April is Lory Parks birthday!!

April is Lory Parks birthday!!

We Turned 14 on the 1st of April.

As our loyal supporters know we are ever changing and improving our park and animals lives. We have come so far since the early years- enriching our animal collection and their enclosures. we have extended our personal encounters and experiences to wonderful levels, where our visitors are warmed, educated and drawn closer to our precious creatures of nature.

We celebrate with gratitude to those who have supported us in the past, to those who continue to do so and to those who we look forward to sharing our park with.

Our hope is that we are able to continue the legacy of interactions, education and supreme animal care for many years to come......

Also to add the 14, 114, 214, 314, 415, 514 etc. member of public will receive free entrance in to Lory Park on Monday the 21st, keep an eye open for family pack prizes when you're walking our Zoo, happy hunting to all!!!

Happy Birthday!!!!!! That's not all that we are celebrating!!!!

Its Easter a time to celebrate new life and be grateful.

The Easter weekend is going to be jam packed with adventure!!

We will be having Easter egg hunts on Friday and Sunday.

We will have real bunnies and Costume bunnies for kids entertainment

Animal encounters and prizes.

  

Ban Canned Hunting

Lory Park Zoo Joins The Global March for Lions

Lory Park Zoo Joins The Global March for Lions

Lory Park is proud to announce that we joined the global march for lions held on the 15th March at Zoo lake. 

The protest was not only to raise awareness about this cruel treatment of lions but also to ask CITES and the South African government to take a stronger stand against canned Lion hunting. 

A team from Lory park went to support the march, Timothy Chirwa, Amos Ngwina, Kelly Duligal, Annika Dierer an international intern from Germany, and Sharon Solomon founder of race against extinction.

All of us were so proud to represent Lory Park at the global march for banning canned lion hunting.  To be a part of something so big and close to our hearts was overwhelming. Together we sang and danced in the streets of Johannesburg. It was truly remarkable to see how many people were there, and realize how many, share our passion on the subject.  Now we can only hope that with constant pressure such as this, our Government and CITES will take stronger action against those who partake in this inhumane activity.

Canned Lion breeding and hunting  has become rife in South Africa, approximately 1000 Lions are canned hunted annually in S.A, that’s about 3 a day. ( Same as the number of poached Rhino). It is increasing the threat to the survival of wild Lion populations in Africa. Over and above trophy hunting, the lion bone industry in the east is on the rise and becoming highly profitable for Asian profiteers. . This disguising trend needs to come to a dead......... STOP.

.

Siberian Girls Birthday

We celebrated Geisha and Ganesha’s 1 year birthday on the 7th Feb. Janine made them some birthday presents; a line of hanging boxes and a 4 layer cake; made of frozen blood water with a meat filling. They were very excited to try out their cake and rip their presents to pieces, running around the camp before going to try their cake and presents. It was a very difficult decision for them to decide between ripping the boxes or eating the cake... in the end the cake won but after a while they just could not resist pulling down the boxes and ripping them apart. From all the Lory Park staff, Happy Birthday girls!

 

Meet our Gibbons

Some time ago we told you to watch this space on our blog, as we were in the process of building a new enclosure for a surprise animal.

Well here they are! Our White handed Lar gibbons! We are so excited and grateful to be able to welcome these beautiful creatures to our family.

 

White handed or Lar Gibbons – Hylobates lar originate from Southeast Asia and in small parts of South Asia. Lar Gibbons are probably extinct in China,

but if they still exist , they would only be found in Southwest Yunnan. They can still be found in the forests of Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar and Thailand.

They are however considered endangered and are classified as CITES 1.

Their natural predators are Clouded Leopard, Tigers, eagles and snakes and the of coarse their most feared predator is man due to poaching and deforestation.

 

Lar Gibbons may live up to 50 years  in captivity.

Their gestation period is six months.

 

Lar Gibbons eat a variety of foods including fruit like figs, liana fruit and berries as well as leaves, buds, flowers and shoots. Insects including mantids, wasps  and even birds eggs.

The gibbons drink water from tree holes by cupping their hands.

 

Please come and meet Sasa and Julinka,  they are sure to  keep you entertained  with their amazing agile acrobatics!!

 

Enrichment Workshop - pictures

The shape of enrichment conference at Lory park was a huge success

The shape of enrichment conference at Lory park was a huge success,  over 50 delegates attended, many representing international zoos. We would like to thank our staff for all their hard work in preparing for the conference, also for their on-going dedication throughout, you are an awesome team! Thank you to the delegates for their eagerness to attend and their fantastic enthusiasm to actively participate. Last but not least, a big thank you to Robynn Ingle-Moller, Valerie Hare and Mark Kingston Jones, for sharing their valuable know ledge and spreading their love and care of animals all over the world. Keepers and animals truly gained so much from your teachings and we will continue to use what we have learned, so that we may enrich the lives of the animals who give so much to us. With much gratitude...