Paradise Wildlife Park is a family-run wildlife park and charity located in

Broxbourne Broxbourne is a town and former civil parish, now in the unparished area of Hoddesdon, in the Broxbourne district, in Hertfordshire, England, north of London, with a population of 15,303 at the 2011 Census.Broxbourne Town population 2011 I ...

, Hertfordshire, England. Previously known as Broxbourne Zoo, it was renamed Paradise Wildlife Park after it came under the management of Peter & Grace Sampson family in 1984. In 2017, their daughter Lynn Whitnall became CEO and continued the family business. They became Zoological Society of Hertfordshire (ZSH) in 2017, a registered charity (no.1108609) that works alongside Paradise Wildlife Park. The zoo receives no government funding. Since 2017, it has been named Hertfordshire's best outdoor attraction by TripAdvisor. The zoo is home to over 800 animals including Amur tigers, white lions, snow leopards, European wolves as well as African penguins, red pandas, Green anacondas, Two-toed sloths, lemurs, meerkats, Bactrian camels, Plain's zebras, Brazilian tapirs and many more. The wildlife park recently released plans to open a UK first mixed habitat for

sun bear The sun bear (''Helarctos malayanus'') is a species in the family Ursidae (the only species in the genus ''Helarctos'') occurring in the tropical forests of Southeast Asia. It is the smallest bear, standing nearly at the shoulder and weighing ...

binturong The binturong (''Arctictis binturong'') (, ), also known as the bearcat, is a viverrid native to South and Southeast Asia. It is uncommon in much of its range, and has been assessed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List because of a declining pop ...

s and

Asian short-clawed otter The Asian small-clawed otter (''Aonyx cinereus''), also known as the oriental small-clawed otter and the small-clawed otter, is an otter species native to South and Southeast Asia. It has short claws that do not extend beyond the pads of its web ...

s as well as a UK first jaguar habitat for 2021. In 2020, the zoo launched their first TV series;

CBBC CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the bran ...

's ''One Zoo Three''. The TV show followed the daily tasks of Cameron, Tyler and Aaron Whitnall, three brothers who help run both Paradise Wildlife Park and their sister site, The Big Cat Sanctuary in Smarden, Kent. The park launched "World of Dinosaurs" in 2018, an

animatronic Animatronics refers to mechatronic puppets. They are a modern variant of the automaton and are often used for the portrayal of characters in films and in theme park attractions. It is a multidisciplinary field integrating puppetry, anatomy a ...

dinosaur adventure trail. The trail contains over 30 life-sized animatronic dinosaurs. There is also an outdoor paddling pool, On Safari Adventure Golf, the ‘Rex Express’ train and 5 adventure indoor and outdoor play areas. On 4 April 2022, the park announced that it would be rebranding to Hertfordshire Zoo as part of the 40-year anniversary celebrations in 2024.

Animal exhibits

Land of the Tigers

Land of the Tigers opened in 2020 and became the first exhibit in the UK which featured underwater viewing. The exhibit is also the first of its kind in the UK featuring a mixed exhibit of Amur Tigers, Koi and Grass Carp.

Lion Pridelands

Lion Pride-lands opened in 2019 for their pride of white lions. Paradise recently announced it will be moving away from white cats in the next 5 years and move towards a strong focus on conservation.

Rainforest Experience

The indoor exhibit holds various small monkeys including Pygmy Marmosets, Golden Headed Lion Tamarins, Emperor Tamarins and Golden Lion Tamarins, as well as Two-Toed Sloths and Three-Banded Armadillos.

Temple of Angkor

The indoor reptile house was built in 2004 and features various snakes and lizards ranging from Reticulated Pythons and Madagascan Day Geckos to Barons Racer and Black Breasted Leaf Turtle.

Amazon & Beyond

This new build contains the largest Green anaconda on-show in the UK. The indoor exhibit also holds False Water Cobra, Beaded Lizards, Plica-Plica and Piranha.

Penguin Falls

This area launched their charity pillar (ZSH) and the start of the zoo rebuild over the next 10 years.

Sun Bear Heights

A UK first mixed habitat for

s and Asian short-clawed otters.

Birds at Paradise

This area is home to various birds including striated caracara, African spotted eagle owl, great grey owl, black hornbill, kookaburra and many more.

Jaguar Jungle

A UK first jaguar habitat with underwater viewing and tree-top viewing.

Farmyard

The farm has a variety of species of farmyard animals, including

pygmy goat The American Pygmy is an American breed of achondroplastic goat. It is small, compact and stockily built. Like the Nigerian Dwarf, it derives from the West African Dwarf group of breeds of West Africa. Between 1930 and 1960, animals of this ty ...

sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated ...

, rabbits and ferrets, among others.

World of Dinosaurs

Opened in 2018, World of Dinosaurs is one of the UK's biggest animatronic dinosaur attractions, set in acres of natural woodland. It features 30 life-size, animatronic, roaring dinosaurs.

History

Broxbourne Zoo

The park was previously known as Broxbourne Zoo, which opened in the early 1960s. In 1984, the Sampson Family purchased the site with the intention of re-housing the animals into larger enclosures which mimicked their

natural habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

, making them as comfortable as possible. The zoo was closed down for two years to undergo this transformation and re-opened as "Paradise Park and Woodland Zoo", which was then shortened to Paradise Wildlife Park (PWP) in the 1990s. Since the Sampson family took over the Zoo, the team at PWP have continued researching, expanding and improving upon the animals' living conditions. Paradise Wildlife Park has developed a reputation through its conservation efforts, including The Wildlife Heritage Foundation (the sister site in Kent), which specialises in research and

breeding Breeding is sexual reproduction that produces offspring, usually animals or plants. It can only occur between a male and a female animal or plant. Breeding may refer to: * Animal husbandry, through selected specimens such as dogs, horses, and ra ...

of endangered species. Continued work and investment to improve the animal enclosures and public facilities and a drive to enhance the public perception of the park continued throughout the 1980s. The second stage of development included building new animal paddocks, improving the pathways, and increasing tree planting around the site.

1980s to 1990s

The Sampson family, now dedicated to the park, chose to sell their " Sampson Coaches and Buses" company in 1989 and "MOT testing centre and garage" in 1990 to allow them to concentrate solely on the management and finance of Paradise Park and Woodland Zoo. In the early 1990s, the site's name was changed to "Paradise Wildlife Park" and work continued to improve the facilities. New spacious and open enclosures were built alongside "Tiger Lodge", a new purpose built enclosure constructed in 1994 for the zoo's Bengal and Siberian tigers. Improvements were also made to the park's non-animal areas, with three new themed adventure playgrounds introduced. All facilities at the site were given modern renovations, and changes were made to better accommodate and fulfil the needs of people with disabilities.

2000-2017

Paradise Wildlife Park, like many animal attractions in England, was forced to close by the Foot and Mouth epidemic in the spring of 2001. Work continued on new enclosures for the animals with meerkats, otters, Brazilian tapirs,

red panda The red panda (''Ailurus fulgens''), also known as the lesser panda, is a small mammal native to the eastern Himalayas and southwestern China. It has dense reddish-brown fur with a black belly and legs, white-lined ears, a mostly white muzzle ...

s and European grey wolves joining the existing collection. Major work was undertaken to create new sections; "Squirrel Monkey Island", "Wonders of the Rainforest", "Cheetah Retreat" and "Toucan House". The Animal Resource Centre (ARC) is a new development which houses a veterinary and recovery room, animal food preparation areas, an animal records and research room, and large staff facilities. There has been extensive work completed on the paddock areas to improve drainage; overflow car parking facilities have been added; and improvements to the water supply were also made. Included in the upgrade were an electricity sub-station and back-up generator. "The Special Place'", a brand new play area adapted for use by children with disabilities, was also added. In 2000, Parkside Leisure, the parent company of Paradise Wildlife Park, purchased the site of the Big Cat Foundation in Kent, a sanctuary operated at the time by the Born Free Foundation. A new organisation was established by Paradise Wildlife Park called the Wildlife Heritage Foundation (WHF). During 2002 the Born Free Foundation and the Wildlife Heritage Foundation held a joint Dangerous Wild Animals Licence to operate the site. The site is now exclusively operated by the Wildlife Heritage Foundation, (registered charity number 1104420). The objective of the WHF is to support conservation in-situ and ex-situ projects and to assist with endangered species breeding programmes. Paradise Wildlife Park financially supports WHF.

2017 – present

Since becoming the Zoological Society of Hertfordshire in 2017, (ZSH) a registered charity (no.1108609), Paradise Wildlife Park have invested a lot into the site. The new areas include; Land of the Tigers, Lion Pridelands, Amazon & Beyond, Sun Bear Heights, Jaguar Jungle and World of Dinosaurs. In 2020, the zoo was featured on CBBC's TV series;

's ''One Zoo Three''. The TV show followed the daily lives of Aaron, Tyler & Cameron Whitnall, three brothers who help run both Paradise Wildlife Park and their sister site; The Big Cat Sanctuary in Smarden, Kent.

Animals

Paradise Wildlife Park is home to over 500 animals, which include small mammals, paddock and farmyard animals, birds, primates, reptiles, and big cats. They house

Siberian tiger The Siberian tiger or Amur tiger is a population of the tiger subspecies '' Panthera tigris tigris'' native to the Russian Far East, Northeast China and possibly North Korea. It once ranged throughout the Korean Peninsula, but currently inh ...

snow leopard The snow leopard (''Panthera uncia''), also known as the ounce, is a felid in the genus '' Panthera'' native to the mountain ranges of Central and South Asia. It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List because the global population is es ...

s, ocelot and jaguars. They also house

white lion The white lion is a rare color mutation of the lion, specifically the Southern African lion. White lions in the area of Timbavati are thought to have been indigenous to the Timbavati region of South Africa for centuries, although the earliest ...

s. Breeding at Paradise Wildlife Park has been successful, with the breeding of endangered species such as marmosets, tamarins, Burmese pythons and lovebirds. Many animals are bred as part of the EEP Breeding Programme. Animals and wildlife at Paradise Wildlife Park are separated into several attractions including: * Big Cats African Penguin - Temba - Rob Killips

The park contains some of the most endangered big cat species in the world, including the ocelot,

s, jaguars and

Amur tiger The Siberian tiger or Amur tiger is a population of the tiger subspecies '' Panthera tigris tigris'' native to the Russian Far East, Northeast China and possibly North Korea. It once ranged throughout the Korean Peninsula, but currently inhabi ...

s. They also have white lions but recently announced that they will be moving out of white cats. * Hooves and Humps The hooves and humps section houses ungulate animals such as the endangered

Bactrian camel The Bactrian camel (''Camelus bactrianus''), also known as the Mongolian camel or domestic Bactrian camel, is a large even-toed ungulate native to the steppes of Central Asia. It has two humps on its back, in contrast to the single-humped dro ...

, the African plains zebra, the

Brazilian tapir The South American tapir (''Tapirus terrestris''), also commonly called the Brazilian tapir (from the Tupi ''tapi'ira''), the Amazonian tapir, the maned tapir, the lowland tapir, the ''anta'' (Portuguese), and ''la sachavaca'' (literally "bushco ...

and

reindeer Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 sub ...

. * Farmyard The zoo has a variety of species of farmyard animals including

, among others. * Tropical Rainforest Paradise Wildlife Park is home to the largest collection of small monkeys in the UK in its natural

tropical rainforest Tropical rainforests are rainforests that occur in areas of tropical rainforest climate in which there is no dry season – all months have an average precipitation of at least 60 mm – and may also be referred to as ''lowland equa ...

house, including over 10 species of small monkeys as well as

sloth Sloths are a group of Neotropical xenarthran mammals constituting the suborder Folivora, including the extant arboreal tree sloths and extinct terrestrial ground sloths. Noted for their slowness of movement, tree sloths spend most of their l ...

s, armadillos and several other tropical creatures. * Angkor reptile temple The Angkor Reptile Temple houses the largest Anaconda in the UK named Optimus Prime. The zoo also has over 35 different species of snakes, lizards and spiders. * Birds & aviary The section contains

owl Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers a ...

eagle Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, j ...

s and many other species of birds. * Small mammals Houses a collection of small mammals including porcupines, meerkats,

s, otter and

wallabies A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same taxonomic family as kangaroos and so ...

The Big Cat Sanctuary

On 1 June 2000, Parkside Leisure, the parent company of Paradise Wildlife Park ran by Peter Sampson, purchased the site of Marley Farm in Kent, a sanctuary operated at the time by Malcom Dudding and the Born Free Foundation. A new organisation was established by Paradise Wildlife Park called the Wildlife Heritage Foundation (WHF). During 2002 the Born Free Foundation and the Wildlife Heritage Foundation held a joint Dangerous Wild Animals Licence to operate the site. The site is now exclusively operated by the Wildlife Heritage Foundation (registered charity number 1104420). The objective of the WHF is to support conservation in-situ and ex-situ projects and to assist with endangered species breeding programmes. Paradise Wildlife Park financially supports WHF.

References

External links

* http://whf.org.uk/
Paradise Wildlife Park
{{authority control Broxbourne Tourist attractions in Hertfordshire Zoos in England Buildings and structures in Hertfordshire