From BIAZA: New Forest Wildlife Park to send giant otters Simuni and Akuri to Columbia to start new families as part of a prestigious international breeding program. http://www.biaza.org.uk/uploads/Pre...st Wildlife Park_Giant Otters to Columbia.pdf
Note: Have just changed the thread title to make this a more general news thread (because the park doesn't get a lot of posts) Shame they've given up trying to import individuals from outside Europe..
I visited the New Forest Wildlife Park today and saw two otters in a semi-off show enclosure. I asked a keeper about them and was told they were a pair of Smooth-coated Otters that had newly come to them from Wingham Wildlife Park. Apparently they were about two years old and would eventually be sent to their other centre in Derbyshire. Although they weren't on show as such, they were visible in an enclosure set back quite a way from the path and perfectly viewable through binoculars. That brings the total number of otter species at the New Forest Wildlife Park to five, which I thought was rather impressive
A keeper talked about this and said that when the Giant Otters are sent away, there will be two replacement females from Hungary. They do not plan to ever have a breeding group because their enclosure is not big enough and was only ever built as a temporary enclosure.
Excellent news the Chestnut Centre is very good indeed; would be nice if New Forest got some for themselves in the fullness of time, too.
I visited today, my first time so I'll add some recent (in the last year) developments and future plans below. I should probably have paid more attention to the keeper talks rather than trying to take photos of the pine marten but there you go. Lovely little zoo with a really interesting collection of animals; having five deer (Reeves muntjac, sika, roe, fallow and red) was especially neat, particularly with three of them in a walk through. The red deer and wisent are now in seperate enclosures due to the rutting reds trying to fight the wisent every year. The wisent are now in the meadow next to the deer and wild boar, with only two animals (half-brothers) the paddock looks in good shape, plenty of sedgy grasses around. One of the wisent bulls is due to be swapped out somewhere for a female next year. One of the keepers mentioned that they were looking at getting a female giant otter from South America, so breeding may be back on the cards, though the current enclosure will need an upgrade. Unless I missed something, the smooth-coated otters aren't officially on display. I may have seen them next to the otter rehab enclosures (a group of 3-4) were begging for food from a keeper.
Three new European water voles Arvicola amphibius have arrived and are settling into their new enclosure. Information comes from the New Forest Wildlife Park Facebook page.
Any further mention of giant otter female ex South America? What about the current status and developments in Colombia re. the sent out giant otters?
Two European mouflon lambs have recently been born at the New Forest Wildlife Park; according to the news item, this park is the only place in the UK to house mouflon (Zootierliste has West Midlands Safari Park as a holder, but not the New Forest Wildlife Park). The news comes from the New Forest Wildlife Park Facebook page.
The New Forest Wildlife Park's Facebook page have included an update of all the news from this year: Births - Three mouflon lambs born (two in April, one in September) - European bison born on 11th May (first one born at the park) - Asian small-clawed otters born on 27th May (World Otter Day) - Two little owls bred in June - Fallow deer twins born in July - Three hundred harvest mice bred for reintroduction programmes - A large number of common toad tadpoles Arrivals - A male European bison (named Heimdall) arrived in February - Six rescued hedgehogs cared for at the park for later release - Two new pairs of Asian small-clawed otters - New female polecat arrived to create a new breeding pair for 2021 - New female wildcat arrived to create a new potential breeding pair for 2021 - A new species arrived in the form of tree frogs (exact species not specified) Refurbishments - New enclosures still being constructed for smooth-coated otters - Main building has been fully re-roofed Deaths - Rory the pine marten - Feather and Squish the Asian small-clawed otters - Jasper and Kodiak the North American river otters - MC the park's domestic cat Other news - Elderly female giant otter 'Panambi' celebrated her 13th birthday in April - A pair of pine martens were mixed with hopes they will have kits in spring
The park has recently announced the opening of its new smooth-coated otter enclosure. The four otters are two breeding adults and two young that were born in 2018. Information comes from their Facebook page.
My first visit today and I enjoy it tremendously. The enclosures are very good and the animals were mostly active (but not the lynx). The Wisent herd is larger at 6 or 7 animals (from memory). I was particularly pleased to see Pine Marten and Polecat out and active
Visited yesterday. Lovely little place with spacious enclosures and plenty of active animals. Giant Otters were particularly active! Pretty much all animals were sighted, only no shows were the common toads and pine martens (+ badgers and hedgehogs but they’re mostly rehab animals set for release). Particularly liked the deer walk through with smooth-coated otter, giant otter, Scottish wildcat, Pine Marten, Red Deer, Wisent, Tawny Owl, Barn Owl and Ural Owl enclosures within, felt quite unique. Likewise, the wallaby walkthrough that contained the wolf, lynx, mouflon and boar enclosures was also interesting! Couple of things to note: - I do not believe the North American River Otters are still at the park. No sign of them in the zoo or on the website any more. - The butterfly house will not be reopening. Was closed due to covid but a sign on the entrance states it won’t reopen due to energy costs. - Park doesn’t appear to hold muntjac anymore, assume they’ve simply died off? - Boars had three juvenile offspring born last year.
Storm Eunice has brought down 14 trees in the park, including one which has completely destroyed the Scottish Wildcat enclosure. Cats are safe and moved backstage but enclosure is a loss. Park was closed Saturday again.
New Forest Wildlife Park have recently had a number of mouflon lambs born to four females, comprising three sets of twins and one singleton. Information comes from the park's Facebook page.
Three pine marten kits have recently been born at New Forest Wildlife Park. Information comes from the park's Facebook page.
Some news: A total of 14 mouflon lambs were born this year at the park. Two Scottish Wildcats, Morag and Moraig, moved to Dartmoor Zoo in late April.
They must have a large Mouflon flock in that case. There are very few (any?) elsewhere in the UK nowadays.
They had a reasonable sized flock before lambing season already! West Midland Safari Park supposedly has mouflon. Alongside Watatunga in Norfolk
