Guests Craft Christmas Gifts for our Animals
Festivities are in full swing at West Midlands Safari Park this week, as animals were treated to some early Christmas gifts, made by the keepers and guests.
During our Santa Safari event, families have been creating festively decorated feeders for the smaller animals, using recycled materials, in Mrs. Claus’ Craft Club.
These gifts are then passed on to us keepers, to use as enrichment for the animals in our care, along with some other forms of festive treats that we’ve made ourselves.
Our Head Keeper of the Discovery Trail, Amy Sewell, explained, “Every year at West Midlands Safari Park, we make festive enrichment for our animals, and this year, we thought it would be wonderful to get our guests involved too. Families have been busy making festive feeders for our animals, using recycled toilet roll tubes and decorating them with animal-safe food colouring. These gifts are then given to our animals as a form of enrichment.
“These small gifts are more than just some festive fun – they’re a wonderful way to provide enrichment for the animals, engaging their natural instincts and keeping them active and curious. Creating enrichment is a vital part of our zookeeper life, so it’s been great to have our guests involved. Christmas is a time of giving, so these gifts are a perfect example of how a small act of kindness can make a big impact, not just for people, but for the animals we care for too. We put small amounts of food inside the festive feeders, and the animals have to work out how to get to the food. Our meerkats especially love this, and we look forward to sharing them out and watching the animals enjoy them on Christmas Day.”
She continued, “Working on Christmas Day isn't as bad as people might think, as we get to spend time with all the animals that we love and care for every single day. Even though the animals don't know it’s Christmas, we’ll ensure they all get a special gift and some extra attention on the day.”
The first recipients of our treat-filled Christmas presents were some of the smaller animals, including the meerkats, lemurs, and chinchillas.
The meerkats eagerly used their claws to tear open the cardboard feeders to get to the tasty treats, whereas the chinchillas were a bit more wary of the new objects, gingerly approaching them before giving them a quick nudge to see what was inside! Meanwhile, we had made the ring-tailed lemurs wrapped Christmas boxes, filled with some of their favourite foods. These went down a treat, and the whole troop delighted in discovering the hidden tasty morsels.
We invite guests to visit the Park throughout the festive season, to enjoy the decorations, listen to fascinating animal talks, and see what the animals get up to over the winter period.
