South Lakes Wild Animal Park is a 17 acres (6.9 ha) zoo

Zoo

A zoological garden, zoological park, menagerie, or zoo is a facility in which animals are confined within enclosures, displayed to the public, and in which they may also be bred....

 established in 1994 by David Gill, and located in Dalton-in-Furness

Dalton-in-Furness

Dalton-in-Furness is a small town of 8,394 people, north east of Barrow-in-Furness, in Cumbria, England.-History:Dalton is mentioned in the Domesday Book, written as "Daltune" as one of the townships forming the Manor of Hougun held by Earl Tostig. Historically, it was the capital of Furness...

, Cumbria

Cumbria

Cumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

The park is a member of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria

European Association of Zoos and Aquaria

-External links:*...

 (EAZA) and bills itself as one of the best conservation zoos in the country.

History

The zoo was opened by David S Gill in 1994 on converted farmland. Construction started in 1993, and the park was officially opened on 28 May 1994.

Until recently it was the only zoo in Britain

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 to hold both Siberian tigers (also known as Amur tigers) and Sumatran tiger

Sumatran Tiger

The Sumatran tiger is a tiger subspecies that inhabits the Indonesian island of Sumatra and has been classified as critically endangered by IUCN in 2008 as the population is projected at 176 to 271 mature individuals, with no subpopulation having an effective population size larger than 50...

s (the world's smallest and largest tigers). It has successfully bred the critically endangered Sumatran Tiger. In 2008, the Park celebrated one of the biggest births in its history - white rhino Nyala born on 1 June 2008. Zimba, born on 11 September 2008, was the second White Rhino born at the park. The zoo once held the largest collection of kangaroos outside of Australia, and still has many kangaroos.

The zoo has been awarded the "Top Attraction for Excellence in the Lake District 1999, 2000, 2003, 2005, and 2008" by Cumbria Tourist Board , and is one of the few parks to let many species of primates including the 8 species of Lemur roam free around the park.

Animals

Animals that can be found at South Lakes Wild Animal park are listed below and categorised under continent

Continent

A continent is one of several very large landmasses on Earth. They are generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, with seven regions commonly regarded as continents—they are : Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia.Plate tectonics is...

 of origin.

Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

 

Many of the below animals are native to the African nation of Madagascar

Madagascar

The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...

.

Lion Lion The lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...	Giraffe Giraffe The giraffe is an African even-toed ungulate mammal, the tallest of all extant land-living animal species, and the largest ruminant...	Hamadryas Baboon Hamadryas Baboon The Hamadryas baboon is a species of baboon from the Old World monkey family. It is the northernmost of all the baboons; being native to the Horn of Africa and the southwestern tip of the Arabian Peninsula. These regions provide habitats with the advantage for this species of fewer natural...	Mandrill Mandrill The mandrill is a primate of the Old World monkey family, closely related to the baboons and even more closely to the drill. Both the mandrill and the drill were once classified as baboons in genus Papio, but recent research has determined they should be separated into their own genus, Mandrillus...	Pygmy Hippopotamus Pygmy Hippopotamus The pygmy hippopotamus is a large mammal native to the forests and swamps of western Africa . The pygmy hippo is reclusive and nocturnal...
White Rhinoceros White Rhinoceros The White Rhinoceros or Square-lipped rhinoceros is one of the five species of rhinoceros that still exist. It has a wide mouth used for grazing and is the most social of all rhino species...	Fennec Fox	Lac Alaotra Gentle Lemur Lac Alaotra Gentle Lemur The Lac Alaotra bamboo lemur , also known as the Lac Alaotra gentle lemur, Alaotran bamboo lemur, Alaotran gentle lemur, or locally as the , is a bamboo lemur. It is endemic to the reed beds in and around Lac Alaotra, in northeast Madagascar. The Alaotran lemur is the only primate specifically...	Ruffed lemur Ruffed lemur The ruffed lemurs of the genus Varecia are strepsirrhine primates and the largest extant lemurs within the family Lemuridae. Like all living lemurs, they are found only on the island of Madagascar...	Black-and-white Ruffed Lemur Black-and-white ruffed lemur The black-and-white ruffed lemur is the more endangered of the two species of ruffed lemurs, both of which are endemic to the island of Madagascar. Despite having a larger range than the red ruffed lemur, it has a much smaller population that is spread out, living in lower population densities...
Black Lemur Black Lemur The Black Lemur is a species of lemur from the family Lemuridae. Like all lemurs, it is endemic to Madagascar. Originally, the species was thought to have two subspecies, Eulemur macaco macaco and Eulemur macaco flavifrons, both of which were elevated to species status by Mittermeier et al. in...	Mongoose Lemur Mongoose Lemur The mongoose lemur is a lemur ranging from 12 to 18 inches long plus a tail of 16 to 25 inches. The mongoose lemur lives in dry deciduous forests on the island of Madagascar as well as in the humid forests on the islands of the Comoros...	Red Ruffed Lemur Red Ruffed Lemur The red ruffed lemur is one of two species in the genus Varecia, the ruffed lemurs; the other is the black-and-white ruffed lemur . Like all lemurs, it is native to Madagascar and occurs only in the rainforests of Masoala, in the northeast of the island...	Ring-tailed Lemur Ring-tailed Lemur The ring-tailed lemur is a large strepsirrhine primate and the most recognized lemur due to its long, black and white ringed tail. It belongs to Lemuridae, one of five lemur families. It is the only member of the Lemur genus. Like all lemurs it is endemic to the island of Madagascar...	White-headed Lemur White-headed Lemur The white-headed lemur , also known as the white-headed brown lemur, white-fronted brown lemur, or white-fronted lemur, is a species of primate in the Lemuridae family. It is only found in north-eastern Madagascar...

Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

 

Many of the below animals are native to the Asian nation of Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

.

Siberian tiger	Rodrigues Flying Fox Rodrigues Flying Fox The Rodrigues Flying Fox or Rodrigues Fruit Bat is a species of megabat in the family Pteropodidae, the flying foxes or fruit bats. It is endemic to Rodrigues, an island in the Indian Ocean belonging to Mauritius. Its natural habitat is tropical moist lowland forests. It is a sociable species...	Babirusa Babirusa The North Sulawesi babirusa, Babyrousa celebensis, is a pig-like animal native to northern Sulawesi and the nearby Lembeh Islands in Indonesia. It has two pairs of large tusks composed of enlarged canine teeth. The canines in the maxilla penetrate the top of the snout, curving back toward the...	Oriental Small-clawed Otter Oriental Small-clawed Otter The oriental small-clawed otter , also known as Asian small-clawed otter, is the smallest otter species in the world, weighing less than 5 kg. It lives in mangrove swamps and freshwater wetlands of Bangladesh, Burma, India, southern China, Taiwan, Laos, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines,...	Siamang Siamang The siamang is a tailless, arboreal, black-furred gibbon native to the forests of Malaysia, Thailand, and Sumatra. The largest of the lesser apes, the siamang can be twice the size of other gibbons, reaching 1 m in height, and weighing up to 14 kg...
Sumatran Tiger Sumatran Tiger The Sumatran tiger is a tiger subspecies that inhabits the Indonesian island of Sumatra and has been classified as critically endangered by IUCN in 2008 as the population is projected at 176 to 271 mature individuals, with no subpopulation having an effective population size larger than 50...	Lar Gibbon Lar Gibbon The lar gibbon , also known as the white-handed gibbon, is a primate in the Hylobatidae or gibbon family. It is one of the better-known gibbons and is often seen in zoos.-Range:...	Siberian Chipmunk Siberian Chipmunk The Siberian chipmunk or Common Chipmunk is a chipmunk which occurs across northern Asia from central Russia to China, Korea, and Hokkaidō in northern Japan. The only chipmunk found outside North America, it is classed either as the only living member of the genus Eutamias, or a member of a genus...	Common Peafowl	Muntjac Deer

Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 

White Stork White Stork The White Stork is a large bird in the stork family Ciconiidae. Its plumage is mainly white, with black on its wings. Adults have long red legs and long pointed red beaks, and measure on average from beak tip to end of tail, with a wingspan...	Reindeer Reindeer The reindeer , also known as the caribou in North America, is a deer from the Arctic and Subarctic, including both resident and migratory populations. While overall widespread and numerous, some of its subspecies are rare and one has already gone extinct.Reindeer vary considerably in color and size...	Eurasian Spoonbill

North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 

Red-eared slider Red-eared slider The red-eared slider is a semiaquatic turtle belonging to the family Emydidae. It is a subspecies of pond slider. It is the most popular pet turtle in the United States and also popular in the rest of the world...	American Flamingo	Prairie dog Prairie dog Prairie dogs are burrowing rodents native to the grasslands of North America. There are five different species of prairie dogs: black-tailed, white-tailed, Gunnison's, Utah and Mexican prairie dogs. They are a type of ground squirrel, found in the United States, Canada and Mexico...

Oceania

Oceania

Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...

 

Many of the below animals are native to the Oceanic nation of Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

.

Australian White Ibis Australian White Ibis The Australian White Ibis , is a wading bird of the ibis family Threskiornithidae. It is widespread across much of Australia...	Black Swan Black Swan The Black Swan is a large waterbird, a species of swan, which breeds mainly in the southeast and southwest regions of Australia. The species was hunted to extinction in New Zealand, but later reintroduced. Within Australia they are nomadic, with erratic migration patterns dependent upon climatic...	Emu Emu The Emu Dromaius novaehollandiae) is the largest bird native to Australia and the only extant member of the genus Dromaius. It is the second-largest extant bird in the world by height, after its ratite relative, the ostrich. There are three subspecies of Emus in Australia...	Red Kangaroo Red Kangaroo The Red Kangaroo is the largest of all kangaroos, the largest mammal native to Australia, and the largest surviving marsupial. It is found across mainland Australia, avoiding only the more fertile areas in the south, the east coast, and the northern rainforests.-Description:This species is a very...	Agile Wallaby Agile Wallaby The Agile Wallaby , also known as the Sandy Wallaby, is a species of wallaby found in northern Australia and New Guinea. It is the most common wallaby in Australia's north....
Swamp Wallaby Swamp Wallaby The Swamp Wallaby is a small macropod marsupial of eastern Australia. This wallaby is also commonly known as the Black Wallaby, with other names including Black-tailed Wallaby, Fern Wallaby, Black Pademelon, Stinker , and Black Stinker...	Western Grey Kangaroo Western Grey Kangaroo The Western Grey Kangaroo is a large and very common kangaroo or macropod, found across almost the entire southern part of Australia, from just south of Shark Bay to coastal South Australia, western Victoria, and the entire Murray-Darling Basin in New South Wales and Queensland...	Parma Wallaby Parma Wallaby The Parma Wallaby was first described by British naturalist John Gould in about 1840. A shy, cryptic creature of the wet sclerophyll forests of southern New South Wales, it was never common and, even before the end of the 19th century, it was believed to be extinct...

South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

 

Andean Condor Andean Condor The Andean Condor is a species of South American bird in the New World vulture family Cathartidae and is the only member of the genus Vultur...	Cottontop Tamarin Cottontop Tamarin The cotton-top tamarin , also known as the Pinché tamarin, is a small New World monkey weighing less than 1 lb...	White-headed Marmoset White-headed Marmoset The white-headed marmoset , also known as the tufted-ear marmoset or Geoffrey's marmoset, is a marmoset endemic to Brazil....	Emperor Tamarin Emperor Tamarin The Emperor Tamarin is a tamarin allegedly named for its resemblance to the German emperor Wilhelm II. It lives in the southwest Amazon Basin, in east Peru, north Bolivia and in the west Brazilian states of Acre and Amazonas....	King Vulture King Vulture The King Vulture is a large bird found in Central and South America. It is a member of the New World vulture family Cathartidae. This vulture lives predominantly in tropical lowland forests stretching from southern Mexico to northern Argentina, though some believe that William Bartram's Painted...
South American Tapir	Macaw Macaw Macaws are small to large, often colourful New World parrots. Of the many different Psittacidae genera, six are classified as macaws: Ara, Anodorhynchus, Cyanopsitta, Primolius, Orthopsittaca, and Diopsittaca...	Spectacled Bear Spectacled Bear The spectacled bear , also known as the Andean bear and locally as ukuko, jukumari or ucumari, is the last remaining short-faced bear and the closest living relative to the Florida spectacled bear and short-faced bears of the Middle Pleistocene to Late Pleistocene age.The spectacled bear is a...	Colombian Spider Monkey Colombian Spider Monkey The Colombian spider monkey , is a subspecies of the Black-headed spider monkey, a type of New World monkey, found in Colombia and Panama...	Capybara Capybara The capybara , also known as capivara in Portuguese, and capibara, chigüire in Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador ronsoco in Peru, chigüiro, and carpincho in Spanish, is the largest living rodent in the world. Its closest relatives are agouti, chinchillas, coyphillas, and guinea pigs...
Scarlet Ibis Scarlet Ibis The Scarlet Ibis is a species of ibis that inhabits tropical South America and also Trinidad and Tobago. It is the national bird of Trinidad and is featured on the Trinidad and Tobago coat of arms along with Tobago's national bird, the Rufous-vented Chachalaca.-Taxonomy:This species is very...	Squirrel monkey Squirrel monkey The squirrel monkeys are the New World monkeys of the genus Saimiri. They are the only genus in the subfamily Saimirinae.Squirrel monkeys live in the tropical forests of Central and South America in the canopy layer. Most species have parapatric or allopatric ranges in the Amazon, while S...	Tufted Capuchin Tufted Capuchin The tufted capuchin , also known as brown capuchin or black-capped capuchin is a New World primate from South America...	Roseate Spoonbill Roseate Spoonbill The Roseate Spoonbill, Platalea ajaja, is a gregarious wading bird of the ibis and spoonbill family, Threskiornithidae...	Little Egret Little Egret The Little Egret is a small white heron. It is the Old World counterpart to the very similar New World Snowy Egret.-Subspecies:Depending on authority, two or three subspecies of Little Egret are currently accepted....
Humboldt Penguin Humboldt Penguin The Humboldt Penguin is a South American penguin, that breeds in coastal Peru and Chile. Its nearest relatives are the African Penguin, the Magellanic Penguin and the Galápagos Penguin...	Giant Otter Giant Otter The giant otter is a South American carnivorous mammal. It is the longest member of the Mustelidae, or weasel family, a globally successful group of predators. Unusually for a mustelid, the giant otter is a social species, with family groups typically supporting three to eight members...	Black Howler Black Howler The Black howler is a species of howler monkey, a large New World monkey, from northeast Argentina, east Bolivia, east and south Brazil and Paraguay. Together with the brown howler, it is the southernmost member of the Alouatta genus. Only the adult male is black; adult females and juveniles of...	Two-toed sloth Two-toed sloth Choloepus is a genus of mammals of Central and South America, within the family Megalonychidae consisting of two-toed sloths. There are only two species of Choloepus : Linnaeus's Two-toed Sloth and Hoffmann's Two-toed Sloth...	Paca Paca The Lowland Paca , also known as the Spotted Paca, is a large rodent found in tropical and sub-tropical America, from East-Central Mexico to Northern Argentina...
Jaguar Jaguar The jaguar is a big cat, a feline in the Panthera genus, and is the only Panthera species found in the Americas. The jaguar is the third-largest feline after the tiger and the lion, and the largest in the Western Hemisphere. The jaguar's present range extends from Southern United States and Mexico...	Coscoroba Swan Coscoroba Swan The Coscoroba Swan is a species of waterfowl inhabiting southern South America. It is the smallest of the birds called "swans", but still a large species of waterfowl, averaging 4.2 kg , 1 m long and 1.57 m across the wings...	Koi Koi or more specifically , are ornamental varieties of domesticated common carp that are kept for decorative purposes in outdoor koi ponds or water gardens....	Yellow Anaconda

Other facilities

Facilities include the Maki ("ring tailed lemur" in Malagasy) restaurant, picnic areas, conference facilities, a smaqll train, and a gift shop. The Maki restaurant has a deck overlooking the giraffe, rhino, and baboon enclosures at tree-top level.

Conservation

The zoo bills itself as one of the best conservation zoos in the country. It has raised over £1.4million for active in-situ conservation for Sumatran Tigers via its charity The Sumatran Tiger Trust. Also with a charity called the wildlife protection foundation which helps wildlife in other areas of the world like Spectacled Bears and the lemurs of Madagascar.

Incidents

1997 Rhino escape
In 1997, one of the park's rhinos was shot dead after it escaped from its pen.

2008 Lemur enclosure fire
In 2008, 31 of the park's 120 lemurs died in a fire. The fire destroyed three of the wooden huts in which they were enclosed. A spokesman for the fire service said it was believed the lemurs died as a result of smoke inhalation

Smoke inhalation

Smoke inhalation is the primary cause of death in victims of indoor fires.Smoke inhalation injury refers to injury due to inhalation or exposure to hot gaseous products of combustion. This can cause serious respiratory complications....

, and park owner David Gill said that the fire was likely caused by a faulty electrical heater. The lemurs were usually allowed the roam the park at night, but had been enclosed because of the cold weather. Gill was able to save 13, including the Belted Ruffed and Alaotran-Gentle species, but many of Ring Tailed, Red Ruffed, White-Fronted, and Black species died in the blaze. Gill said that for staff, who knew many of the lemurs by name, the loss was "devastating", and also that the deaths were "not just a massive blow for the park but for the European Breeding Programmes the animals were involved with."

The future

In May 2009, the zoo announced an expansion plan that would increase the park size from 17 acres (6.9 ha) to about 51 acres (20.6 ha). It is hoped that transportation links and park retail outlets can be improved considerably to make it one of the region's most profitable attractions. The expansion introduce new species of animals including Elephants, and create larger enclosures for the animals at the zoo. The zoo's two conservation charities are also likely to receive larger donations as the overall visitor capacity of the park is increased.

External links

• The Cumbria Directory - South Lakes Wild Animal Park