Animal Park of Les Angles

Animal Park of Les Angles
26-09-2008

Whilst on a family trip to France earlier this month I visited the above collection . It does not seem to be a member of EAZA or ISIS so is a bit 'below the radar' .

Les Angles is a modern ski resort in the French Pyrenees not too far from Andorra . The park is situated next to a ski area with lifts etc. which is probably very busy in the winter . There were a few visitors in September .

The Park's English leaflet states - ' The wild animals of the Pyrenees in their natural mountain surroundings ' which sums it up pretty well . The long circuit is 3.5 km over a very hilly site with natural paths - walking shoes are recommended , as well as a reasonable level of fitness for some steep climbs !
As well as the animals there are prehistoric and botany trails and casts of footprints along the paths .

There are no small mammals - apart from free-ranging marmots- or any captive birds . There are lots of wild birds including lovely crested tits and I saw a red squirrel just outside of the park . The enclosures are very large and some of the animals are not easy to see if away from the paths . The enclosures for moufflon , ibex and chamois ( I like the French name of izard ) are walk-through and we were treated to close encounters with the izards . Red deer , wild boar , fallow deer and European bison were all easily seen close to the fencing . There was no sign of the roe deer and we did not have time to make the detour necessary to see the reindeer .

A lovely big enclosure housed wolves , 2 were eventually spotted towards the back of the enclosure which was fenced with a raised viewing area . The 2 brown bears also had a big natural enclosure with very hefty fencing around it .

The only member of staff seen was the man in the ticket office , it would not be a high maintenance place and I doubt if many changes occur .

Entry fee was 9 euro . I enjoyed the visit , good to see some species rarely seen in the UK . Web-site Parallels H-Sphere .