Some sad news.

Unfortunately since the last time a blog was written we have had some sad days regarding our animals. The worst day concerns Nigel our fallow deer buck. Unfortunately he has been getting on in years -15 years old and over the last few weeks we have noticed him getting slower and being quite shaky on his back legs. Regrettably we then had to make the decision to have him put down. This was a very sad day for all and I’m sure many tears were shed by the staff as he had become such a well known and friendly part of our fallow deer herd. However it was in his best interests, as it was a case of having to be cruel to be kind and not letting him suffer.

Just before this we also had the death of a wallaby. We think this was another case of old age and the wallaby died a natural death.

As well as old age being responsible for these two deaths we have also lost some young birds. One of the guinea fowl chicks died leaving just one. The one that was left is doing ok and seems to be perfectly healthy and we are unclear as to why the other one died. Also the peachicks that we had have also all died. We never seem to be very lucky with our peachicks, it could be because the parents don’t pass enough of the right genes on to their youngsters, however we are not 100% sure why.

On to some happier news and better days…….

As you may recall, the last time this was written we had had some extremely bad weather and quite a bit of damage in the park resulting from this. Whilst the weather since hasn’t been brilliant we haven’t had any repeats of the floods in such a big scale and all of the repairs that were needed have been successful.

The drier weather also means that we have managed to get on with putting together our new otter pen, which is now nearly complete except for a few minor touches. This means that we can now have a swap around with some of our otters. This will give them all a change of scenery and maybe address a few issues between them, for example: Honey is still as greedy as ever and continues to pinch mum’s (Harriett’s) food if she can, so no doubt Harriett will be pleased to get her food back to herself and Honey will have to learn how to stand on her own two feet a bit more rather than relying on her mum who spoils her as much as possible.

Tino and Tamarisk may also be glad to have a break from each other as they do play rather enthusiastically, which means they do get along well but also tend to cause each other minor injuries every now and again so they might be grateful for the opportunity to calm down and relax a bit.

Carmen who has spent her months being back at the park on her own may get the opportunity to have some company and see if she can impress a male with her feminine ottery charms.

William and Hilda might be glad of a change, as they get on well together and are very relaxed in each others company but they appear to be so relaxed with each other that they can quite easily get through the day ignoring each other, with the result that so far we haven’t yet had any cubs.

Finally the cubs, Biggy, Smalley, Cinnamon and Leap. They all get on very well and can be seen daily playing, eating and sleeping together. However whilst Biggy and Smalley have nearly reached their full adult size, Cinnamon and Leap have still got quite a way to go and therefore could do some damage accidentally when playing with Biggy and Smalley or simply British Otters like to live on their own or in pairs, not in family groups like the Asian Short Clawed Otters, so as they get older they may decide that four is a much too big a group and they no longer want to live with Biggy and Smalley. So before any accidental injuries or ill feelings occur we will split them up so that Biggy and Smalley have each other and Cinnamon and Leap have each other.

Overall I think all of the British Otters will appreciate the change as naturally they don’t stay with each other for long and will encounter new things, so this will give them the opportunity to experience some new scenery, new smells and new company.

For the time being we have come to a halt on all of the young animals at the park, for example, the waterfowl, deer and owls have all had their breeding seasons, however we never know what might happen with the otters! . The rest of the park is abundant in waterfowl after all of the new additions that have joined it this year. The fawns and joeys are all continuing to do well and are gaining in confidence. The cubs are all continuing to be bundles of fun, Biggy tries to get up to as much mischief as possible and Smalley still enjoys playing in his own little world and playing catch with Cinnamon or Leaps tail. Cinnamon has become much more cuddly, now she’s started having cuddles I think she’s realised she’s onto a good thing and isn’t afraid of asking for one - which can be quite scary for the keepers! Leap has also gained in confidence enormously and is seen a lot more joining in at playtimes and isn’t worried anymore by the keeper being there.

The adult animals are all looking good at the moment as well, particularly as they have all completely finished moulting and are in prime condition - this is particularly noticeable in the golden pheasant and Korulah which were both looking particularly shabby earlier on in the year.

We still haven’t seen any sightings of the barn owl chicks that we released a couple of months ago, however they are occasionally stopping by for some food which we are still leaving out for them, so it appears that they are doing well.

We had the BBC here a couple of weeks ago filming Harriett and Honey for a Cornwall edition of Escape to the Country, look out for that on TV in December.

Karullah our Bengal eagle owl decided to get up to some mischief a couple of weeks ago, when she decided to explore the big wide world for herself!

Every morning she gets brought out of her aviary and taken to her perch at the front of the park so that people can get a close look at her and she can have a change of scenery and watch everything that's going on or just be plain lazy and lie in the sun. Sometimes we let her fly from our gloved hand to her perch. We do this a few feet away from her perch, in a straight line, so that she can see where she's got to go. This gives her a chance to stretch her wings and do something a bit different. On occassions she has been known to overshoot her perch slightly, usually landing outside the tearoom (and once on the tearoom roof!), however she then normally flies back to her perch from a different angle or waits patiently to be picked up.

However, this particular morning that we decided to let her fly to her perch she decided she wanted to explore. No sooner was she off the glove and she flew straight up into the air and off into the distance. We then got quite worried and went to look for her. The day went on and there was still no sign of her. By nightfall we were obviously very concerned and hoped that she might fly back to her aviary at some point in the night, as thats the place she can call home. Everyone went home that evening very worried about her and our worries were heightened even more by the fact that that evening we had torrential rain and thunder and lightening. Could things really be any worse for poor karullah?

The next day we went back to have another look and we still couldn't find her. By the second afternoon we were beginning to wonder if we would see her again. However our luck changed and at about 6-7pm she was found sitting in the car park, competely dry and quite calm. She gladly got back onto the keepers arm and once checked over to make sure she was ok, she went straight back to her aviary for a late tea. She didn't seem at all upset by her venture and was acting like she had had a perfectly normal day.

We were extremely relieved and happy to get her back and needless to say she wont be flying free to her perch again.

So, that’s about it for now but don’t forget to look out for us on TV in December.

Written by Sonia.