South Lakes Wild Animal Park Reindeers at SL WAP....a question

[Maxieftm]

Hi, just discovered his site, very interesting and informative.

Anyway, just a quick question. Visited this place for the 2nd time this week, with our young child and a friend, and as usual we loved it. however, one question came from the kids.....the reindeers were in an encolsure to themselves, just stone/rubble flooring, looked a bit disheveled and a bit unhappy (quote the youngest of our kids). Anyone know whats going on with them at the minute.
I told our kid i'd have a look round the net, as unfortunately there was no keepers around at the time. But i tried to assure them it was a caring park and the animals would be being looked after.

Many thanks

 

[Pertinax]

the reindeers were in an encolsure to themselves, just stone/rubble flooring, looked a bit disheveled and a bit unhappy (quote the youngest of our kids).

Welcome to the site...

Reindeer are a species from colder/ higher altitudes and as a consequence aren't seen at their best in the milder climate of English zoos in summer. They are normally kept off grass in bare/gravelled paddocks because they are susceptible to parastic infections otherwise. In summer in the UK they frequently look 'tatty' as their coats are moulted in our warmer climate.

An increasing number of UK zoos nowadays keep Reindeer, mainly to benefit from the lucrative pre Christmas period when they are hired out for 'Santa's Sleigh' events. I'm not sure if South Lakes have their Reindeer for that purpose but would imagine so.

 

[Maxieftm]

Welcome to the site...

Reindeer are a species from colder/ higher altitudes and as a consequence aren't seen at their best in the milder climate of English zoos in summer. They are normally kept off grass in bare/gravelled paddocks because they are susceptible to parastic infections otherwise. In summer in the UK they frequently look 'tatty' as their coats are moulted in our warmer climate.

An increasing number of UK zoos nowadays keep Reindeer, mainly to benefit from the lucrative pre Christmas period when they are hired out for 'Santa's Sleigh' events. I'm not sure if South Lakes have their Reindeer for that purpose but would imagine so.

Thanks. To be honest, South lakes has always struck me as a place where the animals are very very well looked after and i assumed there'd be a reason the reindeer were in that particular place.
My wife and i actually said to them we thought they'd be looking like that due to it being summer, so we actually got something right!!