Superdad pine marten dies age 16

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Superdad pine marten dies age 16

Keepers were left devastated at Wildwood Trust this week when famous pine marten Yorkie was found lifeless in his enclosure. Star of a number of TV programmes and probably the most successful captive pine marten father in the world, Yorkie's playful antics won the hearts of the millions of people who visited him over his lifetime. At 16 years old Yorkie is probably the oldest pine marten in the world, since they rarely live longer than 10 years in captivity and around 7-8 years in the wild. He was well and active up until his death, however, he is greatly missed and the charity has lost the most successful male pine marten ever used in their world-renowned breeding programme. The fact that Yorkie reached such a great age shows the dedication of Wildwood's keeper team and the expert knowledge they acquired in their care and husbandry. Yorkie fathered 12 kits, as part of Wildwood's unique pine marten breeding programme and his offspring will go on to repopulate Kent with pine martens.  Persecuted to extinction in Kent well over 100 years ago, the loss of pine martens are also linked to the gradual loss of red squirrels in the region. It is hoped that a future reintroduction programme could allow red squirrels to come back to Kent, and both projects are being actively perused.

Click here to watch a video of Yorkie

Pine martens are solitary creatures and notoriously fierce when mating, but Yorkie was always sensitive, one of the reasons that Wildwood's pine marten breeding programme became such a success. Yorkie was born at Welsh Mountain Zoo in 2003 and came to Wildwood same year. As pine martens are very hard to breed in captivity, the right surroundings are essential. Ironically, as Yorkie dies, Wildwood are in the middle of a big appeal, to ensure we can expand our breeding centre for the pine marten. With only one male pine marten left now, it is even more essential, that our work continues to protect thes magnificent animnals. _______________ Pine marten keeper Jon Forde said: ''We found him curled up in bed, almost with a smile on his face. He just had so much attitude and it was inspirational to see him climbing and charging around right until the end''. *****ENDS*****

CONTACT Video of Yorkie: https://youtu.be/-WnBxMW57VU Video of some of Yorkie's kits : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIbjoIyPzM4 Julie Luna Bayer: julie@wildwoodtrust.org or 01227 209618 or 07453 497086 Peter Smith: peter@wildwoodtrust.org or 07986 828229   FOLLOW US Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thewildwoodtrust Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/WildwoodTrust Watch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/thewildwoodtrust   ABOUT WILDWOOD Wildwood Trust opened in 1999 as a centre of excellence for the conservation of British wildlife, and was established as a registered charity in 2002. Wildwood is Kent's best British wildlife park. Home to over 200 native animals, past and present and set in 40 acres of beautiful ancient woodland where visitors can see bears, wolves, bison, deer, owls, foxes, red squirrels, wild boar, lynx, wild horses, badgers and beavers plus many more. As one of the leading British animal conservation charities in the UK, Wildwood Trust is dedicated to saving Britain's most threatened wildlife. Wildwood Trust have taken part in many ground-breaking conservation programmes to date, which include, saving the water vole, using wild horses to help restore Kent's most precious nature reserves, bringing the extinct European beaver back to Britain and returning the hazel dormouse & red squirrel to areas where they have been made extinct.

Wildwood Trust Herne Common Herne Bay Kent CT6 7LQ Registered Charity No: 1093702 Wildwood Kent: 01227 712 111 Wildwood Devon: 01404 822 188 info@wildwoodtrust.org

Secrets of burning Christmas calories unveiled for the first time!

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The secrets of burning Christmas calories unveiled for the first time!

While the rest of us stuff our faces, most animals are suffering from lack of food over the festive season. In these desperate months they have to find ingenious ways to stop from starving to death; living on fat reserves or eating stored food. Perhaps the most ingenious animal at getting through winter are Kent's very own rescued brown bears Fluff & Scruff, who more or less stopped eating many weeks ago and are now in a state of semi-hibernation.  While the bears are in this state of semi sleep their heart-warming antics have been hidden from view, but not anymore! For the first-time visitors can now watch Kent's bears and their amazing antics as they groggily toss and turn or wake up only to fall back into slumber on a giant TV screen, right next to their enclosure. Wildwood is perhaps the only British zoo encouraging their bears to enter a hibernating state, as bears don't necessarily need hibernation in captivity, however it is believed to greatly improve their welfare.

Click here to watch video and footage of the sleeping bears

Losing weight while sleeping Bear hibernation is still somewhat a mystery to researchers worldwide. It is known, that when a bear hibernates, its heartbeat drops, and its metabolism slows, without negative effects. This naturally affects their weight. Studies have shown some brown bears losing 25% of their body mass during hibernation. Although the Wildwood bears are only entering a semi – hibernation state, we still expect them to lose 40 to 50 kg this winter

Rescue bears and still learning The two Eurasian brown bears at Wildwood are still learning what it's like to hibernate. They were rescued from a 'canned hunting' operation in Bulgaria 5 years ago. They were forced to live in concrete pits and were never fed enough or felt safe enough to hibernate.  This put great physical and emotional stress on the bears. But after their successful rehabilitation at Wildwood, their happy sleepy antics can be seen by all. Due to this, visitors may therefore still have a good chance of seeing the bears rolling around, groggily stumbling in their artificial bear cave in between sleepy time. _____________________ Bear keeper Jon Forde said: "Fluff and Scruff are in the best condition of their entire lives, they have gone into this year's torpor at the heaviest weight they've ever been and at each of the last 3 torpors we've seen massive improvements to their health. We can't wait to see how they improve this time" Director general Paul Whitfield said: ''They desperately needed to remember what is was like to be bears and we quickly decided, that we wanted to give them every possibility to achieve this, including allowing them to sleep as they would in the wild.

Adopt a bear - help Wildwood do more conservation

Get outdoors during Christmas While bears may lose those extra pounds dreaming away over Christmas, the rest of us have to work at it. And as many know, a good walk will not only help your digestion, it also provides physical wellbeing. With beautiful trails in a 40 acres setting of natural woodland, Wildwood offers just that. On top of that, there's the tranquillity of getting out into quiet nature, after those hectic Christmas days.                                                  *****ENDS***** CONTACT Wildwood Trust: +44(0)1227 712 111 Julie Luna Bayer: julie@wildwoodtrust.org or 01227 209618 or 07453 497086 Peter Smith: peter@wildwoodtrust.org or 07986 828229   FOLLOW US Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thewildwoodtrust Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/WildwoodTrust Watch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/thewildwoodtrust   ABOUT WILDWOOD Wildwood Trust opened in 1999 as a centre of excellence for the conservation of British wildlife, and was established as a registered charity in 2002. Wildwood is Kent's best British wildlife park. Home to over 200 native animals, past and present and set in 40 acres of beautiful ancient woodland where visitors can see bears, wolves, bison, deer, owls, foxes, red squirrels, wild boar, lynx, wild horses, badgers and beavers plus many more. As one of the leading British animal conservation charities in the UK, Wildwood Trust is dedicated to saving Britain's most threatened wildlife. Wildwood Trust have taken part in many ground-breaking conservation programmes to date, which include, saving the water vole, using wild horses to help restore Kent's most precious nature reserves, bringing the extinct European beaver back to Britain and returning the hazel dormouse & red squirrel to areas where they have been made extinct.

Experience the bears close up and help support our work with them

One of Wildwood's wolves also finds the bear screen really fascinating...

Wildwood Trust Herne Common Herne Bay Kent CT6 7LQ Registered Charity No: 1093702 Wildwood Kent: 01227 712 111 Wildwood Devon: 01404 822 188 info@wildwoodtrust.org

LAST CHANCE to get your order in time for Christmas!

Adopt an animal today and help to protect and preserve British wildlife Adopt an animal today and help to protect and preserve British wildlife View in your browser

Are you looking for the perfect Christmas gift that keeps on giving?

Adopt today

Wildwood animal adoptions last for a whole year and are the perfect Christmas gift for animal lovers of all ages. You can choose from any of the resident animals at Wildwood and all of the money raised goes towards the cost of caring for our animals. We have various different levels of adoption available to suit all occasions and budgets. Our adoption packs start from £25 and include a photo, a one-day entrance ticket (not included in our digital download package), certificate of adoption, animal fact sheet and a personalised plaque which will be displayed at the enclosure of the adopted animal. All of our animal adoptions are available to download and print at home. See our website for full details.

Adopt today

Visit our secure online shop to see all of the animals available and to order an adoption pack. If you don't wish to order online, you can call us on 01227 712111, or speak to our shop staff when you next visit the park. To avoid disappointment, please make sure to order by Wednesday 18th December for delivery in time for Christmas (based on Royal Mail recommended mailing dates). Experience days, annual memberships, day entrance tickets and gift vouchers are also available to purchase in our shop, another great Christmas gift idea for those who would love something different! Options include photo days, animal experiences, guided tours and junior zookeepers.

Many of the animals at Wildwood are either extinct in the UK or under threat. The Wildwood Trust is working to protect Britain's most endangered wildlife and to reintroduce animals back into the British woodland. All proceeds from adoptions go directly towards protecting and preserving our native wildlife. If your chosen animal is not listed on our adoptions page, don't worry, it might just be hiding! Please give us a call on 01227 712111 or email us to discuss any of our adoption packages.

Find out more

Wildwood Trust | Copyright - © 2019 Herne Common Herne Bay Kent CT6 7LQ Registered Charity No: 1093702 Tel: 01227 712 111 adoptions@wildwoodtrust.org If you no longer wish to receive emails from us please follow this link