Ten Penguins are re-homed!

Today was the day that Adrian, Senior Keeper from Wingham Wildlife Park, collected ten Humboldt Penguins previously bred here at the park, to be re-homed at the wildlife park situated in Kent.

The Penguins chosen to be re-homed at Wingham Wildlife Park were carefully selected by Head Keeper Craig, with an equal ratio of male and females including a couple of newly paired up penguins in the hope that they will eventually breed.

Before the penguins could be boxed up however, it was important that we ensured that the correct penguins were chosen and that Adrian didn’t accidently slip our well loved Dippy in the back of the van! Luckily each Penguin has its very own micro-chip id which can be detected using a high tech micro-chip scanner making it a quick and effective method to identify individuals.

Once we said our goodbyes each penguin was placed in a spacious, comfy and secure box ready for the journey to their new home….

We will keep you posted on how they all settle in!

Quotes of the week from our Visitors Book

" Wow! What a great time - we fed & stroked nearly everything we could. Brilliant!! Louise & Lee, Eastbourne.

" Beautiful place! Really relaxing, animals all look happy and healthy!" Kev & Beck, Bideford, N. Devon

" Great place second visit!" Julie, Andrew, Matthew, Leeds

" 2nd visit for all of us - just had to come back" Elizabeth & David, Newbury

" Great landscaping, friendly staff - the best Wildlife Park - especially feeding the animals! " Rosemary, Enfield."

" Back again - 26th year of visiting and still returning!" Catherine, IOW

RE-HOMING OF TEN HUMBOLDT PENGUINS TO WINGHAM WILDLIFE PARK

We are proud to be one of the most successful breeders of Humboldt Penguins in Europe. Since we introduced Humboldt Penguins to our Collection in 1997 we have been involved in an international breeding programme resulting in our supplying a number of European wildlife parks and zoos. Moving healthy stock though to other Collections ensures ongoing genetic diversity and strengthens captive bloodlines.

Next week we’re pleased to be re-homing ten of our Penguins to Wingham Wildlife Park, Kent. As Wingham haven’t had Humboldt Penguin’s in their Collection before (and apparently there are currently no others in the county of Kent), one of their senior Keepers is due to spend a day with us prior to the birds’ departure – to be ‘shown the ropes’ in terms of their husbandry and care. We look forward to welcoming the Wingham representative/s to Seaview Wildlife and trust that they will enjoy their new charges as much as we always have.

Here is a small collage with just a few of our special Humboldt Penguin moments over the last few months:

VISIT – VIDEOGRAPHER FROM TSE BEAUTIFUL SOUTH AWARDS

 

We were very pleased to welcome Lee today from The Tourism Network – whose remit was to shoot a video of the Park ready to present at the Beautiful South award ceremony on 21st October – Gala dinner.  Last year we were proud to win the Silver Award in the category ‘Best Visitor Attraction in the south east of England’.  This year we’ve entered the same category and are extremely excited at having been shortlisted once again! 

We walked around the Park together and fortunately the weather brightened with every moment!  Lee had planned to spend an hour on the shoot but ended up spending nearly three and a half hours with us!  It was great fun!  Lee said he has taken videos at hundreds of wildlife parks and tourist attractions and, in his opinion rates Seaview Wildlife Encounter up there with the very best!  Thanks Lee – and we look forward to seeing you again at the gala awards dinner on the 21st!

I took a few photos as we went – as a memento of the day!

 

We started off at the Penguin Pool – the image on the right shows Lee with his video camera rolling ….

The image on the left is our Darling Dippy having a waddle around with two lovely youngsters who kindly obliged us with some photos this morning!  Left of the image is Lily, then Mum Jane, and on the right is Zach (Zach’s Mum, Melissa is just out of view!)  It goes without saying that Dippy enjoyed being the centre of attention and is seen here stretching his flippers out in a typical relaxed pose for the camera!

 

 

 

On the left: Lily and Zach get even closer to Dippy.

 

On the right: young Zach took a real shine to one of the Albino Wallabies youngsters!

 

 

 

 

Left: Fern, one of our Animal Care Team, was great with the kids and allowed Zach to really indulge his interest in the gentle Wallaby mob!

 

Right: Fern holds Mr Fluffy for the rather handsome Zach

 

 

 

 

 

Zach (left) was completely enthralled by the Wallabies!

 

 

Lily (right) took the opportunity to skip and jump around with one of the larger Wallabies!

 

 

 

 

 

Below: Lee and Boris the Moluccan Cockatoo eyeing each other out !!

 

 

 

Above: Mums and kids feeding the wildfowl down at the lower lake.

 

 

 

 

 

Left: Damian is one of a pair of Green-Crested Touracos that free-fly in our Tropical House.  He’s inquisitive, cheeky and very forward!  Lee took some footage of Damian on my head and I captured a couple of shots of Damian checking out Lee’s video equipment!

WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR COMPETITION 2010 – still time to enter!

We’ve had the highest number of top quality entries ever into this year’s photographic competition – in the region of 65 entries so far! Thank you to all who have taken the time to forward such a wonderful selection of images …… and for anyone who hasn’t yet done so – there’s still time - entries close on 31st October!

If you’ve visited Seaview Wildlife Encounter and have taken any photos you’d like to share with us, why not give the competition a try? Please see the Competitions and Quizzes page on our website (http://www.seaviewwildlife.com/competitions.htm) for further information on how to enter!

Here are just a sample of some of the entries:-

CREDITS FOR THESE PHOTOS GO TO:

C Abbott – girl with Wallaby

Gemma Bohn – Goslings

Samantha Cantelo – Golden Carp and Caribbean Flamingo

Alexandra Chambers – Pelican with mouth open (earlier image above)

K Dance – Penguin with beak open

Marian Wade – Pelican with mouth open (immediately above)

Maureen Snell – Male Crowned Crane head and Pelicans preening

Alisha Dann (under 16) – Duck flapping wings

Sue Elliott – Green Crested Touraco head

S Else – Otter playing with stone

Rory Neighbour – Lesser Flamingo

G Simkins – Rooster

C Speight – Golden Breasted Starling

P Stone – Swan and boat

Matthew Woods (under 16) – Meerkat

Pro-active healthcare veterinary visits

 

Dr Ian Green from Green and Foster Veterinary Surgeons in Newport has been our Park vet for a number of years now.  As part of our pro-active healthcare programme, Dr Green visits the Park on a regular, scheduled basis to discuss a broad range of livestock-related issues and to spend time doing a  ‘round of check-ups’.   Notes are taken on each occasion and records kept.  I’ve included a few photographs as a reminder of this latest visit::

 

First port of call was ‘Pets Corner’ where the rabbits were vaccinated against Myxomatosis.  Dr Green confirmed that all rabbits were ‘fighting fit’ (quite literally actually – one of our young males has been quite feisty recently so has gone in for neutering in the hope he’ll be more amicable!)

One of our ferrets (Nelson) has lost a lot of his hair again (this has been a recurring phenomenon that Dr Green believes is as a result of Cushings disease, apparently quite commonly found in ferrets) – so Nelson’s medication has been boosted for a few weeks to see if he grows his coat back.  Fortunately the two ‘boys’ have a number of warm places to nest within their enclosure so the thin coat isn’t too much of a worry!

 

 

Second check-point was the Otter enclosure.  One of our Otters has had an eye infection so our vet was keen to see the current status.  Fortunately the eye is looking a lot better (we persuaded the little ‘fellas’ up to the fence with a tasty treat so that Dr Green could get a close-up view!)

 

 

 

 

Then, as per the Blog that Tara entered this Saturday, Dr Green checked the ‘madness of the matriarchal Meerkats’ – to make sure the young females vying for the Alpha role aren’t doing each other any serious damage in the process!  Fortunately their scraps seem only to be causing surface wounds.

 

 

 

 

 

Next check-up was the female Crowned Crane who has developed a slight limp over the past couple of weeks.  Dr Green found evidence of some fluid in the stifle joint and has prescribed medication accordingly.

 

 

 

We have an Emperor Goose with a long-term limp and hoped that Dr Green could gauge whether she is likely to be in pain and if so whether she requires ongoing medication.  Fortunately Dr Green’s diagnosis is that the limp is as a result of the leg not being able to straighten completely rather than as a result of ‘favouring’ the leg because of discomfort (the limp has previously not improved with painkillers).  Therefore we’ll release her back into the main area of the Park and monitor her once she’s back amongst the other wildfowl.

 

 

 

Ned, our male Bearded Dragon, was suspected as having a slight mouth infection -  Dr Green took a closer look and we’re going to swab his lower jaw with an antiseptic treatment for a few days just to be sure.

 

 

 

 

 

One of the Penguins has a small red mark next to his eye.  Dr Green isn’t too concerned about it (it’s apparently similar to a sty on a human eyelid).  The Animal Care Team will be applying a topical eye cream for a few days to help the healing process.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last but not least, Dr Green  had a look (from a distance) at one of the White Faced Whistling Ducks in the Lesser Flamingo enclosure who has recently developed a slight limp.  It’s difficult to ‘catch-up’ the ducks without unsettling the Flamingos so we’ve decided to monitor the duck’s progress from afar over the next few days before we take the step of disrupting the peaceful setting! 

Sisterly love?

If you remember at the beginning of the season we had two lovely young ladies join the gang of male Meerkats here at Seaview. As you can imagine the young sisters caused quite a stir on their arrival but all the same the introduction to our long awaiting males couldn’t have gone better and by the evening they were all snuggled up together!

However, now the two females are growing up and getting a little feisty, the battle is on to determine the position of Alpha female - only one of the females will be lucky enough to pair up with the Alpha male and produce pups.

Therefore over the last few weeks the sisters have been at each others throats and unfortunately the smallest of the two always seems to come off worse, which gives us a clue to who rules the roost! Although the wounds always appear to be worse then they actually are, after a visit from our vet we were advised to medicate the young female with a course of antibiotics to prevent any infection developing in the wound.

Dr Green also pointed out that the fighting could in fact occur at the same time as the dominant female being on heat, in which case we may find that next season we hear the pitter patter of tiny feet!