Howletts Wild Animal Park

Howletts Wild Animal Park
Date opened	1975
Location	Bekesbourne/Canterbury, Kent, England
Land area	90 acres (36 ha)
No. of animals	350+
No. of species	40+

African elephants at Howletts

Howletts Wild Animal Park (formerly known as Howletts Zoo) was set up as a private zoo in 1957 by John Aspinall near Canterbury, Kent. The animal collection was opened to the public in 1975. To give more room for the animals another estate at Port Lympne near Hythe, Kent was purchased in 1973, and opened to the public as Port Lympne Zoo in 1976.

The collection is known for being unorthodox, for the encouragement of close personal relationships between staff and animals, and for their breeding of rare and endangered species. Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin visited the park in 2004 and said the following about his visit - "I love this joint and I love these gorillas – they’re the finest in the world.".

Since 1984 both parks have been owned by a charity (The John Aspinall Foundation). Following the death of John Aspinall he was buried in front of the mansion house and a memorial was built next to the grave near the bison. The most recent extension to Howletts was the black and white colobus open-topped enclosure, just behind the entrance.

old woods animals

donkeys kangaroos rabbits baby pigs bears

old jungle animals

kangaroos lizards - iguanas bearded dragons and frilled lizards asian elephants giant pandas rabbits crows bengal tigers snakes - burmese pythons and boas squirrel monkeys parrots ring - tailed lemurs white tigers raccoons meerkats crocodiles porcupines

new jungle animals

leopards siberian tigers snow leopards sumatran tigers african wild dogs dholes african elephants gorillas antelopes tapirs rhinos hogs capybaras giant anteaters lemurs monkeys wild cats ocelots

new woods animals

iberian wolves bisons deer honey badgers [ or honey bears ] lynxes

Special Events (Charity)

The charity that runs Howletts and Port Lympne Wild Animal Park, the John Aspinall Foundation, also runs animal conservation programmes. It has recent success in releasing a black Rhino into the wild and has previously released other black rhinos and gorillas.

On TV

Siberian tiger at Howletts

Port Lympne has featured on the CBBC television programme Roar. This shows the two parks, the life of the animals and how the keepers look after them. The first series was filmed in 2006 and, as of March 2009, there have been four series in total.

See also

• Port Lympne Wild Animal Park

External links

• Zoo website
• Aspinall Foundation
• "Captive-bred kitten" (Video). BBC. 2008-09-10. Retrieved 2010-01-05. of Pallas' cat
• Roar (UK TV series) at IMDb