Dive into contest to win a safari park pass

This Friday, June 8, is World Oceans Day, a global celebration with hundreds of events around the world to celebrate and honour the world’s shared ocean.

The date is being marked at Blair Drummond Safari Park with a weekend of events dedicated to the popular visitor attraction’s ocean dwelling animals.

Blair Drummond Safari Park is home to a small colony of Humboldt penguins, native to the west coast of South America, and a group of Californian sea lions.

Sea lion keeper Erin McGeady said: “World Oceans Day is an opportunity for us to raise awareness of the simple steps that everybody can take to help animals that live in the sea.

“Plastic pollution in our oceans is a massive problem and we’re asking visitors to the safari park to help solve this problem by recycling their plastic waste and encouraging others to do the same.

“We have four Californian sea lions at Blair Drummond Safari Park and visitors can watch these magnificent animals in actions at the Sea Lion Presentation. Visitors who have watched the show will know that sea lions are very sensitive to the environment around them; their whiskers can detect the ripples made by fish moving underwater, and they can sense the speed and direction of the fish, making them fantastic hunters.

“But this sensitivity does not stop sea lions from being affected by litter in our seas. Wild sea lions, like many animals who live in the ocean, suffer from becoming caught and tangled in large pieces of waste, and can be seriously injured by accidentally swallowing plastic bags and other small items which they mistake for food.

“As part of the presentation, our sea lions demonstrate just how easy it is to make a big a big difference by collecting items from their pool and placing them into the correct recycling bin on stage.”

The Sea Lion Presentation is included in the price of admission to the safari park. This is one the most popular attractions at the safari park and takes place at midday, 1.30pm and 4.30pm on weekdays, with an additional show at 3pm on weekends and holidays.

The Observer has teamed up with the safari park again to offer readers the chance to win a family pass each week.

This week’s question is: What does a sea lion use to detect ripples made by underwater fish?

Send your answer, along with your name, address and contact number to: Safari Park Competition, Stirling Observer, 34 Upper Craigs, Stirling, FK8 2DW. Usual Reach plc rules apply. The deadline is Monday, June 11, at 4pm.