benjamin, doing well.

As for himself, Benjamin said he has come to terms with his bereavement.

"You learn to live with it. The loss never goes away but the kids and I have survived, and that's hugely positive."

"I think it would be hard for a new partner to break into the family circle of us three. But you never know, maybe one day... Especially if she was a trained zoo vet - that would ideal!" he jokes.

Financially, things are infinitely better than they were, Benjamin told Devon Live. The zoo became a charity after a crowd-funding campaign raised £340,000, thereby "lifting a huge weight" off his shoulders.

"Now, we can make five year plans. Before, it was a case of how will we survive the winter?"

Benjamin's passion for the zoo's animals is undimmed, however, and our interview takes the form of a wander around the zoo, during which we make frequent stops to chat to the animals who live there.

Born in Australia, he went to school in England but was expelled "several" times.

He later became a science journalist with a column in The Guardian, until he decided to become a zookeeper. And science is still at the heart of what he does.

"When we took over, I discovered the business was isolated from every other zoo," he said.

"I've had to work hard to get us onto recognised breeding programmes. Nowadays, this zoo isn't about animals being on show for entertainment - they're here for very good conservation reasons."

Dartmoor Zoo is now one of just four in the country licensed to keep cheetahs, whose population has dipped below the 10,000 mark globally.

Benjamin is also making plans to breed Siberian leopard cubs which will be put into a programme to reintroduce them to Siberia.

"It's the sort of thing I've been hoping for, for years, that something big and bold will happen for these animals," Benjamin says.

His ultimate dream is that more and more of his animals will be bred to go back into the wild.

To help pay for this work, the zoo also serves as a wedding venue and a glamping site is in the offing.

Benjamin has strong links with Plymouth University, he said: "We need to be showing kids inspirational things. And reintroducing wild leopards, well, that is pretty significant."

Along the path Devon Live met Flaviu, one of the stars of the zoo.

He is the lynx who gained notoriety after escaping, on the night he moved in last July, remaining on the run on Dartmoor for 23 days, evading a massive search operation including police drones before his cover was blown a mile away.

"It was very bad," Benjamin admits. "I was so relieved and happy to get him back. He's part of an endangered species breeding programme, too."

He suddenly calls out, "Hello baby", looking up at Chincha, a jaguar who came to Devon from France a year ago, now busy washing his paws.

"When he arrived he was absolutely terrified, cowering in the corner of his crate," Ben said. "Then I realised he'd never heard English before, so started speaking to him in French.

"He instantly looked right at me as if, ah okay you're the same as those guys who fed me and were kind to me before, and then he was fine."

The zoo is linked with the Royal Marines rehab troop based here in Plymouth.

Marines with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder help out with site work as part of their therapy.

"I'm hoping to prove how helpful this is in terms of reducing their stress," he said. "That will mean we're the only zoo that engages with the military in this way."

And, after all, Benjamin knows first-hand how healing it is to work in the magical atmosphere of Dartmoor Zoo.

"Yes, losing Katherine was very, very tough on all of us. But this is an amazing place for us all to live and the animals give us such joy. The kids are OK, I'm OK and the zoo is OK. You can come through and smile."
www.dartmoorzoo.org.uk

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Dartmoor Zoo owner's heartbreaking story of love, loss and cancer

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Benjamin Mee of Dartmoor Zoo has spoken out about how his wife's terminal cancer and how becoming a single dad led to him being the inspiration for a Hollywood film. When Benjamin first set his eyes on Dartmoor Zoo, his wife was suffering with a rare form of brain cancer but this did not stop the pair believing that they could revitalise the failing park.

# data[].attributes.body
The zoo which his family owns in England.

# data[].attributes.body
"The most amazing thing about our new environment of trees, open spaces, and lakes was that we actually did have tigers, lions, and wolves peeping through the foliage at us." (pg 80)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
We Bought a Zoo (1/3) Movie CLIP - The Escaped Bear (2011) HD

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
We Bought a Zoo movie clips: http://j.mp/1SUXwLq BUY THE MOVIE: iTunes - http://apple.co/1Izy60j Google Play - http://bit.ly/1LFQ85z Amazon - http://amzn.to/1X6spSp FoxConnect - http://bit.ly/1EtrJAk Don't miss the HOTTEST NEW TRAILERS: http://bit.ly/1u2y6pr CLIP DESCRIPTION: When a bear escapes from his zoo, Benjamin (Matt Damon) heads out to track it down.