If Kamal has commenced roaring then he will have settled. The lions should be fine , Kalinka being on her own and having lost her long time companions in the last year may take longer to adjust.
Jimmy's Farm & Wildlife Park Jimmy's Farm & Wildlife Park News 2025
- Thread starter Smaggledagle
- Start date
If Kamal has commenced roaring then he will have settled. The lions should be fine , Kalinka being on her own and having lost her long time companions in the last year may take longer to adjust.
Thought you all might be pleased to hear that Kalinka the Tiger and Kamal and Rani the Lions have finally been let out into their reserves at Jimmy's Farm and Wildlife Park last week since arriving from Chessington World of Adventures Resort nearly 2 weeks ago now and have settled in really well
The two domestic yak brothers at Jimmy's Farm have moved into a new enclosure in the woodland near to the arctic fox enclosure.
A very delayed trip report from my visit on the 01/11/2025:
End of trip report, the following is now me rambling and speculating:
It seems Jimmys farm is now taking a more geographical approach with the lions, tigers and yak making up an “Asia” area, the raccoons, bears and foxes making a “temperate” area, the Tundra and the soon to open South America area. I wonder with the tapir, rhea and guanaco moving to the South America area, if the remaining rare breeds up by the lions will move down to where the aforementioned used to be. This could then free up some more area for Asian species up by the lions such as the camels. This would then free up room for some African species to join the zebra, eland and macaques creating an African area.
I do hope they build another small viewing area for the brown bears but on the side nearest the raccoons as the small platform by their holding pen gets super crowded!
All in all, exciting times ahead!
- Firstly they now have an App with lots of functions including a map and talk times. Thankfully the map on the app is more current than the one on the website which is a couple of years out of date! I also took a picture of the map at the park, which is probably the best map of the three options.
- The black and white ruffed lemurs have moved into the old raccoon enclosure, I will say it is strange seeing a lemur in an enclosure planted with small spruce/fir trees. (See map above)
- Next to them are 4 coati, I don’t remember seeing so many in the past
- Speaking of which they now have 6 mara, which is nice to see considering they only had one on my first visit a few years ago.
- The new South America area looks to be almost complete, so I wonder if it will opened for the Easter holidays, perhaps sooner. There appears to be two new enclosures for the area with a path through the middle, this path is on the map but isn’t currently open to the public. (See map above)
- The zoo finally announced the foxes that have been at the zoo since at least May. They live next door to the raccoons in the woods. I believe the public now have access further down the path so they can view the foxes, however when I visited you could only go as far as the raccoons. (See map above)
- This announcement also confirmed that the rest of Kyle Thomas’s animals have also moved to the zoo with the video showing the foxes, 2 meerkats and a common marmoset.
- The meerkats appear to be mixed into the parks main group and it is unclear where the marmoset is housed.
- However saying this the lemurs now only have a third of the poly tunnel for their indoor enclosure, with the other two thirds blocked with graphics saying “Oh Snap! This area is closed… Don’t drift too far, we’ll be back!”. I am hoping this is a much needed upgrade for the crocodile especially with the “snap” reference, but since the announcement post visit perhaps this is where the marmoset will be house?
- There is also a fenced off area just outside of the poly tunnel but this could just be to provide access for construction work inside.
- The yaks now live in the woods which is lovely to see. (see map above)
- Now onto the main reason I visited, to see the new big cat enclosures! So far only the two lion reserves have been built with Kalinka (Tiger) in the right side enclosure and the lions on the left. We had a great view of Kalinka on the mound as we drove down the lane to get to the car park. I was really impressed by the enclosures as they seem to be a step up with excellent terraforming, substrates, viewing opportunities and rock work. They are still constructing a viewing deck area with a water barrier (a welcome first for Jimmys Farm) and the planting needs a few years to fully establish, but I am excited for the direction the collection is taking.
- The tiger reserves are rapidly being terraformed in the valley area, I can already tell this is going to be one of (if not the) best tiger enclosures in the country. One enclosure looks to include a large pond and woodland area, with the other being more open.
- There is also an additional pair of enclosures marked on the map, I am unsure if this is also for tigers or if this is for an additional species, only time will tell! (See map above)
End of trip report, the following is now me rambling and speculating:
It seems Jimmys farm is now taking a more geographical approach with the lions, tigers and yak making up an “Asia” area, the raccoons, bears and foxes making a “temperate” area, the Tundra and the soon to open South America area. I wonder with the tapir, rhea and guanaco moving to the South America area, if the remaining rare breeds up by the lions will move down to where the aforementioned used to be. This could then free up some more area for Asian species up by the lions such as the camels. This would then free up room for some African species to join the zebra, eland and macaques creating an African area.
I do hope they build another small viewing area for the brown bears but on the side nearest the raccoons as the small platform by their holding pen gets super crowded!
All in all, exciting times ahead!
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There seems to be some speculative discussion on local social media sites (Ipswich area) that a new species is arriving to inhabit the enclosure with large pond. Rumours suggest hippo or Indian rhino? Is there any truth to this? It feels like this is a time of rapid expansion at this park at a time when other collections are really struggling? The business model they use seems to be working. Good luck to them.
Hippo, unless they take Hodor if he is still mother fixated, as far as hippos go. Then Longleat could import a new unrelated male?
White Rhino maybe, the ones from South Lakes?
Indian Rhino, wouldn't have thought there are any going spare?
All pure speculation, please remember!
White Rhino maybe, the ones from South Lakes?
Indian Rhino, wouldn't have thought there are any going spare?
All pure speculation, please remember!
EEP is pretty desperate for holders!
I seem to recall reading in Jimmy Doherty's book about the park that he specifically wants to bring Indian rhino to the collection. It wouldn't surprise me at all if they were to arrive in the future.
It will/would cost a bomb in housing, not least as I presume for either species, a heated indoor pool and filtration system would be necessary, more especially to comply with all the new guidelines. But this place doesn't seem to shy away from taking on big new projects. From Pigs to Polar Bears(and more) in quite a short time really.
Out of curiosity, I decided to dig the book out (Tales from Jimmy's Farm, published in 2023) to have a look at what animals were mentioned as ones that Jimmy Doherty wanted at the park.
- Indian rhino - the first animal mentioned, and described as 'my big dream'.
- Brown bear - Obviously, the first of these arrived just a year after the book was published.
- Bison and European elk - Mentioned in passing as possibly being housed in the woodland near to the brown bears.
- Penguins - Including the idea of repurposing old shipping containers in order to make their pool.
- An aquarium - These have also sort-of arrived, with the small marine tank at the entrance to the tropical house, but the book suggests a larger and more specialised aquarium building.
- Otters - Kept near to the aquarium for a more cohesive aquatic theme.
- Fishing cats - Possibly being bred for reintroduction to Sri Lanka.
Lafone
Well-Known Member
From an expense point of view are hippos more given the massive amount of excrement they leave in their pools or is the cleaning and filtration cost broadly equivalent (guess housing will be the same)?
I’d say rhino might be going in either way given the Indian signage and the general area it’s in but who knows otherwise.
That would be fantastic if the Indian Rhinos arrived at Jimmy's Farm and Wildlife Park
I think Hippos are much messier waterwise as they dung in the water the whole time. From memory Indian rhino in the wild normally dungs in 'middens' on the land which are used as scent 'signposts' by various individuals. So you'd expect water not to need cleaning with the same frequency. The pools in the Rhinos of Nepal building at Whipsnade always look pretty clean but then the rhinos don't seem to be in there very often.
I guess if Jimmy's did get Indian rhino they may be asked to take in spare bulls, which also fits their general recent ethos of housing needy (for want of a better word) animals.
Lafone
Well-Known Member
Thanks that’s interesting - the white rhinos also do a dung heap / midden (at CWP mum took new baby over to it the other day now that makes that behaviour clearer). I thought it might be more money and work to do hippo filtering and cleaning but good to have it confirmed - thanks for the info!
Mckenzie2000
Well-Known Member
Hi all,
I am planning a trip to the zoo tomorrow and know that some of the rare breed fields that aren’t accessible within the park are otherwise accessible elsewhere but have forgotten how to get to them and also, whether or not this has changed. Any input you folks could please provide would be immensely appreciated!
I am planning a trip to the zoo tomorrow and know that some of the rare breed fields that aren’t accessible within the park are otherwise accessible elsewhere but have forgotten how to get to them and also, whether or not this has changed. Any input you folks could please provide would be immensely appreciated!
The model being having a rich celebrity owner?
cerperal
Well-Known Member
Seems like a bit of a disservice to how Jimmy's has reached this point - his minor celebrity fame came from his rare breeds farm becoming a major success, which is where the vast majority of the original park income came from. I would imagine there was a point in the past few years where the Zoo income became greater than the rare breeds, but regardless - I would say the majority of Jimmy's success has come from pacing themselves over the past decade, making the most of their natural landscape, and prioritising the animals with the exhibits moreso than visitor experience (which of course then sustains a better visitor experience anyway). I think it also helps that he has a tremendous amount of local goodwill and have mastered the art of the animal "rescue" (although arguably their acquisitions of that sort have been more rescue than most other collections)
I actually have a sneaking admiration for what he has done here. He started on a run-down farmland site with just mainly the rare pig breeds and some good publicity from those early T.V. series, and has gradually developed it into what there is now. Hats off to him I say.