New Rhino Birth, 'Indiana" born 17.11.11

17^th November 2011 10.20am will go down as another important date in the history of the park when White Rhinoceros  Ntombi gave birth to a very rare, very special (and very cute) calf . 

Staff arrived at the park this morning and found her waters broke so have been waiting and watching on CCTV with baited breath.  The calf arrived at 10.20, named Indiana after Park owners young son and for everyone at the park it was one of the most amazing experiences to see this little calf born then watch mum give a loving lick then it was not long with a little encouragement from mum the calf made its first tentative, if not wobbly, steps.

Mum Ntombi arrived in the park from a private breeding reserve in South Africa in September 2003 and since then has been inseparable from 10 year old Male Mazungu.   It has been a long waiting game since pregnancy was confirmed in 2010 (after pregnancy testing) as the gestation period is between 15-16 months – but now the wait is over.

Park Director David S Gill beams – “This is another important birth in the whole history of the park, White Rhinos are such an Endangered species and this park prides itself in being at the forefront of conservation all over the world.    

“Very few establishments breed White Rhinos, we are being told there were only 6 births within Europe last year  and only 1 zoo in the UK.   Which makes it even more amazing to think we had 2 calves born in 2008 and now this latest arrival Indiana in Cumbria.

Visitors to the park this weekend will be able to view mum and baby --- Entrance from 1^st November through until 10^th February is free of charge.

Videos of the birth and photos are available of Indiana and we will permit camera crews to video mum and baby providing you contact us first - Karen 01229 466086

Pregnancy Test a Rhino:

In 2008 female white rhinos Ntombi and Tala gave birth to their first calves (Nyala & Zimba), in 2010 animal keepers had witnessed further successful rhino mating but then how do you get a 2 tonne rhino to “pee on a stick”?

Cue one very special biomedical science department with some very special testing equipment at an Austrian University.  Faecal samples (rhino pooh), and of course it had to be fresh, were collected from each of the females from mid April to the beginning of May. Clearly labelled in small plastic containers like that very famous pea advert the samples were “packed & frozen within 2 hours”.

In May a courier was sought who could deliver the samples to Vienna within 2 days, allowing the samples time to thaw but not be wasted, shipped off, fingers were kept crossed and in June we received the very happy news that Ntombi is pregnant expecting her second calf.

Based on mating records and a 15 month gestation period the pitter patter of tiny hooves was expected September/October 2011.

So now you know!

·         South Lakes Wild Animal Park is home to one of the most amazing herds of white rhino found in the UK.  With 2 calves born in 2008 the herd of 6 share their summer savannah with a herd of giraffes and troop of baboons - a truly wonderful sight.

·         On 1^st June 2008 then  7 year old White Rhinoceros  Ntombi gave birth to her first,  very rare,  calf - Nyala .  BBC webcam viewers witnessed the birth firsthand and for Park Owner David Gill it was one of, if not the, most amazing experiences “Rhinos are my favourite animals here at the park – and to see this little calf born then watch first time mum give her a loving lick then it was not long with a little encouragement from mum the calf made her first tentative, if not wobbly, steps.”

·         The Park is home to 6 white rhinos,  Males Huubke and Mazungu; Tala and son Zimba born in 2008; Ntmobi daughter Nayala born 2008 and the latest addition Indiana. 

·         The Southern White Rhinos was one of the first kind of rhino to be at the brink of extinction in our life time.  At the start of the 20^th Century there were perhaps only 30 surviving in the wild – thanks to careful conservation and International Breeding Programmes – like Ntombi and Mazungo are involved in, there are today around 11,500 in the wild  - but almost all of them live in one single country.

For more details contact the park on 01229 466086  

Magic of Christmas

Magic of Christmas 2011

A truly magical and unforgettable experience

DOWNLOAD OUR MAGIC OF CHRISTMAS 2011 LEAFLET HERE
DOWNLOAD OUR BOOKING FORM HERE

Christmas is going to be even more Magical this year as Santa and his reindeers land December 3rd at South Lakes Wild Animal Park. The whole park is transformed into a magical winter wonderland as more than 80,000 fairy lights twinkle their welcome. It's the most wonderful time of the year here as South Lakes Wild Animal Park when trees, lights, skating rink, donkeys, full size nativity join Santa, elves and of course Santa's reindeer for a magical festive period. All seasonal activities are undercover and for 2011 newly extended Christmas areas will be open. Every Saturday and Sunday in December then from the 17th-24th December enjoy: The MAGIC of Christmas: Santa and Nativity New activities for 2011NIGHT SAFARI SANTA EXPRESS SANTA MAGICAL PASS Sat 3rd Dec; Sat 10th Dec; Sat 17th December enjoy:BREAKFAST WITH SANTA CHRISTMAS DINNER WITH SANTA For more information on each of our Christmas activities and prices please click HERE!

 

Amur Tiger Nina turns 16!

It's a big day Saturday - Nina is 16!

We have a very special day at the Park this week, on Saturday 27th August South Lakes Wild Animal Park will be celebrating Nina's, our Amur Tiger, sixteenth birthday! Nina was born at Marwell Zoological Park on 27th August 1995 and was brought to the Park in December of 1996 which really was the "Year of the Tiger" for the Park because in April we saw our first Tiger Toba, a Sumatran Tiger take up residence.

Nina spent her years at the park sharing an enclosure with her brother Egor, their genes were well represented through the breeding programme so they were here not for breeding but as Ambassadors for their species to raise awareness of the problems facing wild tigers.

Nina alone has done a great job raising more than 1 million pounds for Tiger Conservation - every penny of which has been used to protect her wild cousins.

The Amur Tiger in Russia faces a number of threats including disappearing forests, loss of prey (food) and poaching.

While she has been here Nina has well and truly become the Cat of the Park and has had visitor after visitor become enchanted with her. She has many ways to wow the crowds at South Lakes however one of the highlights of the day when she takes delight at making visitors realise just how big she is -  when she goes on her hind legs and places her paws up on the viewing windows. This puts her at face to face height with visitors and allows them, if they are brave enough, to really appreciate the Tiger - taking a good look at all details of her facial features and even just being in eye contact with her is a must!  And just how big those teeth, paws and mouth really are.

On Saturday 27th August Nina will be able to be viewed at her enclosure and at 2:30pm its tiger feeding and talk time with the keepers.

For more information and facts on the Amur Tiger please click HERE.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NINA!

Daniel Donates Unwanted Specs

Today we had one boy, Daniel Knight donate a total of 185 pairs of unwanted specs to South Lakes Wild animal Park so that we can get them sent off to help the children of Niger.

Daniel visited the Park last summer and took one of our brochures home, when reading through the brochure he noticed ways in which everyone can help towards conservation out in Niger. He composed a note for his headmaster and when the headmaster agreed to let Daniel go ahead with his collection, he painted a box to look like giraffe skin fitted hole so that people could add their spare glasses at their convenience. He gave a talk in assembly to the whole school which as you can imagine was quite daunting for an 8 year old!

He took in the fact that there are many people who have unwanted specs lying around thier home and we here at the Park send the specs out to a clinic in Niger.The clinic looks after three tribes which consists of 20,000 people in total. It is very important to help the villagers out, for many of the people out there, there is a lack of vitamin E, a lack of nutrition and vitamin A and they have a lot of problems with their eyes. These glasses will go to those villagers.

Although the Wildlife Protection Foundation are focused on conservation, it is very much a community project. If the community can see that the giraffes can bring them benefits, it helps them be enthusiastic about looking after the giraffes as well.

So a big thank you to Daniel for all his hard work!

South Lakes Wild Animal Park Goes Shopping

Plucking up the incentive to do the families monthly shop is bad enough for a normal household; wading round the supermarket with a laden trolley with enough supplies to please everyone and last a family of 4 is challenge enough!  Imagine instead of the normal household mouths to feed, you had more than 220,000 - 18,000 visitors a month to shop for – imagine the number of trolleys you’d need.

It’s bad enough at home when you run out of loo roll or washing up liquid, when you go through up to 15 industrial size toilet rolls and a gallon of dishwasher powder a day popping to the shops isn’t really an option.

On a busy day in the cafe we can go through 48 bags of chips; 150 baguettes; 100 burgers (and buns and cheeses slices) 120 teabags; 240 bottles of coca cola; 120 Fab ice lollies.  The seasonality and weather affects our needs which is why it is essential to have very good relationships with all our suppliers; we know that we can order something and it is with us the next day.

Then there are your pets, dog food, cat food, bunny food and all the necessary supplies – going home without “Markies in our household is a big no no! Imagine having 80 different types of “pets”, to cater for the needs of more than 360 individuals, we need to make sure all the animals get the nutrients they need on a daily basis. .   

Our Penguins, Giant Otters & birds eat their way through 40 kilos of fish a day – that’s 14,600 kilos a year. Our Giant Otters are fussy eaters and will only eat fresh water roach so our Fish order has to be specific for them.

Our carnivores – Jaguars, Lions, Tigers, Fennec Foxes munch their way through 200 Kilos of meat a week that’s 10,400 kilos a year plus 45 chickens a week – 2,340 a year!

Its rats we have to buy our snakes, about 6 a month.

Our ever growing heard of Rhinos and Giraffes munch their way through ¾ of a bale of hay a day that’s 273 huge bales of hay a year. 

Our Primates, with the help of local supermarkets – Asda, Morrisons, Tesco, very healthily eat their way through 25,000 tons of fresh fruit & vegetables every year.

Our animals go through more than 95,000 kilos of dry food every year; most of which comes from Broughton Supplies, buying in bulk pallets at a time.  Our herd of giraffes alone eat around a 1/3 of this. 

Our last hay delivery was for 55 bales and it took one trained forklift driver 1 ½ hours to offload.

From 15 jumbo toilet rolls per day to the thousands of tons of animal food, we have hundreds of suppliers, many of them local, spending over a million pounds annually to maintain the park.  

	Average Kilos fresh food		Kilos dry food
Tamarins	2.1	Per Day	261.9
Siamangs	2.1	Per Year	95,594
Lar Gibbons	2
Spider Monkeys	4.2
Howler Monkeys	0.8
Mandrills	12
Ruffed Lemurs	12
Ring Tailed Lemurs	12
Gentle Lemurs	1
Black Lemurs	1.2
Brown Lemurs	2.1
Mongoose Lemurs	1.5
Baboons	18
Capuchins	4.6
Bats	5.2
Per Day	80.8
Per Year	29,492

New Ducks Arrive!

Friday 5th August one of South Lakes Wild Animal Park's Keepers Fiona Douglas set off to collect Shelduck, Sharp Winged Teals & Mandarin.

These ducks came from Martin Mere WWT (Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust) Burscough, Ormskirk.

While at Martin Mere the Ducks were wormed and the sexes were checked by Steve and Julia before they were brought back to South Lakes Wild Animal Park.  

Sharp Winged Teal

On Arrival back to the Park Fiona introduced the Ducks to their new home, the lake, where they joined other Shelducks, Mandarins and Sharp Winged Teal as well as...

• • Hawaiian Geese
  • Magellan Geese

  • Black Swan

  • Marbled Teal
• Ringed Twal
• Widgeon
• Red Breasted Goose
• Mallard Duck
• Hawaiian Goose
• Cape Barren Goose
• Northern Chestnut Teal
• Northern Shovelor
• Barnacle Goose
• Common White Eye
• Rosy-Bill Pochard
• Tuffed Duck
• Red Crested Pochard
• Common Pochard

For all the information on all these different Ducks, Geese and Swans please click here.

Emperor Tamarin Twins Born

On Wednesday 27th July South Lakes Wild Animal Park's Primate Keeper Liz started her normal daily routines to find some great new additions to her Tamarin family.

Our female Emperor Tamarin Barbara gave birth to twins early morning, the twins are yet to be named. These pictures were taken a few days after the birth and you can see the fur is growing nicely but you can still see the pink of their faces.

The two Tamarin babies can been seen in their enclosure until they are big enough to join our free roaming Tamarins.

For information and facts on Emperor Tamarins click HERE.

Help stop the travelling circus in Indonesia!

Dear Animal Friends and Colleagues abroad,

Hereby we wish to ask your attention and support for the following:
Indonesia has a travel shows using (baby)sunbears, small clawed
otters, yellow crested cockatoos and bottle nose dolphins. The circus
travels from town to town and performs in each town one month.  The
conditions are very poor. We have been campaigning against this circus
for almost two years now and unfortunately the circus has a legal status due to
a minister regulation allowing travelling shows with protected animals
for educational purposes. Thats why our campaign so far has not been
very succesfull and the threats against us continue (from the circus
to our organization).

Support through polite letters are much appreciated to ask for a
closure of this horrific circus.
More details are explained in the letter and please feel free to
contact me for any questions.

The Indonesian government is sensitive for outside pressure so we
think a letter from your organization to the Indonesian ambassador in
your country or maybe, if you can make the time,  organizing a meeting
with the ambassador will
be very effective.

If you are willing to ask for a meeting with the ambassador I will
send all additional information needed.
JAAN has a formal agreement (MOU) with the government, signed in
october 2010 to rescue and relocate the dolphins. This would include
rescue of the other animal; the baby bears,otters, the lonely
orangutan and the other animals.

This agreement was made after we proved the illegal status of the
dolphins and other animals in the circus. But, seven months after the
agreement has been undersigned, the dolphins are still used in the
show of WSI and no action has been taken by the Indonesian Government.

It would be fantastic if you can send this letter or your own version
to the Ambassador of Indonesia in your country.
Thank you very much for your support.

Femke den Haas

Jakarta Animal Aid Network

PLEASE HELP - write or email your letters to:
Indonesian Embassy
38 Grosvenor Square
London W1K 2HW

or email: kbri@btconnect.com