October 2009
New Animal Attraction Opens at Longleat!
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Up close with the Butterflies |
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Longleat is delighted to announce that the new £1.3 million attraction, Animal Adventure, is now open.
Longleat’s philosophy is that children and adults alike should all have the opportunity not just to meet the small, furry and feathery inhabitants at Longleat but also, where possible, to really get involved. This is where Animal Adventure steps in.
As Darren Beasley, Head of Animal Adventure explains “Longleat is all about interactive experiences be it lions rubbing against your car or sea lions splashing you on the safari boats. These once-in-a-lifetime experiences are what our visitors thrive on, they are the highlights of peoples’ days and create life-long memories.
“Animal Adventure is allowing us to take this interaction one step further as we actively involve our visitors in keeper-led tasks. Visitors will now be able to assist us in many exciting health and welfare tasks from grooming guinea pigs to weighing and measuring tortoises to monitoring and recording animal behaviours.
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Visitors assisting with daily Tortoise routines |
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“We are truly excited and passionate about the opening of this new attraction as it is our chance to really get visitors involved. However well we educate visitors verbally and visually on conservation and animal welfare, nothing can beat that really hands-on experience that Animal Adventure will provide.
Animal Adventure includes a variety of themed planted areas. The Butterfly Garden, which has been open for a few weeks, has already allowed visitors to really got up close and personal as the hundreds of butterflies flutter by often landing on clothing, footwear and heads!
Other animals have been moving across in the last few weeks as enclosures are completed and planting finalised. Rabbit World, Guinea Pig Village and the new themed ferret enclosure are now all open whilst other animals including the iguana and the ‘new to Longleat’ porcupines, Brussel and Sprout, have also moved into their new areas.
As Darren concluded: “Animal Adventure is a superb addition to the already award winning attractions at Longleat. The build has been complicated and we unreservedly apologise that the attraction is opening later than intended. We felt however that it was imperative to get the build absolutely right not just for the welfare of the animals involved but also for the visitors. We will be opening the attraction for free for the last few weeks of the Longleat visitor season to really test the attraction, the visitor flow and the visitor perception. It will officially open for the start of season, 2010”.
Entry into Animal Adventure will be free until the close of the 2009 season – 1 November 2009.
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BBC
Animal Park
