A Shropshire Zoo has treated animals to festive treats ensuring that the popular attraction resembles Hoo-Ville this Christmas season.
This year, the animals at Hoo Zoo and Dinosaur World are starting their festivities early by unwrapping their Christmas gifts as part of their regular environment enrichment programme. Large boxes containing food or unusual scents were wrapped in festive gift wrap and presented to the zoos animals.
The ‘Christmas gifts’ offered an exciting challenge for the animals, encouraging them to engage with the presents in unique ways which allow them to demonstrate their natural instincts and behaviours. Animals at the zoo ranging from Reptiles and Binturongs to Lemurs and Eurasian Lynx, had the opportunity to ‘get to grips’ with the seasonal additions to their habitats.
“We know our animals will experience a slightly different Christmas than we do, but we wanted to create an enriching and fun experience for them as well. We didn’t want them to miss out on any of the festive fun,” said Will Dorrell, owner of Hoo Zoo and Dinosaur World.
“Each of our animals have such a unique personality, but they all definitely share a natural curiosity. Our lynx brothers were a bit like me and couldn’t wait to tear into their gifts, but animals such as our Binturong and Lemurs took their time to unwrap their gifts.”
The gift unwrapping has brought light-hearted fun to the zoo, and visitors have enjoyed watching the animals interact with their festive surprises.
There’s still time to visit Hoo Zoo and Dinosaur World before Christmas. The zoo is open daily until 23rd December before re-opening on Friday 27th December. Tickets for the zoo can be purchased via the zoo’s website – www.hoo-zoo.com
