Call of the Wild Zoo New collection in Essex: Call of the Wild Zoological Park

banham.tiger

Well-Known Member
10+ year member
A new collection is opening next year 2022 on the old site of tropical wings. Its called call of the wild and the Facebook post states it will house similar species to what the site had before.


COMING 2022

We are excited to announce that we will be opening 'Call of the Wild Zoological Park' at what was formally known as Tropical Wings Zoo, in South Woodham Ferrers, Essex in early spring, 2022.

We are currently in the process of rebuilding and restoring parts of the well-loved attraction as well as working towards our licensing. The plan is to keep previous crowd favourites, as well as creating new immersive and geographically themed destinations for our guests to enjoy and explore.

Keep an eye on our social media for developments on the park, as well as competitions for the opportunity to win tickets and become some of our first guests. Our new website is currently under development and we will keep you updated when it goes live.

We look forward to welcoming you to the zoo in the near future!

Stay Wild!
 
Only visited this place once just before it closed! It has potential, will watch with interest!
 
What species was kept Tropical wings, just birds?
It did have mainly birds, but some mammals (mostly fairly common ones) : otters, meerkat, red necked Wallaby, Capybara, porcupines, Squirrel monkeys, ring tailed lemur, marmoset, agouti, long nosed potoroo, coati, skunk and probably a few more I've forgotten plus a handful of reptiles
 
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The Call of the Wild Zoological Park's Facebook page has included an interview with BBC Essex about their plans. As well as the butterfly house, which will be an integral part of the new park, there has been confirmation that the park will be divided up geographically, with Africa, Australia, the Americas and native wildlife confirmed areas. Species mentioned include meerkats and multiple species of lemur.
 
A new zoo is opening in Essex:

Animals arriving as new Essex zoo prepares to throw its doors open to the public soon

Bosses at the Call of the Wild Zoological Park, on the site of the former Tropical Wings Zoo, near South Woodham Ferrers, say families will be welcomed onto the site in a matter of months.

Meerkats are already on the site with lemurs, porcupines and wallabies set to settle into life at the attraction in coming weeks.

“We are hoping to be open for February and planning on some open days in the future too.

“It will be huge to get a zoo open again on this site and will be a big boost to education and conservation. There is nothing like this in the area at all and the closest will be Colchester Zoo and Paradise Wildlife Park.”
 
The website for the Call of the Wild Zoological Park has gone live quite recently - while the animal section of the website is still very sparse (only ring-tailed lemurs are mentioned), the park map has also been added and reveals much more in the way of animals. It also shows there there seems to be a change in the park layout - rather than entering into the tropical house almost immediately, the entrance is now further down the park, near the bird of prey display lawn.

Wild species included on the map are:
- Ruffed and ring-tailed lemurs
- Meerkats
- Serval
- Wallabies
- Red squirrels
- Asian small-clawed otters
- Coatis
- African civet (I would say undoubtedly the highlight of the species list so far)

Sections of the park, some of which provide species hints, include:
- Heart of Africa (this seems to be on the site of the squirrel monkey and marmoset enclosures from Tropical Wings)
- Owls Chateau
- Birds of the World (seems to be in pretty much the same place as the old Bird Garden at Tropical Wings)
- Tropical House
- Rainforest Corner (this was formerly for small mammals like armadillos, tenrecs and pouched rats, but the map shows a crocodilian)

The map can be found on the link below:
Zoo Map - Call of the Wild Zoo
 
Call of the Wild Zoo have announced they will be having five open days in December before the full opening in spring 2022. The days will be the 11th, 12th, 18th, 19th and 23rd December. Because it is still being developed, the Tropical House and Rainforest Corner will not be open on these days.

One thing I noticed is that the zoo has also put up an updated map. It seems that several of the animals have switched places and some new species have been mentioned. Some things I have noticed include:

- Red squirrels are no longer included on the map
- Crested porcupines will be living on the site previously mentioned for otters on the map
- Servals will be living where African civets were labelled on the previous map, with the civets now being near to the porcupines
- Some birds including barn owls, African grey parrots, greater rhea and striated caracaras are now shown on the map
- Striped skunks are now shown on the map
- South American coatis, common marmosets and Asian small-clawed otters are all listed as 'coming soon'
- Perhaps not surprising, but confirmation that the ruffed lemurs will be black-and-white ruffed lemurs

The new map can be seen here:
Zoo Map - Call of the Wild Zoo
 
Call of the Wild Zoo have announced that they will be officially opening on February 12th 2022.

Information comes from the Call of the Wild Zoo's Facebook page.
 
The animal page (accessible in the link two posts up) has been updated again and includes another new species, the common brown lemur.

The accompanying photograph looks as if it was taken at the park and I think is in the old lemur enclosure (when I went on the open day, this space was being used by the pygmy goats).
 
A video filmed by BBC Essex has been shared on the Call of the Wild Zoo Facebook page talking about the reopening tomorrow.

It includes footage of several species that have either been mentioned as coming soon, with both greater rhea and Asian small-clawed otters shown on-site, or have not been mentioned yet including Philippine sailfin lizard, Burmese python, Madagascar hissing cockroaches, a Mexican red-knee tarantula that lived on the site when it was still Tropical Wings and the butterflies for the tropical house.
 
The animal page on Call of the Wild Zoo's website has had a pretty big update today. These are the changes I have noticed:
- Both the coati and newly-reinstated common marmosets are now listed as 'new arrival' instead of 'coming soon'
- Species that were in the park when I went on the open day that have just been added to the site are: yellow mongoose, Harris hawk, Bengal eagle owl, African grey parrot, striated caracara, striped skunk, barn owl and tawny owl
- Completely new species that have been added to the site are: Patagonian mara, green iguana, giant day gecko and Yemen chameleon

The updated animal page can be found here:
Our Animals - Call of the Wild Zoo
 
I have recently seen that a visitor has uploaded a picture of the updated map on Facebook (there is still no map on the website) as well as photographs of new animals and signs. These are the new things that I noticed:

New species
- Hyacinth macaws (in the aviary previously housing striated caracaras)
- Black-headed caiques (in the aviary previously housing American red squirrels
- Some sort of unidentified conure (filmed free-flying in the tropical house)
- African spurred tortoise (picture shown on the map mixed with ring-tailed lemurs)
- Black-and-white colobus (not sure if they have arrived yet; they will be going in the ruffed lemur enclosure in Into Africa)

Movements of existing species
- Servals are in an enclosure near the lemur walkthrough (I believe the former coati enclosure when it was Tropical Wings); their enclosure is home to the brown lemurs
- Striated caracaras are in the Bengal eagle owl aviaries; the eagle owls have moved to the bird of prey aviary near the entrance
- American red squirrels are in an enclosure previously listed as being for the marmosets
- Ruffed lemurs are said to be moving into an enclosure between the wallaby walkthrough and the African civets

- Listed as 'coming for summer 2022' are a flamingo lake and American alligators in the tropical house

The map can be seen here:
https://scontent.fltn3-2.fna.fbcdn....zhRIhrs9g73unA_K17BLuyQJZxxrU92Xg&oe=626A5D53
 
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