I am taking a break from covering the Royal Tour of India and Bhutan, to bring you news much closer to home. Today, The Earl & Countess of Wessex took their children for a visit to a ZOO. But it wasn't an ordinary visit! The Earl of Wessex who is a Patron of Bristol Zoological Society along with Sophie & kids visited The Wild Place Project (extension to Bristol Zoo), to officialy open The Mahali Pori Exhibit.
It's a home to three male cheetahs, guinea fowl, the ranger station and the predator preyground adventure play. This exhibit will help raise awareness of conservation for the Cheetah. According to the Gazette, HRH brought some humour to the occasion, as he stated he would usually get excited when opening exhibits, but with cheetah in such close proximity he felt he should keep quiet! More info, click here.
courtesy of British Monarchy via Twitter feed - HRH opened the new Mahali Pori exhibit under the watch of Cheetahs: Oscar, Brooke and Jake.
Wild Place Project (described as fun, family attraction that provides outdoor adventure, play and learning), is a conservation park which opened in July 2013. The Park has been designed to link specific ecosystems and conservation programmes across the world, and was originally intended to be split into biomes, representing species found only in specific habitats.
Visitors to Wild Place Project can meet amazing animals from across the world from the mischievous lemurs of Madagascar to the striking grey wolves of Europe. Wild Place Project was opened by the Bristol Zoological Society with an emphasis on protecting threatened habitats on their doorsteps and around the globe.
courtesy of British Monarchy via Twitter feed - The Earl heard how Wild Place and Bristol Zoo hope to save wildlife through acts of conservation
Bristol Zoological Society is a conservation and education charity, which runs and operates Bristol Zoo Gardens and the Wild Place Project. The society saves wildlife through conservation science research and is working to protect species and habitats overseas, encouraging sustainable behaviors and perceptions, educating tomorrow’s wildlife warriors and giving families a great day out.
Bristol Zoo is the fifth oldest zoo in the world. It was founded on 22nd July 1835, by Henry Riley, a local physician, who led the formation of the Bristol, Clifton and West of England Zoological Society. The Bristol, Clifton and West of England Zoological Society opened the Zoo’s doors to the public for the first time, on Monday 11th July 1836. To learn more about its history, click here.
During the 2-hour visit, Prince Edward, Sophie & children were given a tour of the park. According to an article, Lady Louise and Vicount James got to hand-feed a hungry group of lemurs as well as get up close to a mischievous bunch of meerkats. A royal source said: "The whole family thoroughly enjoyed the visit. The Earl has been patron of the Bristol Zoological Society for three years and has been very impressed by their education and conservation programmes. Both he and the Countess were keen to show their children the effort places like Wild Place Project put into conserving endangered animals. They were all fascinated by the cheetahs and the children really enjoyed feeding the lemurs and the meerkats."
On few pictures you can see how James is trying to put a live cricket down the back of Prince Edward. I think the crickets were intended as a food for meerkats, but James had something else on mind:)
Afterwards, royal family visited Bristol Zoo, where they got to meet quite a new addition to the Zoo family, a 9-week-old Afia (meaning ‘Friday born child’ in Ghanaian), a Western lowland gorilla, who was delivered by a c-section in Februry this year. They also met Lynsey Bugg, Curator of Mammals, who has been caring for Afia along with a team of dedicated keepers since her birth.
After press release: The girl, was delivered on 12/02/2016 after the mother, Kera, showed symptoms of potentially life-threatening pre-eclampsia. She needed help from vets before she was able to breathe independently, but is now doing well, being hand-reared round the clock by a small team of experienced gorilla keepers. Kera is recovering and is being monitored closely by keepers and the Zoo’s in-house veterinary team. It is the first time a gorilla has been born by caesarean at the Zoo, and one of only a handful of instances of it occurring worldwide. It is still very early days and the baby is not yet on show to the public. For more information visit this link. There is also very touching video of the birth.
Lynsey Bugg said: “I was thrilled to have been able to introduce Afia to the Royal family. They were asking me lots of questions about her development and seemed extremely grateful to have had the chance to meet her. Afia of course was none the wiser about who her visitors were".
Dr Bryan Carroll, CEO of Bristol Zoological Society, said: “I know that they didn’t just enjoy their day, they were impressed, interested and completely captivated by both the sites, the animals they saw, the conservation stories they heard and the staff they met." Bristol Zoo press release can be found here.
courtesy of British Monarchy via Facebook feed - click on pic to be redirected & view full gallery of the visit
I was very happy that British Monarchy shared some lovely pictures of the visit via their Twitter account. There is also an article at Hello and BT News website. Update, just now I have found an original, much longer article. Visit here. Rex agancy has lovely pictures, sadly I cannot use them on my blog. Max Mumby took stunning pics as well, you will find them at Getty, click here. AND there are many lovely videos of the visit - to view them, click here! Outfit & jewellery: Prada leather jacket in black. Pink blouse, which debuted few weeks ago. No ID. Diamond studs that were gifted to Sophie by Prince Edward. I also noticed Hippo Splat pendant by Patrick Mavros. It debuted in Bahamas. I couldn't be 100% sure due to the 1 pic I had, but now I am. Watch by Longines, I believe from "Le Grande Classic" collection. New, Maya Suni bag in Ocen shade by Sophie Habsburg. LK Bennett wedges in style called Bayleen. No longer online.
A day in the Bristol ZOO for the Wessex family.
Rating: 4.5
Diposkan Oleh: sho fia
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