Wingham Wildlife Park

Wingham Wildlife Park is a medium sized wildlife park situated near Wingham in Kent, UK where it covers an area of 26 acres (13 acres of animal housing area and a further 13 acres of car parking and overflow). In 2011 the species count at the park reached 180 species, growing to over 200 in 2013 covering fish, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates and birds.^[1]

History

The park was first opened in 1986 under the name of Wingham Bird Park, with a small collection of aviary birds, water fowl and a tea room. As new animals were added to the collection to include a variety of mammals (initially starting with farm animals such as African pygmy goats and pigs) the current, more appropriate name of Wingham Wildlife Park was adopted in around 1996. However locally it is still commonly referred to as Wingham Bird Park.

In February 2008 the park ownership changed hands, with the following 3 years seeing the collection grow by almost 100 new species, including numerous animals which are of high conservation interest. The changes which have been made at the park have led to the park's inclusion in the International Zoo Educators Association and the International Species Information System, in 2010. In 2012 they even adopted the ZIMS software, which at the time was the latest addition to the ISIS software catalogue. In 2014 they also became an associate institutional member of the South East Asian Zoos Association, further strengthening in situ conservation ties for this collection.

Animal collection

Exhibits

Peach-faced lovebird (Agapornis roseicollis) also known as the rosy-faced lovebird at Wingham Wildlife Park

Tropical House - The tropical house was first opened in 2004, and (including the foyer which houses the bat exhibit) covers 1100 m². This area is home to a variety of tropical plants, three ponds containing goldfish and koi, a butterfly house, silvery-cheeked hornbill enclosure and a variety of free roaming animals including; common marmosets, chattering lory, black-winged lory, white-cheeked turaco, diamond dove and many more.

Reptile House was refurbished and most of it re-built through much of 2008 through to 2010, to make the improvements required for the growth of the animal collection (from 18 species in 2008 to 46 species at the start of 2011). A wide variety of reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates are housed in the reptile collection including; western diamondback rattlesnake, Gray's monitors, Cuban crocodile, dwarf crocodiles, common snapping turtles, white lipped tree vipers, rhinoceros iguanas, golden mantella frogs (for which Wingham Wildlife Park hold the ESF studbook) and many more.^[1]

Mandrill Island is situated on 1 of 2 islands within an area of the park called the top lake (so named because it is the largest body of water within the park and can be found at the furthest end of the park from the reception). The island acts as a natural enclosure for a troop of mandrills, using the water itself to contain the animals as opposed to fencing, with a bridge leading off the island to a housing complex on the opposite shore. When it was first opened the island was home to a pair of ring tailed lemurs and a pair of black-and-white ruffed lemurs, with the addition of a pair of western lesser bamboo lemurs at the end of 2010 and a trio of red fronted brown lemurs in May 2011. In January 2012 it was re-opened as an exhibit showing the mandrills which are part of the European Endangered Species Programme for this species.

Penguin Pool - In 2010 the park opened the only penguin exhibit in Kent. The £100,000 project consists of a pool which is serviced by a sand filtration system and automatic chlorine level control computer. There are caves built into the side of the plant room which also makes up the back to the beach area. Viewing is facilitated through the use of a raised walk way and an underwater viewing window at the deepest end of the pool. Since it was opened the park has housed a Humboldt penguin group in this exhibit. In 2014 this part of the park became the center of international media attention as two male penguins in the enclosure had pair bonded a number of years before and then successfully hatched and reared an egg given to them as surrogate parents after the mother abandoned the egg.^[2]

Species

At the start of 2013 the park was home to over 200 species, which includes; amazon parrot, capybara, Chilean flamingo, cockatoo, Cuban crocodile, eastern green mamba, Egyptian fruit bat, Gila monster, koi, kookaburra, lory, macaw, Mandarin duck, Nile crocodile, northern white-cheeked gibbon, pink-backed pelican, reindeer, silvery-cheeked hornbill, skunk, spiny turtle, smooth-coated otter, tiger and Vietnamese pheasant.

Some of the park's most notable species / specimens also include:

Gray's monitors (Varanus olivaceus) were introduced to the collection in 2010, becoming the only Gray's monitors on display in a UK zoo, and 1 of only 2 zoos in Europe.^[3] These very specialised lizards are a focal point of the direction which the reptile house at the park is heading in, and at 2 years of age at the time of arrival it will be a number of years before the park can try to achieve the first breeding of this species in Europe. The collection currently has a pair of this species to try to achieve this.

Little red flying foxes (Pteropus scapulatus) came to the park in 2010 in the form of 2 pairs, which live in the foyer of the Tropical House alongside a group of Egyptian fruit bats (Rousettus aegyptiacus). These 4 individuals are the only ones of this species on display in a European zoo.^[4]

Julian The ring tailed lemur has become one of the park's most well known animals when he started his own Facebook page on 20 May 2011.^[5] Julian is just one of the inhabitants of the popular walk through ring tailed lemur exhibit at the park. In contrast to most lemur walk through enclosures which tend to be single sex groups, Wingham use a mixed sex group in their exhibit, and have successfully bred this species every year since 2008.

Spix's night monkey As of 2013 the park became the home of the only 6 Spix's night monkeys (Aotus vociferans) outside of South America. These animals are on display by the tropical house and are being used as a flagship species both by Wingham Wildlife Park and Colombian charity Fundacion Entropika, to raise awareness of rainforest destruction along the Colombian / Peruvian border. The park even sells a free dried yellow chili found in the rainforest of Colombia to raise awareness and funding for the native people of Colombia who cultivate this chili as an alternative income over capturing night monkeys.^[6]

Pardine genets As of 2014 Wingham Wildlife Park is the only zoo worldwide currently displaying a pair of Pardine genets (according to the ISIS system).

Rescue projects

The staff and owners at Wingham Wildlife Park have always strove to take part in rescue projects since they took the park over in 2008, and have since worked with organisations such as the AAP Foundation in the Netherlands and Tonga Terre d'Accueil in France, as well as a number of individual projects. These projects are mainly self funded by the park however help has been given in the larger projects by members of the public through fund raising events.

The largest rescue which the park has been involved in culminated in January 2012 with the arrival of Clarence and Brutus the lions. These two lions had been rescued 6 months prior to arrival at Wingham Wildlife Park by Tonga Terre d'Accueil, which is run by Espace Zoologique Saint Martin la Plaine. They had been seized by the French authorities from a circus where they had been mistreated to the point where both were dangerously under weight and one had sustained injuries which have left him scarred for life.^[7]

A further notable rescue project, was the park's first major project in 2009. In conjunction with the AAP Foundation a group of five Barbary macaques made up of the individuals Filipo, Momo, Jo, Nancy & Memouna made their way to a purpose built enclosure in the park. All 5 of these animals came from a background of being kept in private homes via the illegal pet trade. Due to poor care in their past both Filipo and Nancy suffered irreversible damage to their limbs and posture due to poor diet and being kept in small bird cages for many years.^[8]

In 2010 Wingham Wildlife Park were involved in their most long distance project when 10 primates (6 tufted capuchins and 4 squirrel monkeys) were flown to the park from the Israeli Primate Sanctuary Foundation, based in Kfar Daniel, Israel. These animals had been seized from illegal breeders for the pet trade, while others came from a legal controlled breeding programme.^[9]

Gallery

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  Eastern chipmunk

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  Capybara taken at Wingham Wildlife Park

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  Bennetts wallaby with joey

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  Smooth coated otter

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  Bennetts wallaby joey being hand reared

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  African pygmy goat being hand reared

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  Humboldt penguin enclosure

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  Common buzzard in the snow

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  European wolf in the snow

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  Barbary macaque

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  Julian the ring tailed lemur

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  Outdoor crocodilian enclosure

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  Outdoor play area

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  Tigers being hand reared

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  View of the jaguar enclosure

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  Vehicle used

Visitor facilities

Since 2008 a lot of changes, improvements and additions have been made to the park, to ensure not only the successful keeping of their livestock collection, but also to ensure that visitors are kept comfortable during their time at the park. Improvements to out-dated facilities include a complete renovation of the main toilet block, replacement of the outdoor adventure play area and the continued improvement of footpaths.

New additions include work which was carried out during 2012 and the start of 2013, to allow the opening of an indoor soft play area named "Lions Den Soft Play Area" in time for Easter 2013. This centre will also replace the old refreshment kiosk, which had been a long time feature of the adventure play area.^[10]

A further addition which opened in 2011 was the education centre which was created as a renovation of the old soft bill aviary. The pheasants and kookaburras which lived in the soft bill aviary were moved to a new pheasantry along the front of the tropical house, while a group of Old English Game fowl from the building now join the other free roaming animals (including peafowl, helmeted guineafowl, silver pheasant, chicken and Parma wallaby). This new centre houses a hands on animal encounter hall in which both schools and general visitors are given the chance to hold bearded dragons, corn snake and a Chilean rose tarantula, while being given an educational talk about them. On the adjoining side there is also a museum which displays a variety of items which have been seized by HM customs at Heathrow Airport and donated to the park, a display of tribal artefacts (including genuine weaponry, tattoo kits and replica shrunken heads), displays of bones, feathers, eggs and fossils, along with an alligator skin which visitors are able to touch.

There is a cafe which serves both hot and cold meals and drinks, as well as a variety of snacks, next to a gift shop, which are located in the main reception building on the park. This building has been at the park since it was first opened, and is planned to be updated at the end of the 2013 peak season.

References

External links

• Official website