By Leon Watson
PUBLISHED: 03:15 EST, 30 September 2012 | UPDATED: 08:54 EST, 30 September 2012
Undercover footage has revealed party-goers taunted gorillas and hurled objects into enclosures during a three-day rave at Prince William's favourite zoo.
The clubbers also mingled with shocked young families at the zoo when their rave tickets gave them free access to the Port Lympne Wild Animal Park, in Kent, a fortnight ago, it is claimed.
Calls were made last night for an investigation into the way Britain's leading zoos are hired out for music festivals and office parties.
Ibiza's Zoo Project, which held an event at Port Lympne Wild Animal Park, near Hythe in Kent, when thousands of humans were set free to roam the park (file picture from another Zoo Project event)
The owners, the Aspinall Foundation, whose trustees include millionaire Tory MP Zac Goldsmith and casino tycoon Damian Aspinall, had hired out a large area 500 yards from their main entrance for the Ibiza-style Zoo Project dance festival weekend.
It also let the Hevy Festival, a weekend of punk, heavy metal and rock bands, use it with similar access rights in August, just two months after Prince William toured the zoo to back its black rhino breeding project.
Many zoos are now using their animals as exotic backdrops for events, the Sunday Express reported today. But animal rights campaigners say they hopes that this will be the 'wake up call' required to ensure that this trend does not continue.
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Ravers taunt gorillas and hurl objects into enclosures at three-day party held at zoo