I paid my first visit to The Ark Wildlife Park earlier this week and having been hugely impressed, I wanted to post my thoughts on the place. This is a small collection at Stickney, Lincolnshire which is essentially a sanctuary for rescued animals, mostly ex-pets. I know some Zoochatters have some reservations about sanctuaries, however my view is that this is not only a place with a good heart, they are also a professional, well-run establishment with some excellent large animal enclosures. However, if you like your zoos traditional and/or want to see endangered animals being bred, well this one isn't for you!
For me the star attractions are five Red Foxes in two large grassed enclosures - although none of them are the typical colour! The larger enclosure of the two is home to Sox (a male fox with unusual markings including white legs, hence his name), Shadow & Skye (two silver sisters). The other, newer enclosure houses Dexter (also a silver fox) and Lana who is white with blue eyes. All of them are beautiful. Between them is another large pen housing Tembea the serval, and nearby there is also a Lynx. Opposite are some paddocks for wallabies and domesticated animals such as goats and donkeys.
Ring-Tailed Lemurs have a nice island and close by a new enclosure is being built for four ex-lab macaques, expected to arrive later this year.
Another highlight is 'Tanuki Pond', a large enclosure for a pack of eight very friendly Raccoon Dogs. Nearby are enclosures for Raccoons, Coatis, and Skunks, Jaguarundis which are quite elusive but I did get snarled at by one, and a Small Animal Barn with numerous rabbits along with the inevitable Meerkats! There is also a Tropical House which appears to be a converted stable, inside the mammal highlights include Rusty Spotted Genets and an Asian Palm Civet. There are separate small rooms for a variety of reptiles and other exotic pets, most notably including a Morelet's Crocodile.
That is pretty much it for the animals although despite its small size, the visitor facilities are also very good; there is a decent play area and the combined entrance/shop/cafe is excellent, with some lovely homemade cake amongst the goodies on offer!
The owners are extremely friendly and very passionate about what they do. Its worth emphasising that they don't seek out animals to add to their collection, everything has come because it needed a home. These range from Dexter the fox who was going to be euthanised by his owner who had bought him to take to children's parties but found him to be too 'aggressive' (allegedly), the serval who was living in a room in somebody's house and was not cleaned out for around two years, with predictability horrific results, and a crocodile that was being kept in a bath! The enclosures are fairly basic affairs and not especially pretty, but mostly offer the animals a lot of space and the chance to behave naturally, for example the foxes have dug their own tunnel system within the fences. The priority is clearly to give the animals what they need; the owner told me that they could take considerably more animals but do not have enough money to house and care for them properly. However, they do have a large field to expand onto, and more animals are expected later in the year - a Jungle Cat was mentioned which I suspect will be of interest to some on here as apparently there is only one in the UK at present, at the Big Cat Sanctuary in Kent.
If you like to see animals given a good life after being kept in far from ideal conditions, a visit to The Ark is a must and I certainly left the place with a nice warm feeling inside. You could easily look around in around an hour, but I highly recommend staying longer, as some animals (Lynx and Jaguarundi particularly) are only usually active at certain times of the day and warrant a few visits if you don't see them straight away.
For me the star attractions are five Red Foxes in two large grassed enclosures - although none of them are the typical colour! The larger enclosure of the two is home to Sox (a male fox with unusual markings including white legs, hence his name), Shadow & Skye (two silver sisters). The other, newer enclosure houses Dexter (also a silver fox) and Lana who is white with blue eyes. All of them are beautiful. Between them is another large pen housing Tembea the serval, and nearby there is also a Lynx. Opposite are some paddocks for wallabies and domesticated animals such as goats and donkeys.
Ring-Tailed Lemurs have a nice island and close by a new enclosure is being built for four ex-lab macaques, expected to arrive later this year.
Another highlight is 'Tanuki Pond', a large enclosure for a pack of eight very friendly Raccoon Dogs. Nearby are enclosures for Raccoons, Coatis, and Skunks, Jaguarundis which are quite elusive but I did get snarled at by one, and a Small Animal Barn with numerous rabbits along with the inevitable Meerkats! There is also a Tropical House which appears to be a converted stable, inside the mammal highlights include Rusty Spotted Genets and an Asian Palm Civet. There are separate small rooms for a variety of reptiles and other exotic pets, most notably including a Morelet's Crocodile.
That is pretty much it for the animals although despite its small size, the visitor facilities are also very good; there is a decent play area and the combined entrance/shop/cafe is excellent, with some lovely homemade cake amongst the goodies on offer!
The owners are extremely friendly and very passionate about what they do. Its worth emphasising that they don't seek out animals to add to their collection, everything has come because it needed a home. These range from Dexter the fox who was going to be euthanised by his owner who had bought him to take to children's parties but found him to be too 'aggressive' (allegedly), the serval who was living in a room in somebody's house and was not cleaned out for around two years, with predictability horrific results, and a crocodile that was being kept in a bath! The enclosures are fairly basic affairs and not especially pretty, but mostly offer the animals a lot of space and the chance to behave naturally, for example the foxes have dug their own tunnel system within the fences. The priority is clearly to give the animals what they need; the owner told me that they could take considerably more animals but do not have enough money to house and care for them properly. However, they do have a large field to expand onto, and more animals are expected later in the year - a Jungle Cat was mentioned which I suspect will be of interest to some on here as apparently there is only one in the UK at present, at the Big Cat Sanctuary in Kent.
If you like to see animals given a good life after being kept in far from ideal conditions, a visit to The Ark is a must and I certainly left the place with a nice warm feeling inside. You could easily look around in around an hour, but I highly recommend staying longer, as some animals (Lynx and Jaguarundi particularly) are only usually active at certain times of the day and warrant a few visits if you don't see them straight away.
