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Ongoing updates and improvements

Animals on the move

Over the coming weeks, visitors to Paignton Zoo will see a number of animal moves and building works that herald yet another step forward with our plans to transform our site. The first of these moves happened earlier this week, and saw our emu move down from his current home next to the kangaroos to the paddock behind the restaurant. We’ve been carrying out some essential tree maintenance over the last few weeks and with this now complete, the paddock fencing has been reinstated and our emu has taken up residence in his new home.

Our maintenance and mammal teams are now moving in to make some modifications to his former house and paddock, allowing us to move our peccaries. Once the peccaries have moved, work will begin on removing the old peccary house and re-surfacing the area around their current enclosure. We’ll then be installing a new stable block in readiness for moving our Hartmann’s mountain zebra. While all of this is taking place we’ll also be installing new browse feeders in our old elephant paddock in an effort to lure our somewhat reluctant giraffe to explore their much enlarged home.

You may wonder why we’re moving our zebra from their lush hillside home, and the simple answer is… feet. Mountain zebra naturally inhabit rocky landscapes with very sparse grazing, so although they’ll be moving somewhere with less grass, the firmer, rockier paddock they’ll be moving to will be much better for their feet and hooves.

With the zebra moved, we’ll need to make some modifications to the paddock they leave behind, and we’ll be announcing what’s going in there very soon. And, of course, we’ll also be finishing off the second phase of our lakeside pathway, adding extensive new planting to the Brookside site, and reopening Tropical Trails. And then there’s the small matter of saying farewell to our Asiatic lion, Yali, and welcoming our trio of African lions from our sister zoo in Newquay…

If you don’t already, follow us on social media for regular updates on all these changes, and many more to follow.