Yorkshire Wildlife Park Yorkshire Wildlife Park News 2020

Polar Bear, Victor, has passed away aged 22:

Yorkshire Wildlife Park

Really sad about Victor, obviously all the bears are wonderful but as the first to arrive he was a really iconic animal for the park and I remember just being in awe of him when I saw him up close. RIP to this wonderful, magnificent animal.

I do wish that YWP wouldn't big themselves up so much though - was Victor really the 'most popular' polar bear in the country? Hamish at Highland is probably more famous and he'll be moving to Yorkshire soon, at which point they'll presumably be saying he is the most popular!
 
I do wish that YWP wouldn't big themselves up so much though - was Victor really the 'most popular' polar bear in the country? Hamish at Highland is probably more famous and he'll be moving to Yorkshire soon, at which point they'll presumably be saying he is the most popular!
Old 'stars' are quickly forgotten when they die and new ones soon move in to take their place...
 
Don’t they run big week at the zoo this time of year I think it normally runs the week before the bank holiday
 
Are they making any TV programmes at the moment? - I though it was still wall-to-wall repeats...

Its a bit mixed... there was supposed to be a new series about London & Whipsnade in the pipeline, although it seemingly hasn't aired yet. The soaps are showing stuff filmed post-pandemic already, and a few shows like The Great British Bake Off have been filmed and are now in post-production. TV is getting back to 'normal' gradually, although clips shows are also taking over (Secret Life of the Zoo has one starting next week, incidentally).

Back on topic, and news reports on the death of the country's oldest polar bear are really bugging me. I suppose its technically true, as Victor was the oldest in England, but Victoria at Highland is older. Its not that big a deal with a species so uncommon in British zoos to have the oldest one anyway!
 
Back on topic, and news reports on the death of the country's oldest polar bear are really bugging me. I suppose its technically true, as Victor was the oldest in England, but Victoria at Highland is older. Its not that big a deal with a species so uncommon in British zoos to have the oldest one anyway!

Dont be too bugged. Remember that the people at the top of YWP are ex-safari-park, and from the very start the safari parks have always been really good at self-promotion.
Such ballsy use of the media is something others who are a little more cautious, can only dream of.
But, as you can see - if you do have the balls, it does work...!
 
Its not that big a deal with a species so uncommon in British zoos to have the oldest one anyway!

Plus these bears all spent most of their adult lives not living in the UK anyway...
 
@Pertinax most of the Polar Bears at Yorkshire Wildlife Park arrived as or are juveniles. The only adult or older Polar Bear’s residing at Yorkshire Wildlife Park were the now late Victor and Rasputin who is currently being quantined in the former bear enclosure.
 
I was wondering why does yorkshire wildlife park have a field with camels in it and the area where the enclousure is is huge. It could be turned into something amazing as that back area is quite bare. It could be a tropical house with a gorrila exhibit or a giraffe breeding herd enclousure what ideas could that area be.
 
I had a lovely trip to the zoo a few days ago - The new area looks great, with future exhibits clearly planned out (with planting and earth mounds present). The Smooth Coated Otters were a no show, but the Red Panda and Gelada were very active. Finding the Hyena was a little tricky, but I found them resting behind their large mound, towards the front of the exhibit.

Managed to see the Roloways and Howlers (much smaller than I realized)... The Howler exhibit is very impressive, and perfect for them with the large trees. Didn't see the Dik Dik anywhere... ? I didn't notice an exhibit :confused: The Warty Piglet was very cute, and was "trotting" around the exhibit.

Overall, another great trip to an ever improving zoo :)
 
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Visited today, for first time in a while and was surprised at how busy the park was from mid morning onward (relatively quiet at 0930), but I suppose that’s a good thing income wise.
Liked the new area over the bridge, all 4 species on show some more active than others (red pandas running around). Looked as if there’s plans for another species to join the otters, with elevated walk ways from the shelter at the rear of the enclosure - asian primate perhaps or Binturong maybe?
They seem to be doing their best with making things Covid safe - one way systems, plenty of sanitisers etc and plenty of staff on hand to direct and inform.
 
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