Just like Elvis Presley's Graceland, Michael Jackson's Neverland has become the stuff of legend. And, now more than a decade after his death, his Californian ranch - and the animals who lived there with the King of Pop - are the subject of an ITV documentary fronted by Ross Kemp.
According to the hour-long film Searching for Michael Jackson’s Zoo with Ross Kemp, Jackson inspired a worldwide boom in the ownership of exotic animals. “This is a journey that will take me into the world’s private zoos and menageries,” says Kemp, who has certainly earned his stripes as a seasoned documentary filmmaker over the years.
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In this new ITV film, Kemp sets out to uncover what exactly happened to the animals at Neverland after its closure. The likes of elephants, tigers, lions, giraffes and chimpanzees (to name a few) previously lived at Neverland and in the documentary, Kemp looks into where the animals ended up when the ranch closed in 2005.
Kemp’s journey begins in California but he says that “it isn’t going to be easy as there is no record of what happened to the animals after Neverland closed”. He also talks of the difficulty to find someone to interview, as the majority of Jackson's staff signed non-disclosure agreements. Luckily for Kemp, he does eventually find someone to talk to him, including a former animal trainer at Neverland.
Retired-trainer Mark Biancaniello, who had not seen Jackson's ranch for over 20 years, told Kemp how he had a close relationship with a bear called Baloo, who he bottle-fed and allowed to sleep in his bed. “He ended up being 650lbs, and almost 7ft tall. He used to drive around in the golf cart with me - we’d go by the theatre, I’d go get him an ice cream cone,” said Mark, remembering his time with Baloo. Kemp, taken aback, calmly replies: “I’ve never seen that.”
And it wasn’t just bears and ice cream cones that caused Kemp to be astonished. When chatting to Marcelle Meredith, Executive Director of the NSPC, she told the presenter and actor that MJ’s Earth Song featured “dead elephants with tusks removed that were brought back to life.” Marcelle calls Jackson a “despicable person because of what he did to animals”.
Ultimately, many of the animals who lived at Neverland ended up in private zoos. These included the likes of Jackson’s famous chimpanzee, Bubbles, who now lives in an animal sanctuary in Florida.
Tigers talked about in the documentary, Thriller and Sabu, lived at the ranch until 2006 when they were moved to Shambala Preserve. Unfortunately, the former passed away in 2012. Two of Jackson’s pet giraffes also died after they left Neverland.
Notably explored in the film, was Jackson's pet elephant, Gypsy - but the location for whom hasn't been revealed. Princess and Annie Sue, a pair of exotic birds, were taken to a wildlife preservation site in South Utah. The pair ended up at Tommy and Freddie Hancock's foundation along with giraffes Thriller and Sabu
According to animal trainer Biancaniello, some of the reptiles at the ranch went to the infamous GW Zoo in Oklahoma - which was famously once owned by star, Joe Exotic.
As for Neverland itself? The ranch was purchased in 2020 by billionaire Ronald Burkle for $22 million as a "land banking opportunity".
Searching for Michael Jackson’s Zoo with Ross Kemp airs on ITV on Wednesday, April 27 at 9pm
