A fire has broken out at Chester Zoo in Cheshire.
An evacuation is reportedly underway at the zoo, which is home to over 21,000 animals.
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Videos and photos shared on social media appear to show huge plumes of smoke.
Fire crews are reportedly on the scene and dealing with the fire. It is not yet known if there are any human or animal casualties.
One eye-witness, David Clough, has took to Twitter to say that the fire now appears to be under control.
Another eye-witness, Frank Riding, tweeted to say: "Not at all what I expected to witness today at Chester Zoo.
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"It's very upsetting to see and judging by the speed I watched the fire grow, I'll be surprised if there are no animal casualties."
Chester Zoo has posted on Facebook and Twitter to confirm that firefighters were at the Monsoon Forest habitat and were working to bring the blaze under control.
It also confirmed that an evacuation was ongoing.
The Monsoon Forest is home to a number of exotic birds including rhinoceros hornbill, as well as gibbons and orangutans, and reptiles including turtles and the Sunda gharial - a large breed of crocodile.
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It is the biggest indoor zoo exhibition in the UK and attracts thousands of visitors every year.
Speaking to the Liverpool Echo, one eye-witness said: "We saw the fire as we arrived, we thought it may be the zoo but we went into the car park anyway.
"The building which was on fire looked like it was made from some sort of highly flammable material because it was just burning away.
"One of the members of staff said it was one of the islands where the fire was.
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"He said around 40 animals had been evacuated, people were still in there but they were getting told to leave."
Featured Image Credit: Twitter / David Alan Wearing / David CloughTopics: uk news
