[8] The zoo ran into financial difficulties in the early 1990s, ostensibly due to falling visitor numbers,[2] and rebranded itself as the Wonderful World of Birds for a period.

In 2012, The West Australian described the former zoo as "a lush, tropical oasis ... filled with weird and wonderful exotic animals and a cacophony of bright, colourful birds".

[5] From this initial first trip, McAlpine enthusiastically began purchasing large landholdings in the area (at one point owning more than 20 properties),[5] and undertaking several development projects.

[11] This was to become his residence in Broome for more than a decade, and where he would plant and keep an extensive tropical garden with aviaries housing exotic birds, including his prized eclectus parrots.

[10] According to the Australian Financial Review, many of Broome's present heritage buildings "owe their current existence and reinvention (as cafes, restaurants, art galleries) to McAlpine's wallet and passions" at this time.

The special appeal of the town is due to many factors including: its splendid, sub-tropical climate; the distinctive character of its architecture; the magnificent wide, sandy beaches with vivid aqua-blue ocean and relaxed lifestyle of its people".

Mr. Dowding opened the park on behalf of the Premier (of Western Australia), and said that Lord McAlpine, who financed the venture, had made a unique philanthropic gesture to the people of Broome.

"I cannot remember anyone previously making a financial commitment like this in Broome with no thought of profit or return on their investment"[1]McAlpine, then 42 years old, was at that point reputed to have been amongst the top six wealthiest people in the United Kingdom.

[7] It was still, however, a challenge to adapt the dry bushland to the needs of a wide variety of animals, and according to a 1988 guidebook took "several years of hard work together with an imaginative and positive approach" to produce what would eventually become the Pearl Coast Zoological Gardens.

[15] Special thanks were extended to Ross Gardiner and Lord Alistair McAlpine for the provision of the meeting facilities, and the group aimed to assist in the conservation of the Kimberley's natural resources through their ventures.

[21] In February 1992, when the Broome Shire Council began considering the option to rezone the zoo land for another purpose, Western Australian Planning Minister David Smith explained to a journalist the process by which McAlpine had initially acquired it:[22] ...the lots were allocated to Lord McAlpine, initially as special leases with freehold conversion available subject to satisfactory development and payment of purchase price.

[27] In its introduction (and title), the premises was no longer described as a "wildlife park", but rather a "zoo", and explained that it specialised in the acquisition and breeding of rare and endangered species.

[13] At that point the zoo housed "more than 1,000 birds and 200 mammals", including, "at time of printing", the "only specimens of red lechwe, gemsbok, nyala, greater kudu, waterbuck and Congo buffalo in the country".

[7] To provide protection to the birds from the hot climate, African-style palm-frond thatching was used in the aviaries as roofing material, which was noted as "blending in beautifully with the tropical landscaping of Broome".

[30] "With new species of rare and endangered mammals continually arriving", the guidebook stated, "the Zoo has exciting plans for the future [including] a 25 hectare extension to the grounds which will house exhibits for Reptiles, Galapagos Tortoise and Primates" as well as a large walk-through aviary to stand over 20 metres high.

[33] The zoo had its own veterinary clinic, and veterinarian Dave Morrell, to care for its animals, who were prone to occasionally breaking a wing or leg when frightened or fighting.

Other staff at the time included Trevor Gibson (curator of birds), Rose Crowd (office administration), Graham Taylor (manager), Ian Waight (park supervisor) and Chris Mitchell (mammal keeper).

[2] In a November 1990 article in New Idea magazine, it was revealed that 48-year-old McAlpine had recently dropped into Broome unannounced and in disguise "to look over his zoo... wearing scruffy jeans, shirt and old felt hat"... looking "anything but one of the richest men in Europe".

McAlpine's West Green House in Hampshire had also recently been bombed by the group in June 1990, a building in which he had been living just a few weeks prior, and where the Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had previously been a guest.

[26][47][48] Delivering a press meeting at his "$50 million Cable Beach Club", Lord McAlpine quipped "I often remind the staff that if they see a rather scruffy person in jeans wandering about the place not to throw him out.

[30] In February 1992, McAlpine again announced plans to construct a walk-though aviary onsite, in order "to house the ever increasing numbers of birds and to allow for diversification in species".

"[22] Smith explained that McAlpine had paid "a total of AUD $730,000 for freehold leases on 51.6 hectares" on which to build his zoo, and that "the owner (was) now simply exercising his normal rights as a citizen to apply to council and the Department of Planning and Urban Development to be allowed to use the land for an alternate purpose".

[22] In March 1992, Taylor acknowledged that the zoo was struggling financially, and identified a number of factors that were contributing to this, including the ongoing recession as well as cheap airfares to the eastern states of Australia which were drawing potential visitors there instead.

While the public will, for a time, continue to have access to the gardens through the office; and while it will remain open for tours and the visitors from Singapore who will be in Broome later this month, it appears that total closure of the park is inevitable.

[3] The 1989 Australian pilots' dispute, which lasted six months (and severely disrupted domestic travel and tourism within Australia) was largely blamed as being a contributing factor in the zoos demise.

[10][2] UK-based newspaper The Telegraph noted that McAlpine's Australian tourism venture as a whole, in which he had invested £250 million, collapsed as a result, costing him much of his personal fortune.

[9][50] In December 1992, McAlpine's attorney Russell Chapman explained how "a several months' long operation" had been carried out earlier that year when all of the larger animals from the zoo had been transported to Warren Anderson's large Tipperary Station in the Northern Territory.

[50] An estimated AUD $500 million was spent by McAlpine on his Broome enterprises, including the purchasing of thousands of trees and plants in an attempt to "turn the harsh town into the tropical paradise he'd envisaged".

[10] McAlpine's last visit to Broome occurred in 2012 on which occasion a bronze sculpture by artist Linda Klarfeld was unveiled in his honour at Cable Beach headland.

[52] The North West Telegraph: Kimberley Edition of 25 March 1992 reported that the Shire of Broome had recently approved an amendment providing for the rezoning of land near the Pearl Coast Zoological Gardens.