Curraghs Wildlife Park Curraghs wildlife park

My 11/12/13th visits of the year have happened in quick succession.

First was a members invitation after normal opening hours on Friday 18th August. Great to go around with the current manager for the walk and talk. Got to see the elusive Fishing cat and lots of information about the park.

2nd September took my son to watch a Falconary display. This was an amazing display in which most of the spectators took part, old and young.

16th September was a lovely day strolling around the park as every single animal came out including the elusive Fishing cat again, red panda and European Eagle Owl that I didn't believe was ever in avairy. Spotted the new baby meerket, baby ring tailed Lemur but no look with the Silvery Gibbon because mum was too protective. The Elk is now starting display an impressive pair. Two new Mara have been brought in as well.

The developments to the park have recently taken on greater pace and there is a great deal of promise for next year. I'll always be a harsh critic but credit where it's due Curraghs is improving.

In the future I'd love Curraghs to increase the number of animals it contains although I know This may be difficult with revenue. It could certainly do with a few more Wallabies as there paddock was all but empty. Are there now only two that belong to the park? Although I'm aware that there are dozens of wild, yes wild, Wallabies running around the park.

The park has also lost all indoor areas, albeit that they were small, which I think need to be replaced in the long term for rainy days. The small herp and bug collection is currently off show save for the weekend encounter shows, which are wonderful for the kids. A small herp/bug house would be great. A return of the bats would also be popular.

I'd also like to see more fish represented in the collection and many of the aviaries could be extended. Curraghs has plenty of space to develop into.

The year membership is a bargain and at the very least the park always offers wonderful views on the walk around the park. So well done to the manageress and staff for the progress made this year.
 
Sad news this week of the death of the elderly Lynx and the death of the male Elk. The Lynx was 21 years old and the park currently have a pair of sisters sharing the habitat.

The Elk will be a big loss as it was a spectacular animal for this zoo. They have announced that they will not replace with another animal of this species.

The loss of the Elk will leave that right side of the park a little empty. When the mongoose died it has yet to be replaced. The Ring tailed have been moved in preparation for their new accommodation. The otter environment has remained empty for years although the park still has two other species of Otter. The Tapir doesn’t make a lot of appreances on the frequent visits we make. Going further up that side there does appear to be more Wallabies at the moment all though it is hard to determine which belong to the park and which are the wild Wallabies. The old Racoon area has now been dismantled and the Ibis are long gone.

The development of the Lemur walkthrough is picking up pace. It will be great to see it when it has finished. Next tonIt will be interesting to see what happens next. I would like them to display the native sheep.
 
The park is closed today following a serious fire overnight. The brand new Gentle Lemur enclosure was destroyed and two Lemur's are currently missing. Two more are unhurt and being housed elsewhere
 
Update from Facebook:

Lemur fire up-date

This has been a tough day......

When the Fire Service finished their investigation and we could check through the remainder of the enclosure, keepers found the 2 bodies of the missing Gentle lemurs. The 2 lemurs that have died are sisters Georgia and Nina, 3 yrs old and 1yr old.

Fire inspection has concluded it was most likely an electrical component failure. All electrics were new and signed off after testing before lemurs moved in 4 weeks ago, so this is such a tragic accident.

Staff at the Park, contractors and fire service have all worked tremendously and I would particularly like to thank keepers who have worked through last night and today despite being devastated about this incident, and remind them how well they did to rescue the adult pair of Gentle lemurs.

We will do our best to carry on as usual from tomorrow, we have many animals needing our attention and a rebuild to organise.

Thank you to everyone who has posted messages of support, it means a lot to us at the Park.

Kathleen Graham - Park Manager.
 
The third uk zoo for recently, all started at night and I think all were supposedly started by electrical faults yet here the electrics past a safety check for weeks ago. Coincidence?
 
Ned said:
The third uk zoo for recently, all started at night and I think all were supposedly started by electrical faults yet here the electrics past a safety check for weeks ago. Coincidence?
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Fourth (Woburn, London, Curraghs) - Blair Drummond also lost a Vulture and an Eagle in March following an aviary fire in similar circumstances
 
Nisha said:
Fourth (Woburn, London, Curraghs) - Blair Drummond also lost a Vulture and an Eagle in March following an aviary fire in similar circumstances
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Thanks, It's getting to the point where I'm just waiting for the next one to happen.
 
Curraghs Wildlife Park has seen a number of animal arrivals and departures over the past few weeks:

Arrivals:
- Five female Siberian chipmunks from a collection in the Netherlands
- Six male greater rhea from Overloon Zoo in the Netherlands, joining the lone male currently at the park
- Two great white pelicans hatched last year at Zoo Krefeld in Germany, joining the two pelicans currently resident at the park

Departures:
- A female spectacled owl hatched last year has moved to Kirkleatham Owl Centre to pair with a male there
- A male Cape porcupine has moved to Kirkley Hall Zoological Gardens, leaving three females at Curraghs
- Two female ring-tailed coati have moved to Amazona Zoo to join the lone female there
- Another five female ring-tailed coati have moved to Paris Zoo; this still leaves Curraghs with a group of nine individuals
- Male lowland tapir 'Rio' born in 2016 has moved to Parc Animalier D'Auvernge in France

Information comes from a post on the Park's Facebook page
 
Some welcome new additions to the collection over the last six weeks. Now the Lemur walk through is nearing completion it will be interesting to see what might be next on the agenda for Curraghs.

The park continues to improve and again I think some more indoor enclosures or houses would be beneficial for bad weather days. A small aquarium, mammal house or place to exhibit their reptiles and invertebrates. A return of the bats would be welcome.
 
Quincey said:
one of the last six in the European region
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Unless there has been a very recent and sudden reduction there are at least three times that number in Europe - not sure where they've got this figure from. Slimbridge and Bristol between them have five alone. :)
 
I thought Slimbridge had Eurasian Beaver and no Otters maybe wrong but haven't seen Otters at Slimbridge for a couple of Years
 
AdrianW1963 said:
I thought Slimbridge had Eurasian Beaver and no Otters maybe wrong but haven't seen Otters at Slimbridge for a couple of Years
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Slimbridge definitely have three female otters in the main show enclosure in the Back from the Brink building. There is a show holt inside the building as well. They've been there continuously since Back from the Brink opened.
 
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