Pembrokeshire zoo is offering a trip to Far East
FOLLY Farm has launched a new £500,000 custom-built enclosure housing animals from the Far East.
The Pembrokeshire zoo’s brandnew four-acre animal attraction brings new and existing Asian animals together.
Asian Adventure will be home to a pack of endangered Asian wild dogs, also known as dholes, and a series of birds including white naped cranes, great white pelicans, red crested pochard, mandarin and marbled teal ducks.
Part of a European endangered species breeding programme for red pandas, Lotus and Baika arrived at Folly Farm in September 2018 and have been living in a temporary enclosure while Asian Adventure was under construction. It’s hoped the pitter-patter of baby red panda paws won’t be far off once they’ve settled into their new enclosure.
Tim Morphew, zoo curator at Folly Farm, said: “The launch of Asian Adventure is the culmination of a huge amount of hard work and dedication.
“The whole enclosure will take you on a journey through the habitats found in the Far East and by theming and replicating these environments, we’ve recreated a serene ambience that will hopefully add some zen to your Folly Farm visit.
“Significant research has gone
into the design and development. We’ve included models of local fish markets, traditional music and replicated a typical national park.”
Along with the new animals, four new habitats have been created and two have been upgraded to the highest standard. Replicating their natural habitats, these include bespoke climbing frames, ponds, underground dens to shelter from the sunshine and (more commonly) rain as well as trees and plants indigenous to the area such as silver birch and acers.
Mr Morphew added: “Our conservation partner for this enclosure is the Red Panda Network.
“Already we’ve donated £2,000, which employs a dedicated person to look after the red pandas in Nepal for a whole year. We’re proud to be sponsoring Menuka Bhattarai, who was the Red Panda Network’s first-ever female forest guardian.
“So when you visit Asian Adventure, not only are you learning about the environment and culture in the Far East but also contributing to the conservation of these endangered species.”
Deputy Minister for Culture, Sport and Tourism, Lord ElisThomas, said: “This is yet another exciting development for Folly Farm. The team are to be congratulated for refreshing and improving what the attraction has to offer its visitors – and this is one of the reasons why Folly Farm is one of Wales’ top-paying attractions. I’m sure that the Asian Adventure will be a big hit with visitors this summer and wish the team a successful summer.”
Folly Farm is approaching its 30th anniversary from when it started out as a petting zoo where children could feed goats and see farm animals.
Since then it has been a remarkable growth story founded on an original vision of farmer Glyn Williams, his wife Anne and daughter Karina. Folly Farm was then a third-generation dairy farm, with land that straddled a busy road.
It is now one of Wales’ most well-known attractions and has a turnover of £7.5m, according to its latest set of accounts – but given new expansion plans, the company has announced this looks likely to increase in the coming years.
In 2017, Folly Farm was granted permission for its plans to build a £10m Holiday Village. The plans include building more than 27 timber lodges, 29 showmen’s wagons, 43 touring caravan sites, 15 safari-style ridge tents, 11 circusstyle bell tents and 10 yurt tents on 11.03 hectares of land to the north of its Kilgetty site.