Highland Wildlife Park
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The Highland Wildlife Park is a safari park and zoo near Kingussie, Highland, Scotland. The park is in the Cairngorms National Park.
The Highland Wildlife Park was opened in 1972 and has been run by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland since 1986. Visitors experience Scottish wildlife past and present in the spectacular setting of the Scottish Highlands. On show are a variety of animals found in present day Scotland, as well as animals that were once present, hundreds, even thousands of years ago. Visitors drive around the Main Reserve in their cars and then move on to a walk-round area.
The enclosure home to a pack of Grey Wolf won the ZooLex award in 2003 for having a leading design for their wolf territory, which offers extensive areas for them to inhabit and views of the Cairngorms where wild wolves would have roamed until as recently as the 1700s.
The park is open every day of the year, weather permitting.
In 1980 the park was made famous by obtaining "Felicity the Puma", a Puma that was reputedly captured nearby by a farmer. The Puma lived out her days in the park and is now on show stuffed in the Inverness museum. In the past the park has also been the home to several examples of the famous "Kellas cat".
Contents |
[edit] Animals
[edit] Main reserve (safari park)
- European Bison
- Highland Cattle
- Przewalski's Horse
- Highland Cattle
- Soay Sheep
- Mouflon
- Red Deer
- Reindeer
- Bharal
[edit] Walk-round enclosures
- Forest habitat:
- Animals of the past:
- Eurasian Lynx
- Chough
- Grey Wolf
- Forest Reindeer
- Wild Boar
- Moorland habitat
- Tundra habitat
- Wetland habitat
- Woodland habitat
[edit] The Future of the Park
The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, owner and administrator of the Highland Wildlife Park, have recently seen fit to alter the theme of the park from native species of the Highlands, to species from tundra and mountainous habitats around the world. This move is an attempt to bring the park closer to the working practices of the RZSS's main site, Edinburgh Zoo as well as to drastically increase visitor numbers which had been virtually static for some years.
Although the park has been in need of serious investment for some years, many locals to the area as well as frequent visitors to the park believe that this move will distance the park from its hitherto unique attraction as a place to see native species in their natural habitat, and will eventually turn the park into another safari park filled with ever more exotic animals in an attempt to attract more of the area's visitors.
In defense to this view, the RZSS claims that the new animals in the park's collection are for the most part extremely endangered, and their presence at the park will safeguard their future, as well as demonstrating the Highlands' place in the global ecosystem.
However, critics argue that many of the animals which are highly likely to be lost in the first wave of alterations (Badgers, Red foxes, Red deer, Scottish wildcats) may not be endangered in the Highlands, but are the kinds of animals that visitors associate with the Highlands but would be extremely lucky to see in person during their stay.
The first new animals to arrive were two Bharals in February 2007, and the first animals to leave were the Badgers, whose enclosure is set to be home to Red Pandas by the early summer.
The future collection of animals at the park is set to include:
- Red panda (Due to arrive early summer)
- Japanese macaque (Work has started on new enclosure)
- Yak (Due to arrive Easter 2007)
- Markhor (Due to arrive Easter 2007)
- Musk ox
- Amur leopard
