Animal attractions make natural TV stars
LOCKDOWN and its lingering limitations have seen millions miss out on two of Scotland’s top attractions this year.
So fans of Edinburgh Zoo and its sister site the Highland Wildlife Park should be delighted by a new show taking viewers back through their doors.
From a down-in-the-dumps penguin to a debutante dik-dik, the eight-part documentary Inside the Zoo gives a close-up look behind the scenes.
Starting tonight on the BBC
Scotland channel, it was filmed last year and follows the 200 staff who care for more than 3,000 animals at the two sites.
Gail Porter narrates as the army of keepers, vets and other experts tackle everything from pampered pandas to mucking out the rhino enclosure and rescuing a baby baboon.
And although Edinburgh Zoo’s iconic penguin parade has been put on indefinite hold by the new safety measures, the birds take centre stage in episode one.
Senior keeper Dawn Nicoll is seen desperately trying to coax Fingal, a sick and depressed king penguin, back to health at Penguin Rock – the largest outdoor pool for the species in Europe.
Meanwhile, at the Highland Wildlife Park, ‘evil wee bird’ Philip the guinea fowl pesters keeper Karen as she tries to settle in a new arrival, female dik-dik antelope Noodles.
There is also a spot of daring
DIY as repairs are needed in the wolves’ enclosure – with the animals themselves hanging around to spot any howlers.
The series could not be more timely in raising the profile of the sites’ owner the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, which was forced to borrow £5million during lockdown to meet running costs – and needed a crowdfunding campaign to save Edinburgh Zoo from extinction.