New for 2002 at Cricket St Thomas

Work has started on the new primate island situated near the entrance of the park and is still on line for completion before the Easter holidays. Ray's Island is a 2002 project for the park and is now in the developement stages. The island will be about four times the size of the spider monkey island and is to be located near the Day Visitor Entrance. Excavation work has began and the island is already taking shape; although it will be a few weeks yet before the moat can be filled with water.

The island will be dedicated to Ray Turner - a long serving committee member of The Friends of The Wildlife Park, who unfortunately died last year. The'Friends' will be sponsoring the majority of the construction costs for the island. We will keep you posted with any further developments but if you wish to contribute to the project please contact the Wildlife Park.

Another project for 2002 is to create a paddock for schimitar-horned oryx. The proposed paddock will be located on the near-side of the deer paddock with new fencing discretely hidden amongst the trees near the lake that cuts the current paddock in two. The oryx herd, which will come from Chester Zoo; will have a new house and coral built especially for them. We will be cutting the number of axis deer in the paddock accordingly. new homes for the deer have already been found in the local area.

Winter is often the time for assessing the stock and bringing in new animals from other zoos for the coming breeding seasons. In recent weeks a female trumpeter hornbill has arrived from Paignton Zoo. A male Moluccan cockatoo from Exmoor Zoo and a male common marmoset from a private breeder. All these new arrivals will be or are already paired up with new partners and will all hopefully have enough time to settle in before spring.