New Forest Wildlife Park The New Forest Otter, Owl & Wildlife Park

There are quite a few lynx (European) in captivity in the UK. They do suffer from an image problem - not a spectacular coat nor endangered (at least enough to warrant BIAZA/EAZA attention). Seems a real pity when they were the largest native cat in this country. You will find individuals in a number of the smaller collections - Shrepeth, Galloway and Wildwood off the top of my head. Two bigger collections with lynx are Howletts and Highland WPs.The old Norfolk wildlife park (now restricted to mostly domestics as Animal Ark) once possessed a superb breeding group of lynx in an exhibit big enough for a pair of tigers. Not sure where they were dispersed to.

Additional collections are Curraghs Wildlife Park (Isle of Man), Camperdown Wildlife Centre, Flamingoland and Mablethorpe Animal Gardens.
 
Norfolk Wildlife Park advertised European Lynx for sale in Cage and Aviary Birds on at least two occasions.
 
Additional collections are Curraghs Wildlife Park (Isle of Man), Camperdown Wildlife Centre, Flamingoland and Mablethorpe Animal Gardens.

And Birmingham Nature Centre!
 
The Giant Otter has now left and is at The Chestnut Centre and has been there for at least a week.

Aha! I'll leave it for a few weeks to let things settle down and then I'll take my camera for a walk around the Chestnut Centre :)

Alan
 
Aha! I'll leave it for a few weeks to let things settle down and then I'll take my camera for a walk around the Chestnut Centre :)

Alan
I wouldnt worry about it go now the pair of them where inseparable,you would have thought the pair had been together for years and not the 5 days they had when i saw them,so fingers crossed they could get the U.K first breeding for this species.
 
I wouldnt worry about it go now the pair of them where inseparable,you would have thought the pair had been together for years and not the 5 days they had when i saw them,so fingers crossed they could get the U.K first breeding for this species.

:cool: Thank you - I'll take the first opportunity I get in that case.

Alan
 
Visited again today, with a couple of points:

- The Giant Otter male is still in quarantine, and he was very noisy today, making almost cartoonish calls. He was certainly stirring up the pond, and even though the pen was far from the path and obscured slightly by a netted fence, you were still certainly impressed when he emerged from the pool.
- I asked the keeper about the future now that Oden's gone, and she says the enclosure is being prepared for a new female lynx who'll arrive in the next few weeks, with plans for a male after she's settled.

Personal observations include Rusty the fox killing a rat that was unlucky enough to get stuck in his enclosure, some very ravenous short-clawed otters and a red deer showing his dominance to the fallow deer herd.

Sadly the fox has died.
 
Would that be Rusty? Cos that is sad news, as Pixie never emerges during the day.
 
If they said it was totally empty, that probably means Pixie has died too. :( Rusty was always the one you saw during the day, Pixie preferred to stay in the self-dug earth.
 
8/8/09:

Visited today, lovely weather, very pleasant by going later on to get a quiet visit and more active animals.

- Grichin the new female lynx is doing well, and I saw her sitting on her platform then coming up to the fence to be fed.
- Two fox cubs have recentley been brought into the park, arriving only a week after Rusty died. They are very cute, still fairly timid but quite curious.
- Didn't see the badgers today, thanks to a recent habit of pushing a lot of the straw onto the window and sleeping in the tunnels.
- The little owl aviary now has barn owls in it.
- And another litter of wild boar has been born. :)
 
Last edited:
*quote removed by me*

MD, perhaps, you should delete that bit if it is meant to be kept quiet. While most members would probably keep it to themselves, there are a huge number of guest users who view this site and they may decide to spread this news.
 
Last edited:
Sounds lovely! I have already heard a lot about it due to my 3 weeks work experience at Battersea Park Children's Zoo but I would love to go and visit. Thanks for the review and updates :)
 
I was thinking about it, but I feel it is too major too keep completely secret for the moment. Work is starting soon so it won't be very confidential much longer.
 
I was thinking about it, but I feel it is too major too keep completely secret for the moment. Work is starting soon so it won't be very confidential much longer.
That may or not be a wise idea,if something is told me on the QT i do not post it just for safety,also it could break any trust Keepers have in telling you information the future.
 
MD you were told something in confidence. If you pass on information which the provider did not intend to be made known, you will be the ultimate loser. As ZooGiraffe says above, you could break your informant's trust and never get to know anything else in the future.
 
Edited out.

My mistake; I must've been a bit carried away by the news.
 
Notes from today's visit:

- New species in the glasshouse, House Mice.
- Ferret enclosure is currently being renovated, and the hedgehogs are hibernating so a couple of guinea pigs from Battersea are currently holidaying there.
- Only one badger left, not sure what happened to the other. Viewing windows for the fox's indoor quaters have been blocked up, presumably to give Bramble and Moss greater security.
- No sign of the Red Deer Stag.
- All the fallow deer have moved out of Wallaby Wood, and I saw Dotty behind the fence in one of the off-show areas. Presumably clothes eating had become too much of a problem.
- Fence posts around the designated wolf enclosure have been put up. The keepers don't exactly know when they'll be arriving, but 'definately by March'.
 
Back
Top