Saturday, June 06, 2015

Hello Wingham Wildlife Park

My first effort to find a new place to coo over animals took place yesterday.

Wingham Wildlife Park is in the Kent countryside, about 65 miles from London. It's not far from Canterbury, the home of the world's most famous cathedral, and to get there you have to drive past Howlett's, home of one of my regular animal experiences.

I was prepared for some of the enclosures to be a bit smaller than I would like, and so it proved for some of the medium-sized cats, but given that some are rescued from awful situations, they are currently in a better place than they used to be.

I've only ever seen one very secretive jaguar before, hidden in bushes. This boy was inside in the morning as he shares the outside with his mate...and their cub. Reintroductions have to be carefully handled.

 photo DSC00501_zpsa8jvmtsf.jpg


Later he was outside, but he was still longing to get inside with his lady.Who would believe he was born white?

 photo DSC00519_zpsxyxt4nm7.jpg


The female is a melanistic cat, as is the cub. Baby's in the grass.

 photo DSC00502_zpsppe8o9dd.jpg


Mum's on a shelf.

 photo DSC00503_zpshugjsxqu.jpg


Baby wants to play.

 photo DSC00504_zps5skfzl81.jpg


Mum obliges.

 photo DSC00506_zpsfbbyztxj.jpg


The tigers are brothers, from a small private zoo in Belgium. Their mother rejected them, and Wingham's stepped in to raise them. They are hybrid, so cannot be bred from. To allow them to stay togethere they have been castrated. The marks indicate that this is the same boy twice.

 photo DSC00513_zpsyxboaiik.jpg  photo DSC00514_zpsia6mbsew.jpg


There were several thunderstorms yesterday, and during one, the ringtail lemurs took shelter under this empty cable roll. Too much effort to go inside...

 photo DSC00511_zpsbe9vb99l.jpg


The lions are also brothers, rescued from terrible conditions in a circus.

 photo DSC00521_zpstj1ynhmv.jpg  photo DSC00533_zps34bfrw6f.jpg


In the afternoon, there was an opportunity to spend time with the ringtails in a walkthrough of their enclosure. Usually they have several babies a year, but this year there is only one very energetic little chap.

 photo DSC00522_zpsimkdbe5a.jpg

 photo DSC00523_zpsyh661eac.jpg


The park has no problem with the ringtails hopping on to visitors, though we must not pet them (something I only found out AFTER this little episode).

 photo DSC00525_zpsolsv7v1g.jpg

 photo DSC00526_zpsa501qp6u.jpg


When the sun came out, the red-ruffed lemurs made the most of it.

 photo DSC00536_zpsss3ljias.jpg


The park is also part of the Scottish wild cat breeding progamme.

 photo DSC00528_zps9dpj33jj.jpg


Looking at that lovely black jaguar made me long to give my own little panther a cuddle!

 photo DSC00497_zps66t2r3ux.jpg

3 comments:

  1. What a great park and I just LOVE the lemurs! How can you possibly have one jump on you but you can't pet them?! That was a great pic of you too!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I asked that, JoJo, and they said, they are still wild animals and could react if they don't like your approach. Has to be their choice. I totally accept that

    ReplyDelete