Belfast Zoo Celebrate A Record Breaking Year

Posted By : The Animal Facts Editorial Team

Date: April 14, 2022 4:39 pm

Record Breaking Year at Belfast Zoo

A lion is pictured in its enclosure at the Belfast Zoo

Photo Credit: Belfast Zoo

Belfast Zoo are celebrating a record year. After reopening in April 2021 saw over 280,000 people attend their Cave Hill site. A number of months broke records with June, July, August, December and January being their busiest in over twenty years.

Andrew Hope, Zoo Manager, commented: “We would like to thank everyone who visited and supported the zoo over the last year and during the pandemic. This has been a challenging time for many businesses, and we are grateful for the renewed support from the local community and increased trade from the ‘staycation’ market.

 

“Last year we focused on reopening safely, however this year we can now focus on getting back to ‘normal’ with the return of regular events and activities. We have some exciting developments coming over the next few months including a new visitor picnic area at the top of the zoo which is due to open later this month.”

Additional visitors were drawn to the zoo by a string of high profile births as part of the zoo's conservation efforts for rare and threatened species.

-- AD --

Ändrew said, "Animal births are always something to celebrate, however welcoming 33 births, two thirds of which were endangered or critically endangered, in the last year at Belfast Zoo is very special. We are looking forward to introducing some new species to our collection in the coming months and continuing our programme of improvement works around the 55-acre site.”

One of the most exciting births this year was the first western lowland gorilla in seven years. The male infant is now six months old and has been named Kofi.

More recently the zoo has celebrated the birth of a francois langur. Born on March 2nd just 2000 of these rare primates are thought to remain in Asia.

Other arrivals over the past year included cotton top tamarin twins, crowned lemur, vicuna and Fiji banded iguanas. Last month the zoo welcomed two critically endangered Eastern bongo calves born within weeks of each other. 

Improvements were also made for humans visiting the zoo such as the installation of a Changing Places facility and upgraded accessible parking which helped the zoo receive the first ever Community Champion Award from the Ehlers-Danlos Support UK (EDS) in recognition of the accessibility improvements it has undertaken.

The animals were not forgotten for improvements with a range of habitats renovated or extended and a major refurbishment of the California sea lion pool with an improved water treatment system to process new saline water.

Learn more about Gorillas here - Gorilla Fact File | The Animal Facts

Learn more about Francois langurs here - Francois Langur Fact File | The Animal Facts

Learn more about the Belfast Zoo on their website – Belfast Zoo

Most Popular Animal this Week


Credit: Under License

Redbubble Store.

AD

Copyright The Animal Facts 2023

Share via
Copy link
Powered by Social Snap