Manor House Wildlife Park is a
zoo
A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility in which animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for Conservation biology, conservation purposes.
The term ''zoological g ...
located in
Pembrokeshire
Pembrokeshire ( ; cy, Sir Benfro ) is a Local government in Wales#Principal areas, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and the rest by sea. The count ...
,
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
, just north of the village of
St Florence
St Florence (Welsh: ''Sain Fflwrens'') is both a village, a parish and a community in Pembrokeshire, Wales. St Florence sits on the River Ritec that flows eastwards to its estuary in Tenby. The Church of St Florence is a grade II* listed buildi ...
. It was bought in 2008 by television presenter
Anna Ryder Richardson
Anna Caroline Ryder Richardson (born 29 January 1964) is a British interior designer and television presenter. She is known for being a designer on the BBC shows ''Changing Rooms'' and the subject of ''Chaos at the Zoo'', which documents her ...
and Colin MacDougall and is more recently known as Manor Wildlife Park.
Animal exhibits
Large animals include Southern White Rhino, oryx,
Damara Zebra
Burchell's zebra (''Equus quagga burchellii'') is a southern subspecies of the plains zebra. It is named after the British explorer and naturalist William John Burchell. Common names include bontequagga, Damaraland zebra, and Zululand zebra (Gray ...
, tapir, camel, llama and Sumatran tigers; there are also smaller wild animals such as red panda, meerkat, wallaby and three species of lemur (Black and White Ruffed Lemur),
Red Bellied and
Ring Tailed), and a variety of birds, principally ostrich, emu, rhea and guinea fowl.
Endangered species
As well as the endangered
Sumatran Tigers
The Sumatran tiger is a population of ''Panthera tigris sondaica'' on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. It is the only surviving tiger population in the Sunda Islands, where the Bali and Javan tigers are extinct.
Sequences from complete mitochon ...
,
Siamang gibbons
The siamang (, ; ''Symphalangus syndactylus'') is an arboreal, black-furred gibbon native to the forests of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. The largest of the gibbons, the siamang can be twice the size of other gibbons, reaching in height, ...
and
Ring tailed lemurs, the park is home to the
white rhino
The white rhinoceros, white rhino or square-lipped rhinoceros (''Ceratotherium simum'') is the largest extant species of rhinoceros. It has a wide mouth used for grazing and is the most social of all rhino species. The white rhinoceros consists ...
"Zamba", one of three Southern white rhino at the park, and the first to be bred from
artificial insemination in the UK. Red Ruffed lemurs are also critically endangered, according to IUCN, and are part of the zoo's collection. In 2015 the park learned that they had been allocated a pair of critically endangered
Sumatran tiger
The Sumatran tiger is a population of ''Panthera tigris sondaica'' on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. It is the only surviving tiger population in the Sunda Islands, where the Bali and Javan tigers are extinct.
Sequences from complete mitochon ...
s to support the
European Endangered Species Programme The EAZA Ex-situ Programme (EEP) is a population management and conservation programme by European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) for wild animals living in European zoos. The programme was formerly known as the European Endangered Species ...
. In 2018, the park welcomed two endangered
red panda sisters from
Odense Zoo in Denmark, they now live in their own little forest in the heart of the park.
History
In 2002 the park was called Manor House Wild Animal Park and included a museum, souvenir shop and restaurant as well as animal exhibits.
TV presenter and property developer Anna Ryder Richardson and her then husband Colin MacDougall took over the zoo in 2008. In March 2012, it was announced that Richardson and her husband were to be prosecuted over alleged breaches of health and safety legislation after a mother and child were injured by a falling branch. Subsequently, charges against Richardson were dropped but her husband and the zoo pleaded guilty to four charges and were fined a total of £74,000, plus costs.
Cultural references
In television
Anna Ryder Richardson made a video diary of the redevelopment of the zoo which became the TV film ''Chaos at the Zoo'', narrated by
Ruth Jones. Among the animals featured was a pair of endangered
Siamang gibbons.
References
External links
Official WebsitePembrokeshire County Council - Visit Pembrokeshire - Manor House Wildlife Park
{{authority control
Zoos in Wales
Tourist attractions in Pembrokeshire