Chester Zoo In UK Mocked Online Over Awkward 'Child Predator Tour' Listing

A marketing blunder has left one of the UK's most popular attractions rushing to fix a listing on its booking platform after social media users spotted a poor choice of words. According to BBC News, Chester Zoo recently gained attention on social media when an online advertisement offered tickets for a "Child Predator Tour". The phrasing of this particular tour was intended to offer a specialised guided walk for children to learn about predatory animals, such as lions, tigers, and birds of prey. However, by running the words together without proper punctuation or phrasing, it appeared different. 

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"Discover the predators of the animal kingdom, and their prey in our brand new guided tour," The zoo's website said. "You'll be the first visitors in the zoo as you board our electric tour bus and enjoy 90 minutes of the zoo all to yourself."

"Come face to face with some of the zoo's most iconic animals, away from the crowds, including our family of Sumatran tigers. Your expert tour guides will be on hand to share fascinating facts about some of nature's most effective hunters."

Screenshots of the ticketing page quickly went viral across platforms like X (formerly Twitter) and Reddit, where users wasted no time poking fun at the copywriting mistake.

lets all go to chester zoo for the ..... child predator tour pic.twitter.com/fH6HLivuGW

— MartynHolland (@MartynHolland_) September 9, 2026

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Social media users flooded the comment section, with many expressing shock that the listing was published without anyone noticing it.

As quoted by the media outlet, one user said, "I hope this has been cleared by Cheshire Police - seems a bit dangerous." 

"Staggering - how did that get approved?" Another said as mentioned. 

After going viral on social media, the zoo quietly updated the online wording to ensure the intended message came through clearly.

According to the report, a zoo spokeswoman said the error was "due to our default naming convention in our system". They further noted that it was "quickly changed".