Saturday, 22 November 2014

Our visit to Dartmoor Zoo


Today we decided to visit our favourite local wildlife park, Dartmoor Zoo. It was recently made famous by the film based on its owners story "We brought a zoo" which I have probably watched at least ten times. I have been coming to Dartmoor since I was a child and love it so much. There are so many good memories for me here and I am so glad I can give my children the same memories I have. 

On arrival to the zoo, we noticed a lot of people had shown up today and this was because the zoo, very kindly, was offering free entry for today only. Currently the zoo is desperately trying to raise money to secure its future. By offering free entry today they were able to fill the zoo and encourage people to donate money to their fund, which was a great idea. You can donate via their crowd fund or if you would like to find out more about Dartmoor Zoo's plight: Crowd Fund Dartmoor Zoo. 

The first enclosures you come to are along the path up to the main part of the zoo. They contain ponies,  capybaras, tapirs, ostrich and ducks. 

The Capybaras having dinner with a duck. 
Tapirs 
The zoo has a lovely restaurant by the main entrance which has a meerkat enclosure outside. They always seem to have tiny meerkat babies every time we visit which is amazing to see. Meerkats are very popular at the zoo and that's probably because they are so fascinating to watch. 


Also by the restaurant is a fantastic education room where they hold animal encounters. The boys were able to feel snake skins, tiger fur and turtle shells. The also had a room containing different reptiles such as snakes, turtles and lizards. What caught my eye though was the gorgeous sugar glider you can see below. I have heard of them before but I have never seen one. I fell in love! Sugar gliders have these big black eyes that just makes your heart melt.


Next we visited the zoos beautiful wolf packs. The boys are not too keen on them due to their distinct smell but I literally could sit and watch them for hours. The wolves had just been fed as we arrived at their enclosure. It was interesting to watch their pack mentality as you could definitely tell which one the alpha male was. He was keeping the meat for himself while the others were trying to sneak a bite. As soon as he showed his teeth they would back down straight away. 


Along from the wolves are the two big cat cages. They have a lioness and two tigers. There are no photos of the lioness as she was hiding today but I was happy to get some nice shots of the zoos tigers. The tigers had also been fed with what looked like a pony. One of the tigers slept as the other tucked into a nice piece of meat hung up on his tree. 


Tom's favourite animal at the zoo is the otters. He has many otter teddies and always loves to watch the otter at the zoo swim and squeak about. 


The zoo has two bears called Hayley and Fudge who are the same bears I used to love to see from my childhood. They were a little sleepy today as they should be hibernating but it was great to show the boys them today.




Overall, we had a fantastic day today seeing all the animals at Dartmoor Zoo. The zoo improves with every visit and it's so good to see it doing so well.

Gem x





Country Kids from Coombe Mill Family Farm Holidays Cornwall
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9 comments

  1. I do hope Ben manages to raise what he needs to for the Zoo, I've heard about the bid to move it to a charity and know Ben through Nick's cousin. A great zoo and a tremendous personal story, you can't help but will him to succeed. I too have the book. Lovely pictures from your family day, that alpha wolf looks very intimidating. Thank you for sharing with me on Country Kids

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    1. The zoo is special for a lot of people and I really hope they raise the funds they need. A lot of people were donating money today which was great to see.

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  2. Laura Mummy to Boyz23 November 2014 at 11:25

    I love that you saw a bear!

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    1. They have two. You just want to give them one big cuddle but that wouldn't end well. I wish they were tame.

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  3. Would Like To Be a Yummy Mummy23 November 2014 at 21:14

    We love a trip to the zoo. Fantastic photos ��

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    1. Thank you. :)

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  4. Celesse @ Mummy Logic24 November 2014 at 14:00

    Lovely pics. The tiger is absolutely beautiful. #countrykids

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. They are one of my favourites.

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