Manor House Wildlife Park

Manor House Wildlife Park is a 52-acre (21 ha) zoo located in Pembrokeshire, Wales, just north of the village of St Florence. It was bought in 2008 by television presenter Anna Ryder Richardson and Colin MacDougall and is more recently known as Manor Wildlife Park.

Manor House Wildlife Park
LocationPembrokeshire, Wales
Coordinates51°41′8″N 4°45′51″W
Land area52 acres (21 ha)
WebsiteManor Wildlife Park

Animal exhibits

Large animals include Southern White Rhino, oryx, Damara Zebra, tapir, camel, llama and Sumatran tigers; there are also smaller wild animals such as red panda, meerkat, wallaby and four species of lemur (Red Ruffed, Red Fronted, Red Bellied and Ring Tailed), and a variety of birds, principally ostrich, emu, rhea and guinea fowl.[1]

Endangered species

As well as the endangered Sumatran Tigers, Siamang gibbons and Ring tailed lemurs, the park is home to the white rhino "Zamba", one of three Southern white rhino at the park,[2] 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 tigers to support the European Endangered Species Programme.[3] 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.[4]

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.[5]

TV presenter and property developer Anna Ryder Richardson and her then husband Colin MacDougall took over the zoo in 2008 when it was in a "dilapidated" state and spent seven months renovating the park.[6]

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.[7] 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,[8] plus costs.[6]

Facilities

Facilities include a cafe, indoor play facilities, bouncy castle and educational support programmes for teachers and pupils.

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.[9] Among the animals featured was a pair of endangered Siamang gibbons.[10]

gollark: And check the weather.
gollark: So you can monitor live toast status.
gollark: Maybe you could flash-toast it then have lower power postprocessing of some sort.
gollark: Oh, this one does 940W.
gollark: Hmm, these measure it as W/slice and apparently their top one does 600W per slice.

References
  1. "Manor House Wildlife Park - Animals". Retrieved 23 July 2014.
  2. "Southern white rhino". Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  3. "Rarest big cat in the world to be part of a new breeding programme at Anna Ryder Richardson's Zoo". Wales Online. 12 March 2015. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  4. "Meet Betty and Cherry, Pembrokeshire's endangered red pandas". Western Telegraph. Retrieved 2018-08-15.
  5. "Geograph - Manor House Wild Animal Park". Retrieved 24 July 2014.
  6. "Anna Ryder Richardson heartbroken after £100k court fine". Mail Online. 25 November 2012. Retrieved 23 July 2014.
  7. Anna Ryder Richardson to be prosecuted after a toddler and mother crushed by falling tree at her zoo Daily Mail, 20 March 2012. Retrieved 1 April 2012.
  8. Stone, Antony (22 November 2012). "Anna Ryder Richardson wildlife park fined after falling tree bough hospitalised three-year-old boy". The Independent. London. Retrieved 14 September 2013.
  9. "IMDb - Chaos at the Zoo (TV movie 2008)". Retrieved 23 July 2014.
  10. "No branching out for gibbon at Wild Welsh Zoo". Western Telegraph. 8 October 2009. Retrieved 5 August 2014.
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