Elephant Day at Noah's Ark Zoo Farm
24th Jul 2014
Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm will be joining campaigners around the world to fight for greater conservation of elephants. World Elephant Day takes place on Tuesday, August 12 and seeks to educate people about elephant conservation, both in the wild and in captivity. Launched two years ago, the event focuses attention on the urgent plight of both African elephants, like Buta at Noah’s Ark, and Asian elephants.
These iconic animals are synonymous with the wild and feature across popular culture. But we’re running out of time to save these species, who are living life truly on the brink. Elephant populations are facing numerous threats, most of which come from humans. Poaching, habitat loss and global conflicts are just some of the threats to both African and Asian elephants. Much greater resources are needed to offer true protection for wild populations and more effective enforcement against the illegal ivory trade which maintains the levels of poaching.
We set up Elephant Eden to offer something new in elephant management in captivity. The idea is to offer elephants already living in captivity greater freedom, space and comfort replicating their natural surroundings. The £2 million project got off its feet last year and our first elephant, Buta, moved in. The former Liverpool resident has settled in a treat, enjoying the soft sand yards, large grass fields, splash pool and wallowing mud, hot showers and raised feeding nets to encourage stretching and foraging.
World Elephant Day also asks people to experience these mighty creatures in non-exploitative and sustainable environments – just like our 20 acre enriched elephant environment at Noah’s Ark. On World Elephant Day it is going to be all about Buta and her fellow elephants. We’re currently editing a special film about Buta and her new life at Noah’s Ark, including behind-the-scenes insights from her keepers. The first screening of the film will take place on Elephant Day at 12.30pm in the Elephant House – where visitors will also have the chance to meet the keepers. There will be a stand running with all kinds of elephant-themed things on offer – from a footprint of Buta on canvas through to elephant memorabilia and our elephant adoptions.
Our animal adoptions are popular gifts and include a ticket to come to Noah’s Ark and visit your chosen adoptee! We’ll also be launching our first ever Elephant Keeper Experience, in line with our popular existing experiences, so watch this space! Visitors can also enter a competition guessing how much Buta weighs in kg. We’ll weigh her at the end of the day and see who guessed the closest!
In the run-up to World Elephant Day, we’ll be running a competition on Facebook for children aged four to 16-years-old. They can win the chance to put up some enrichment activities for Buta to explore as part of a free day at the zoo. Once of these tasks will be to make a browse branch for her, and the other will be to hide treats in the sand for her. Make sure you like our Noah’s Ark Facebook page to keep up to date on this and future competitions.
You can book your tickets for Elephant Day online ahead of time - and you’ll also receive 5% off your entrance price.
For more information please visit the Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm website or call 01275 852606.
