THIS Christmas the Lake District Wildlife Park took part in the BIAZA Secret Santa.
This was set up a few years ago for zoos, aquariums, and wildlife parks all over Britain and Ireland.
BIAZA (The British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums) orchestrates the gift-swapping, and with this year’s theme being animal enrichment - the animals themselves have been joining in all the festive activities.
This year 50 different zoos and aquariums took part by sending each other fun-filled Christmas packages.
The Lake District Wildlife Park were given Amazon World Zoo Park on the Isle of Wight as the recipients of their gift and their head keeper Vicky then went on a shopping trip!
Being in the Lake District she thought it would be a great idea to include some traditional food for the animal keepers and so some blocks of Kendal Mint Cake were included!
She also got together a large selection of herbs, spices, nuts and a couple of different animal feeders that could be used for animal enrichment for many of the different species at Amazon World.
Enrichment is an important way for animals to discover, learn, and play. It is how good zoos provide the best possible care for the animals they look after. For staff at zoos and aquariums, providing animal enrichment is a vital part of the daily schedule.
The Park waited in anticipation for their gift and when it did arrive, they decided to wait until Santa was in his grotto to open it. Keepers Josh, Alix and Kirsti opened the package whilst Santa checked if they were on the “good list”.
It turned out they must have been as in the package from Plantasia Tropical Zoo were packets of Meerkat Poop (chocolate covered raisins, chocolate orange Macaw bars and a hand made hammock for the Park’s three species of Lemur to enjoy.
Later in the week the Keepers decided to try it out to see what the Red Ruffed Lemurs thought of it.
The Lake District Wildlife Park want to take this opportunity to thank BIAZA for organising such a fun and positive event and to Maria Carbin for her permission to kindly reproduce some of her blog in this article.
Anyone who wants to find out more about BIAZA and the great work that they do please have a look on their website. To watch any of the videos on social media you can search on #BIAZASecretSanta2022.
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