Wildlife Heritage Foundation Big Cat Sanctuary - Smarden

New director :
Star of Tigers About the House, Giles Clark, joins the Big Cat Sanctuary, Smarden as director of cats and conservation

 

Posted in the TV section too ... BBC2 tonight 8pm

Big Cats About the House - BBC Two

Documentary series following life at the Big Cat Sanctuary in Kent, run by Giles Clark to support big cat conservation

 

I have enjoyed watching episode 1. It is the first time I have seen inside this zoo and am amazed that its photo days and membership scheme can finance an organisation of this size and quality. Are the owners independantly wealthy? It looks like a very expensive operation.

 

I suspect, though have no evidence, that it is supported financially by it's sister zoo, Paradise Wildlife Park, which always looks very highly profitable (high-ish prices, always busy, lots of secondary spend opportunities) whenever I visit .

 

The Sampson family own/operate both PWP and Smarden. Peter Sampson (who cameos briefly in both episodes if you know who to look for!) made his money from haulage I believe, and bought out PWP in the late Eighties. Smarden followed in the early Noughties.

I visited Smarden in 2006. It’s unrecognisable compared to what is was like then!

 

I had a look on the Charity Commision Website and they, the WILDLIFE HERITAGE FOUNDATION LTD, took in (by various methods) £1,255,730 in 2016. I don't know however if this a lot or a little against what they need to run a zoo of this size.

 

From Facebook:

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our oldest cat, Lumpur. Affectionately known by his keepers as Lumpy.

The Big Cat Sanctuary

 

WIngham decided to post this in response to enquiries about Willow, who featured in the recent TV show
Willow the Cheetah Cub - Animal Experiences At Wingham Wildlife Park In Kent

 

Wow - politics in the zoo!!

 

You should read the Facebook statements.

Wingham Wildlife Park

 

From Facebook:

It is with great regret that we announce that we have some more sad news for you, as Mandalay, our female Clouded leopard has passed away.​

 

What a massive run of bad luck for them, how sad.

 

It is with much sadness that we announce the passing of both Tula, the dainty Pallas’s cat and Kushka, the mischievous tiger.

The Big Cat Sanctuary

 

I had a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon here today, getting to hand feed a Jaguar and a Amur Leopard.
Got to see most of the cats and get some pics, sadly some cats were either too close to the fence, or hiding, so some pics annoyingly have fencing in the way, or the cats were no shows

Didn't get to see the Rusty Spotted Cat , Jungle Cat or the Caracal who were both asleep in their indoor quarters but everything else was visible.

Some sad news is they have now lost both their Clouded Leopards, so they now have no Clouded Leopards at the park, their exhibits now house Chinese Leopards.

Got to see Willow up close who was from the Tb series, and she purrs really loudly. I've never heard Cheetahs so close before that they purr! Was great to see.

Their male Sumatran Tiger is huge as well! He was nearly as big as their Bengal White Tiger, which surprised me.

They are hoping the Snow Leopards will breed, and they are currently trying to mix them to breed. This is the same with the current pair of Amur Leopards who they are hoping to breed with. I got to feed Artur who was a gorgeous Leopard, and also Sophia who is one of their 2 female retired Jaguar's.

They currently have no breeding male Jaguar but are building a massive new Jaguar Breeding centre, which will allow them to bring in a male Jaguar to allow them to breed.

They are also looking for a Female Pallas Cat.

They have a mother and young female Serval, but no Male at present, but they hope in time to bring one in.

Puma's they have 3 females and 1 male, but they are not planning to breed as there is no call for Puma's in Captivity anymore and they are actually probably going to be phased out over time.

They have a good collection of 7 female White Lions, and 1 male White Lion. The male White Lion shares with his sister, whilst the other 6 share with a African male who is unable to breed.

There is another pair of African Lions, and a further 2 Male African Lions in another exhibit.

In regards to Tigers, they have a female white Bengal, they also have a Male White Tiger but he is not with the female, and is next to a female Amur Tiger.

There are 2 Amur Tigers as well, and 2 Sumatran Tigers.

There was 5 Cheetah's I think, mainly boys. Willow the only female I saw.

3 Jaguar's with Maya the youngest at 3.

There was 4 Leopards I think, 2 Chinese and 2 Amur.

There is 1 Pallas Cat, 2 Serval, 1 Leopard Cat, 1 Rusty Spotted Cat, 1 Lynx and 1 Caracal in regards to the small cats.

Neron's (Jaguar) enclosure is currently empty

 

No jungle cat (Felis chaus) left? I thought they still had the only one in the UK?

 

HI Brum,

Yes sorry, I meant Jungle Cat not Leopard Cat,

Regards

 

Male jaguar Neron has arrived from Artis Zoo Amsterdam.

The Big Cat Sanctuary

 

They don't have fishing cat any more? Just last month they supported a presentation from the head of Fishing Cat Conservancy (a personal friend of mine).

 

If I knew he was coming so soon, I would have waited a week grrrrr
Absolutely love Jaguar's.