The Seal Sanctuary, Mablethorpe

The Seal Sanctuary, Mablethorpe
04-05-2008

This delightful 2 acre attraction is just about the nearest I have to a 'local' zoo, so needless to say I visit a few times every year. I've been doing this since 1996 - and can honestly say that yesterday's visit was my best EVER!

For anyone not familiar with Mablethorpe, it is predominantly a rescue centre that takes in abandoned seal pups, rears them and releases them back into the wild. Those that can't be put back out are given a permanent home in a massive pool which forms the centrepiece of the collection. They also have an excellent collection of native seabirds such as gannets, guillemots and various gulls, again many of which are returned to the wild. Other British animals that have been allowed to stay on due to being unable to fend for themselves include badgers in a massive enclosure with indoor viewing of their sett, kestrels, and a good selection of owls including Barn Owls in an attractive barn setting. One of my many highlights is a naturalistic enclosure for Scottish Wildcats, which have bred well here.

Originally Mablethorpe was mainly for exotics, and they still have a few although these are declining in numbers somewhat as old age sadly catches up with the residents. One of the star attractions is the acclaimed Lynx Cave, there are also Emus in a recently completed enclosure, a single Vervet Monkey, some Cockatoos, Iguanas, and a recently acquired Rhea which was previously someone's pet!

However, the reason that my latest visit was so good was due entirely to Vixie the fox cub! She's one of a litter of five foxes that are being cared for after their mother was killed. The other four are all fairly wild and are to be released, but Vixie has had a few problems and got picked on, so she has been handled a lot more and is now too tame to release. Her 'mum' sometimes brings her out to meet friends and she is unbelievably well-behaved, sitting very quietly and calmly, and is happy to be stroked. At one point she was carried into the gift shop and took great interest in the soft toys on sale there!

For anyone in the area or passing through, Mablethorpe comes highly reccomended, although only small they have some superb enclosures which have been very imaginativley designed and built, with most of the work being done by the owner Paul King who is also extremely friendly and talkative. The lynx exhibit was deservedly a runner-up in a major zoo awards when it opened, losing out only to Marwell's Penguin World, quite an acheivment for a small place! My description of the sanctuary would be '2 acres of heaven' - check it out if you can.

04-05-2008

Can you tell me if Mablethorpe still holds common genets? And, if so, what are the ages and sexes?

05-05-2008

Yes, they still have just one Small Spotted Genet left - I would imagine it's quite old now as they don't tend to go out of their way to get more exotics in, so it's probably the last survivor from an old group.

Unfortunately I don't know much about the genet, but hopefully I'll be visiting again soon (we want to see the fox cub grow!), so will try and remember to ask for some more info on my next visit.

05-05-2008

im going back to mablethorpe in june so will probly visit again then. i went last year and unfortunatly they no longer had artic fox.

is there anyother animal collections nearish to there? i know ofte seal sanctuary in skegness and is the parrot place just outside skegness worth a visit?

05-05-2008

Thanks Sand Cat. I would be interested to know the age and sex of it, and also if there are any plans to pair it/ get rid of it/ do nothing.

Incidentally, does anyone know of any other (public) collections holding common genets in the UK? Camperdown has two (youngish) males but these three would appear to be about the sum total of the UK's zoo population of this species.

05-05-2008

I`m going next weekend so will try to find out for you then.

05-05-2008

The skegness seal place is called 'Natureland'. It's not a great collection, but I think the work they do for wild seabirds and seals is pretty commendable, and so visiting is probably worth it to offer support. Last time I visited, which was a couple of years ago, the collection comprised of about 5 permenantly captive seals, including a pregnant one, a group of about 7 penguins, a reptile house with two nile crocodiles, a tropical bird and butterfly house which included two flamingoes, a farmyard, a chipmunk island (which is actually quite cool) and a rehabilitation centre. There are a few other aviaries and a koi pond etc too.

I think, but I'm not sure, that the parrot place is somewhere between skegness and boston. It was on local news the other day as I think they were raising funds for a revamp or to help wild parrots or something. They should have a webpage. Looked pretty good to me though.

Here's a flickr set on it:
National Parrot Sanctuary - a set on Flickr

06-05-2008

Re: Mablethorpe's last genet - I very much suspect that it will be the 'do nothing' policy. The sanctuary doesn't take in that many new animals apart from those that are rescued, and I think they've just had the one genet for a few years now. They used to be in a few small enclosures close together; one was demolished to make way for the new emu exhibit, and the other now houses a disabled Pheasant. I'd like to see more genets brought in but personally can't see it happening.

bloodycurtus - the National Parrot Sanctuary (or 'Parrot Zoo' as they like to call it more recently) is EXCELLENT. Definitly the UK's best collection of parrots, if not best in the world? They have an absolutely huge range of parrot species, many of them kept in large numbers e.g. about 100 African Greys and counting! The aviaries are simple but spacious and there is a nice walk-through aviary with the usual cockatiels etc. and a few more unusual species. If pushed for time I'd suggest a combined visit with Natureland as neither place is very big.

There's also the Jungle Zoo at Cleethorpes - another very small place and some enclosures not so great, but they have some interesting species, small birds in particular, as well as toucans, meerkats, capuchin monkeys, ring-tailed lemurs and caiman. There is a greenhouse with mainly birds and reptiles with some enclosures outside for the mammals and more birds - some recent developments inside the greenhouse have been pretty good and hopefully the zoo will carry on developing like this.

I hope this information helps you to decide which collections to visit - I'd say do all 4 if you have time, but it's obviously up to you!

07-05-2008

Porfell animal land in cornwall had and may still have genets, a lot of the smaller collections around the country still do, places like auchingarrich etc, and a fair number of private animal keepers.
Dartmoor had them a few years ago, I don't know if they still do.

07-05-2008

The population in private hands is certainly a lot healthier than the zoo one.

I've never been to Porfell - can anyone elaborate on their genets? I've not been to Auchingarrich for about four years so they could well have acquired them in the interim. I do remember their 'European Mink' though.

I don't think that "a lot of the smaller collections around the country still do" is a very accurate description of the situation. Some do, certainly, but I'd estimate there to be only about half a dozen of them.

Genet
07-05-2008

The last genet from dartmoor went to camperdown around 10 years ago! Porfell still has 1 elderly genet off show, cant remember the sex? Will find out today.

08-05-2008

I think there are a few very small collections springing up from farm diversification schemes, garden centre sideshoots or former pets corners such as Eden Ostrich world, Five Sisters, Oban zoological world etc and I'm wondering if any of these may have recently acquired genets from private hands. I wouldn't be surprised if a few crop up in the next few years.

08-05-2008

Oban Zoo closed a couple of years ago. Five Sisters does not have Common Genets but seems to be the only zoo in Britain exhibiting Common Palm Civets. Much of their stock comes from private keepers and as such is quite an interesting display (Greater Egyptian Jerboas, Marbled Polecat, Asiatic Desert Dormouse, Pygmy Spiny Mouse, Spring Hare etc.). Eden I've not been to for some years but they seemed to be going the way of hoofstock rather than small mammals - maybe things are changing there.

Problem with Genets and Civets is that they are nocturnal. Unlike some species which can be encouraged to be active during daylight - its virtually impossible with these viverrids. Under reversed lighting conditions, they can make very good exhibits

08-05-2008

Speaking of civets does anyone know where Edinburghs Malayan palm civets went to, they were successful with them at Edinburgh having bred a litter.

09-05-2008

I thought they went to Five Sisters Zoo Park but according to Paradoxorus they have Common Palm Civets,will be going to Five Sisters at the end of the month will ask the owner what species they are.