As this is my last blog for 2025, I’ve decided to have a look back at some of this year’s highlights and changes that have happened over the past 12 months, here at Wingham Wildlife Park. January What a way to kick start 2025 as we welcomed 2 servals to the collection, Maggie and Michael….
I imagine most people think of Christmas Day as being filled with sleeping in, opening presents and settling down to a big family meal. As head of section on the bird team, when I picture Christmas, it’s probably not the traditional activities that fill my mind first, but of the animals in our care here at…
In this blog I will be discussing what goes into training big cats for voluntary blood draws, a procedure in which the cat is trained to allow a sample of blood to be taken, usually from the tail, whilst fully conscious. These samples are taken to check for a variety of markers that indicate the…
For the last reptile/invert blog of the year, I thought we could give a little highlight to probably one of the most popular snakes kept in captivity and as pets: the corn snake (Pantherophis guttatus). With their inquisitive nature, relatively small size and the variety of colours available it is hardly a surprise that these…
Since I was little, I always dreamed of working with the giraffe. Just like most zookeepers, I was lucky enough to interact with these magnificent animals during experiences at zoos and watch them run across the savannah out in Africa. It’s hard not to fall in love with them. There’s something so awe-inspiring about being…
As a zookeeper, you are rarely alone when working. There is almost always either another keeper with you or an animal watching your every move. Today I wanted to shine a light on how important teamwork is not only to us keepers but also in the animal kingdom too! The primate section is a team…
This week my blog is all about our amazing volunteers that we have working at the park. They are part of the keeping team here and it is important to us keepers to make them feel like they are as well. So, I’d just like to say a massive thank you to all the current/previous…
This week we’ve been celebrating Animal Enrichment Day! Caring for animals goes far beyond simply feeding, cleaning and housing them. Here at Wingham Wildlife Park, we’re big on enrichment and make sure our enclosures are as stimulating as we can. If you’ve not heard of enrichment before, this is a broad term for ways in…
From a very young age I have wanted to work with animals in some capacity. As a child I wanted to become a palaeontologist, just like many others I was fascinated by dinosaurs. This was due to one of my favourite films growing up; The Land Before Time. This dream was then fuelled after watching…
File 2: Alligator Snapping Turtle (Macrochelys temminckii) This episode of the turtle files has us investigating our largest turtly-cool resident of the reptile house, the Alligator snapping turtle (Macrochelys temminckii). The alligator snapping turtle is classified as vulnerable by the ICUN. Its main threats in the wild are predation from humans, removal from the wild…
