Animal Magic (Blackpool Zoo)

Member Name: wigglylittleworm

Product:	Blackpool Zoo
Date:	16/04/09 (321 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Get up close to monkeys and lions, baby animals

Disadvantages: Some enclosures a bit small

During our recent trip to Blackpool we decided to visit Blackpool zoo on a nice sunny day in April 2009. The zoo is home to over 1500 animals from all over the world and also plays an important role in conservation projects. Set over 32 acres of parkland it looked like a great day out. Once we entered the zoo it was time to consult the map and list of displays for the day and work out in what order we wanted to visit everything.


The first exhibit we came to was the dinosaur safari. It seemed like a strange idea at first walking around a garden environment and seeing massive fibreglass dinosaurs set amongst the foliage but proved to be surprisingly enjoyable trying to identify these extinct beasts on sight and reading the plaques about their lives.


Throughout the day the zoo hosts various talks and displays and we saw three of them during our visit; the bird displays, the big cat display and watched the otters getting fed. The parrots are fascinating intelligent birds and it was brilliant seeing them talk, place money in a money bank and open tins to get hold of a peanut. The otters were not going to co-operate with the keeper and preferred to stay indoors out of site so that display was a waste of time.


Blackpool zoo houses a pride of lions consisting of one male and three female animals. Watching the big cats be fed was again amazing, the power and strength of the lion was a majestic sight to see. They were kept inside while the keepers hid huge bloody chunks of meat around their enclosure and as soon as the doors were opened they raced out and started searching for their dinner. I enjoyed sitting behind the glass window and watching them long after the crowds had dissipated; it was awesome seeing these big cats wash themselves after eating in the same way that my little kitty at home does. An argument broke out between two of the lionesses over a bone and the sound of their growls and roars was chilling, I certainly wouldn't want to meet a lion face to face in the wild.


Another attraction is a tropical dome called Amazonia which was one of the highlights of my visits. As soon as we walked through the door we were met by a dozen cheeky little monkeys keen to see if we had anything edible they could steal from us. They had no fear of humans at all and the keepers spent most of their time spraying them with water bottles to get them to leave the people alone. One stole a piece of chewing gum from somebody's pocket and one made a grab for my handbag. I was worried about the money in my trouser pockets but the keeper assured me that they had no interest in money and were just after food.


There are many species of monkey and ape and one of my favourites was the gorillas. Sitting behind the glass in their enclosure meant that you could get amazingly close to the animals and observe them play and swing around. When we were there a male gorilla started to harass a female and stuck his fingers up her bottom earning him a well deserved slap. It seems that some forms of behaviour are not species specific! They also collect money for the Dian Fossey foundation and I was happy to put some money into the collecting tin to go towards saving these animals from extinction. The monkey island where some of the species live is also surrounded by a lake which has black swans swimming around, a bird I had never seen before and another magical sight.


A concern that many people have about zoos is about animal welfare and seeing wild animals caged. Blackpool zoo certainly do their best to encourage natural behaviour in the animals, the enclosures were all clean and the animals healthy but I did feel uneasy at some points. We noticed an elephant rocking back and forwards and it was clearly distressed and upsetting to watch. We did talk to the keeper inside the elephant house and she told us that the elephants had been rescued from a circus where they were chained up for 23 hours a day and that their rocking behaviour had improved since they were housed at the zoo. I felt that the elephant enclosures were far too small but at the same time the life they have in the zoo is clearly better than the life they had in the circus. Some of the other enclosures did seem a little small but I've also got to balance that concern with the fact that the zoo is active in breeding and conservation work in some rare species and the keepers obviously adored their animals and I think the conditions for the animals were good overall.

A quick walk up to the kid's corner let us see some more familiar animals up close. I was not impressed by the layout of this section, a similar exhibit at Blair Drummond safari park has the animals roaming free where you could touch them but these animals were all fenced into individual enclosures. The miniature donkeys were my favourite and they came over to see us and be petted but the other animals like giant rabbits or sheep ignored the people visiting.


April was a great time to visit the zoo as there were many baby animals which elicited many oohs and ahhs from us and there were other animals which were obviously heavily pregnant. We saw baby sea lions, monkeys riding on their mothers back, a baby donkey and a baby giraffe that was taller than us. We also saw the potential creation of new life at the otter pool as animals are uninhibited in their sexual behaviour and don't care who sees them. Thanks to this my twelve year old went around telling everyone about how her mum was watching "otter porn" at the zoo!


We bought lunch at the large zoo eatery which is in the style of one of those shopping centre food malls where you join various queues to buy things like sandwiches, hot dogs and hot meals. The choice wasn't brilliant but it also wasn't hugely overpriced and it was nice sitting on the picnic tables outside where peacocks roamed free hoping to get some titbits. The toilets were pretty far apart and ranged from horrible at the education centre to fantastic in the main entrance and we never had to queue once to use the facilities. There's the usual gift shops selling the standard fare of stationary, toys and ornaments and thankfully the tatty Blackpool souvenirs were missing from the range here.


Overall, we really enjoyed our day at Blackpool zoo. It is an attractive park and has a nice range of animals that are well cared for, interesting talks and displays during the day keepers who were on hand to talk and happy to answer questions. It is easy to spend a whole day there making the entrance prices good value for money for a family day out. The only other zoo I have visited is in Edinburgh and I've got to say that Blackpool zoo is miles better. I've only told you about the highlights of our day and about a fraction of the animals that we saw but you can get more information on the zoo by logging onto www.blackpoolzoo.org.uk.

Summary: A fantastic day out