IN these last weeks of winter, I can certainly recommend the zookeeper’s tried and tested method for keeping warm: getting stuck in to lots of building work (drawing a veil over my aches, blisters, and bruises).
Of course, we’d much rather have had the doors open to visitors, but while we wait for confirmation of when we can responsibly open, everything is focused on maintaining the welfare of the animals and improving facilities for them and visitors alike.
Combining both of these goals, the hard work of the fantastic keeper lockdown team means our biggest building project of the winter is well ahead of schedule, and the other day we successfully completed ‘Meerkat Moving-in Day’.
KEEPER: Written by Zoo Manager, Jack Williams at Lakeland Wildlife Oasis
This last year has underlined how getting out and close to nature benefits our physical, social, and mental health, so we wanted to make some of our most friendly and inquisitive inhabitants completely accessible to everyone.
The double-size, full height glass-walled meerkat palace now completed, means everyone will be able to get up close and personal, while, back by popular demand, our trademark tunnel gives access for adventurous explorers right into the middle!
I really wanted to make it an interactive ‘pause and play’ stop on the zoo journey, so there’s picnic tables where parents can keep an eye on kids unleashing their ‘inner meerkat’ in the play area and sandpit.
Our 10-strong meerkat mob will enjoy double the space, with hi-tech heat and full spectrum lighting replicating UV and temperature levels they'd experience in the wild.
WORKING: The zoo is so happy with the results
Setting our meerkats in context, the exhibit will also include African pygmy mice (one of the world's smallest mammals), and a large mixed species exhibit for terrestrial invertebrates, including millipedes, fruit beetles, mantis and stick insects.
As well as hard labour, the whole project has meant considerable investment for the zoo, including vital if less obvious elements, like the raised 80-tonne floor to guard against flooding.
So it’s cheers to Meerkat Moving-in Day, and I’ll be cheering the loudest when visitors can return to reconnect with life on the wild side, posh new pads and all.
BEGIN: The Meerkat enclosure before the work started
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