Yorkshire Wildlife Park
Encyclopedia
The Yorkshire Wildlife Park (commonly referred to as 'YWP') is a wildlife park in the United Kingdom. It is situated just outside Doncaster
Doncaster
Doncaster is a town in South Yorkshire, England, and the principal settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster. The town is about from Sheffield and is popularly referred to as "Donny"...

, South Yorkshire
South Yorkshire
South Yorkshire is a metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It has a population of 1.29 million. It consists of four metropolitan boroughs: Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, and City of Sheffield...

. It is based on the old site of Brockholes Farm Visitor Centre, which closed to the public in November 2008. Yorkshire Wildlife Park opened to the public in Spring 2009.

The Yorkshire Wildlife Park is situated in the village of Branton, just outside Doncaster, South Yorkshire. It is based on the site of Brockholes Farm Visitor Centre which was an award winning farm park and one of the largest riding centres in Britain. Brockholes Farm was put up for sale in early 2008 and was bought by ex rangers from Woburn Safari Park
Woburn Safari Park
Woburn Safari Park is a safari park located in Woburn, Bedfordshire in the UK. Visitors to the park can drive through the large animal exhibits, which contain species such as White Rhino, Elephants, Tigers and Black Bears...

. Yorkshire Wildlife Park was built over winter 2008/2009 and was officially opened by Justin Fletcher, MBE (also known as Mr Tumble from CBBC) on April 4, 2009.

Current Animals

  • Ankole cattle
  • Red deer
    Red Deer
    The red deer is one of the largest deer species. Depending on taxonomy, the red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Asia Minor, parts of western Asia, and central Asia. It also inhabits the Atlas Mountains region between Morocco and Tunisia in northwestern Africa, being...

  • Lechwe
    Lechwe
    The Lechwe, or Southern Lechwe, is an antelope found in Botswana, Zambia, south-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, north-eastern Namibia, and eastern Angola, especially in the Okavango Delta, Kafue Flats and Bangweulu Swamps....

  • Sitatunga
    Sitatunga
    The situtunga or marshbuck is a swamp-dwelling antelope found throughout Central Africa, centering on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cameroon and parts of Southern Sudan as well as in Ghana, Botswana, Zambia, Gabon, Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya.-Description:Situtunga stand about one and a...

  • Addax
    Addax
    The Addax , also known as the screwhorn antelope, is a critically endangered species of antelope that lives in the Sahara desert. As suggested by its alternative name, this pale antelope has long, twisted horns. It is closely related to the oryx, but differs from other antelopes by having large...

  • Chapman's Zebra
    Chapman's Zebra
    Chapman's Zebra is a subspecies of Plains Zebra.They, like their relatives, are native to the savannah of north-east South Africa, north to Zimbabwe, west into Botswana, the Caprivi Strip in Namibia, and southern Angola. The Chapman's zebra eats mainly grass and occasionally shrubs...

  • Ostrich
    Ostrich
    The Ostrich is one or two species of large flightless birds native to Africa, the only living member of the genus Struthio. Some analyses indicate that the Somali Ostrich may be better considered a full species apart from the Common Ostrich, but most taxonomists consider it to be a...

  • 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...

  • Bactrian Camel
    Bactrian camel
    The Bactrian camel is a large, even-toed ungulate native to the steppes of central Asia. It is presently restricted in the wild to remote regions of the Gobi and Taklamakan Deserts of Mongolia and Xinjiang. A small number of wild Bactrian camels still roam the Mangystau Province of southwest...

  • Guanaco
  • Llama
    Llama
    The llama is a South American camelid, widely used as a meat and pack animal by Andean cultures since pre-Hispanic times....

  • African Lion
  • African hunting dog
  • Raccoon dog
    Raccoon Dog
    The raccoon dog , also known as the magnut or tanuki, is a canid indigenous to east Asia. It is the only extant species in the genus Nyctereutes...

  • Meerkat
    Meerkat
    The meerkat or suricate, Suricata suricatta, is a small mammal belonging to the mongoose family. Meerkats live in all parts of the Kalahari Desert in Botswana, in much of the Namib Desert in Namibia and southwestern Angola, and in South Africa. A group of meerkats is called a "mob", "gang" or "clan"...

  • Yellow Mongoose
    Yellow Mongoose
    The Yellow Mongoose , sometimes referred to as the Red Meerkat, is a small mammal averaging about 1 lb in weight and about 20 in in length...

  • American Flamingo
  • Red river hog
    Red River Hog
    The red river hog , also known as the bush pig , is a wild member of the pig family living in Africa, with most of its distribution in the Guinean and Congolian forests...

  • Red-necked wallaby
    Red-necked Wallaby
    The Red-necked Wallaby is a medium-sized marsupial macropod, common in the more temperate and fertile parts of eastern Australia, including Tasmania.- Description :...

  • 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...

  • Black and white ruffed lemur
  • Brown lemur
    Brown lemur
    True lemurs, also known as brown lemurs, are the lemurs in genus Eulemur. They are medium sized primates that live exclusively on Madagascar....

  • Domestic Goat
  • Domestic sheep
    Domestic sheep
    Sheep are quadrupedal, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Like all ruminants, sheep are members of the order Artiodactyla, the even-toed ungulates. Although the name "sheep" applies to many species in the genus Ovis, in everyday usage it almost always refers to Ovis aries...

  • Tortoise
    Tortoise
    Tortoises are a family of land-dwelling reptiles of the order of turtles . Like their marine cousins, the sea turtles, tortoises are shielded from predators by a shell. The top part of the shell is the carapace, the underside is the plastron, and the two are connected by the bridge. The tortoise...

  • Chickens
  • Macaws
  • Donkey
    Donkey
    The donkey or ass, Equus africanus asinus, is a domesticated member of the Equidae or horse family. The wild ancestor of the donkey is the African Wild Ass, E...

  • 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...

  • Siberian Tigers (New for 2011)
  • Amur Leopard
    Amur Leopard
    The Amur leopard , also known as the Far Eastern leopard, Korean leopard, and Manchurian leopard is one of nine recognised subspecies of leopard. It is a wild feline predator native to the mountainous areas of the Russian Far East. It used to inhabit the forests of Korea and China, but it has...

     (New for 2011)

Lion Rescue

In August 2009 Yorkshire Wildlife Park launched a mission to rescue 13 Lions from a run down Zoo in Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

.

Oradea Zoo is a sate zoo, set up in Romania. Oradea Zoo sent out a Zoo SOS to all Zoo's and Wildlife Parks around the world for help with their 3 prides of African Lions, who were living in squalid conditions in cages 15 ft x 12 ft. The 3 cages were home to at least 5 lions each. Out of the 1,500 zoo's in the world, the Yorkshire Wildlife Park was the only one to respond. They soon launched a plan to attempt the largest big cat manoeuvre in history.

Yorkshire Wildlife Park launched the mission with the help of the UK tabloid newspaper, The News of the World. They appealed to the general public to help raise £150,000, to help with transport costs and to help build a 10 acre state of the art purpose built enclosure. Within just 8 weeks, public from around the world had donated over £126,000 towards the mission. By December 2009, the rescue mission was given the go ahead by both countries authorities.

This was one of the most dangerous cross-Atlantic animal movement missions ever attempted. It was a logistical nightmare, as Romainia was suffering from one of the worst winters it had ever experienced. The plan was to move all 13 lions by lorry for the whole journey, however this would have been extraordinarily dangerous. Upon hearing the news of the mission, the Yorkshire based airline Jet2.com
Jet2.com
Jet2.com Limited is a British low-cost airline based at Leeds Bradford Airport, England. It operates services from eight UK bases to 54 destinations. The airline also offers contract charter and air cargo services. Its main base and headquarters is at Leeds Bradford Airport, with smaller bases at...

 pledged to fly all 13 lions over to the UK from Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...

 airport,completely free.

On February 11, 2010, at 12.16pm (GMT) all 13 African Lions touched down at Robin Hood Airport on the Lion Express. By the end of the day the lions were safely quarantined in their new enclosure, where they would spend the next 6 months. During this time they all underwent a health regime to help them gain weight and just generally shape up.

On Tuesday 25 May 2010, the Lions were let out in their brand new enclosure 'Lion Country' for the very first time. Since then they have become a huge hit with the general public, with people coming from all over the world to see the Lions they helped save. 6 Months on the lions have all settled in and all their health problems have either disappeared or improved greatly.

External links

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