Houdini comes to Paradise!
This July we have had the arrival of a new baby Bactrian camel named Houdini.
Houdini is just six weeks old and recently lost his mother so we have taken him in to help rear him. Strangley he is named Houdini as his mother was an expert at escaping her old enclosure. Lets just hope he wont follow in his mother's footsteps here at Paradise!
Houdini can be seen this summer alongside our two adult camels in the paddocks.
New arrivals-Meet the Meerkats
This July we have had plenty of new arrivals joining us at the park including, Pink a young albino skunk, a pair of african pygmy hedgehogs and two young male Meerkats.
Our animals have wasted no time in becoming TV stars with our pygmy hedgehogs and meerkats appearing on Ideal World last weekend. These little critters can be seen by guests on tours visiting 'The Studio' whilst our Meerkats are currently on the display in the ARC (Animal Resource Centre).
We are running a competition called 'Name the Meerkats' where we are giving you the chance to officially name our two little male meerkats. The winner will receive a complimentary ticket for four people to come along and meet the meerkats in person as well as a certificate to accompany your win.
All entries can be handed in at the pay cabin or can be sent to 'Name the Meerkats', Paradise Wildlife Park, White Stubbs Lane, Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, EN10 7QA. Please don't forget to include full contact details so that we can notify you if you have won.
Entries must be received by Sunday 22nd August 2010. The winner will be notified by post and on the news section of the website.
Local School raises funds for Amur Leopards
On Sunday 20th June, a group of girls from St Marys School Welwyn, led and inspired by 8 year old Lucia Mitchell, walked 7 miles from Letty Green to us here at Paradise Wildlife Park, to raise money for the critically endangered Amur Leopard. Thanks to generous sponsorship, Lucia's group has already collected severaly hundred pounds for the Amur Leopard and Tiger Alliance (ALTA).
There are reported to be as few as 35 Amur Leopards left in the wild and conservation groups throughout the world are fighting hard to ensure these wonderful animals and their natural habitat survive. These Cats live in the Far East of Russia between Vladivostok and the Amur River, that forms the border with China.
Paradise Wildlife Park was pleased to support Lucia and her friends, after a rest and some refreshments, the girls and their parents were given a special Big Cat tour of the park and a certificate to acknowledge their efforts in raising these much needed funds.
Penguin Pool Refurbishment
Our Humbolt penguins are currently off show while we refurbish their pool. We aim to re-open the enclosure by the end of August 2010 when our penguins will return. Please note that during this time we will not be able to run our feed the penguin experience or our penguin talk-sorry for any inconvience caused.
T's Training
T was born at Paradise Wildlife Park in September 2008 in a group of four piglets reared by mum Nancy and dad Piggit. T is currently performing daily at the Jungle Theatre in the Animal Olympics show.
Despite many hours of training ,being a typical pig, T does decide to occasionally to steal the show and then he has his keeper Josh Williamson running around after him! So come along and see the shows at Paradise Wildlife Park.
Introducing Thiago!
Allow us to introduce; Thiago! The most recent addition to our Tapir family; Thiago was born on 4th April 2010. Mum, Gabriella and dad, Temoko both 8 years old are very proud of their new addition and taking their resposibilities very seriously.
Thiago joins big brother, Teddy, aged 2 years. He is their third calf and part of the EAZA EEP Breeding Programme as the Brazilian Tapir (Tapirus terrestris) is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN red list.
The main threats to the species include loss of habitat through deforestation, hunting for meat and competition with domestic livestock. The impacts of hunting on populations are amplified by the very low ability of tapir to quickly repopulate impacted areas. Though several strongholds occur - populations have been severely reduced and fragmented across the entire Cerrado (Brazil), Atlantic forest (Brazil) and llanos (IUCN)
A Photo Finish
The 28th of April 2010 saw wildlife Photographer Tricia Liggett, local park Photographer Maggie Radcliffe and some of our events team guide our largest photography group to date through our animal collection.
Guests on the photography day experienced the unique opportunity of getting behind the scenes access to many different animals including primates,birds,big cats,paddock animals and reptiles ensuring everyone had the opportunity to take some fantastic shots. Tricia and Maggie were at hand to give tips and advice on how to take the best photos in a variety of different environments.
"We are delighted that our Photography days are proving so popular and the success of our largest day is an excellent testament to all the hard work put in by Tricia, Maggie and our staff" (Ashley Palmier-Events).
Future Photographic Days:
Saturday 19th June
Saturday 10th July
See our Photography page for full information
Emu Chick
Paradise is proud to announce the birth of its long awaited Emu chick. The chick is called Darwin, after the town in Australia. Its dads name is Bruce and mum is either Sheila or Matilda, unfortunately we didn't catch sight of who laid the egg!
Incubation is around 50 days for Emus and it is the second largest bird in the world by height, after its relative, the Ostrich. They can reach up to a whopping 2 metres (6.6 ft) in height!
The Emu is commonly found over most of mainland Australia, although it avoids heavily populated areas, dense forest, and arid areas. Emus are farmed for their meat, oil and leather. Just like our penguins the Emu is a flightless bird.
Darwin was hatched in February and to ensure its survival was hand-reared by Head Keeper Yianna Christopoulos and Paddocks Keeper James Cork.
Green Ink?
As part of the on going Paradise Wildlife Park ‘Green Scheme' which looks at ways of creating a more environmentally friendly attraction, we have just launched a brand new recycling scheme for ink cartridges. This exciting new scheme allows us to recycle all the empty ink cartridges from our offices meaning less waste goes to landfill.
However, there is another twist to this scheme as you can also donate to us any empty ink cartridges for recycling at the Pay Cabin or Discovery Centre when you next pay us a visit. For each ink cartridge we recycle money is donated directly to our charity, Friends of Paradise Wildlife Park who work tirelessly to raise funds for worldwide animal conservation efforts.
Visit our Recycling Page to find out more...
A new set of stripes rolls into town!
Our tractor trailer ride has been re-launched this February half term, after a winter's refurbishment and is proving even more popular than before. We now have a new tractor sporting a tiger camouflage and our trailer now carries its own stripes and even a set of Zulu shields.
So remember to join us this half term and take a tour of the animal park on board our newly re-launched tractor trailer ride.
