Visitor numbers at a disgraced zoo have plummeted prompting its new managers to ditch admission charges in an effort to win back public support.

South Lakes Zoo in Cumbria hit the headlines last summer when inspectors revealed that 486 animals had died there in just three years.

Many had perished in cruel circumstances, including a squirrel monkey found rotting behind a radiator and an African spurred tortoise that had been electrocuted after becoming entangled in electric fencing.

The revelation came three years after the zoo was fined £250,000 following the death of keeper Sarah McClay, 23, who had been mauled to death by a Sumatran tiger