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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Entertainment
Phoebe Barton

27 life size 'brick' animals including tiger and gorilla to see at Knowsley Safari

Knowsley Safari will be home to 27 life size animals made out of tiny bricks this summer.

The BRICKLIVE trail is the third to be installed at the Merseyside safari over the last few years and aims to educate visitors about endangered species. All 27 of the life-sized brick animals feature on the Red List of Threatened Species, published by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The brick models, which include a Bengal tiger, giant panda and gorilla, can be found within Knowsley Safari ’s Foot Safari, standing amongst the real giraffes, meerkats, Amur tigers and bush dogs. Brick builders spent more than 5,000 hours creating the 27 model animals, totalling 211 days and using over 1.1 million bricks.

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Along the way, guests will be able to meet Bryn, a 7-foot-tall model Bengal tiger, which took a team of three builders over 390 hours to create and is made from more than 81,000 bricks. Oscar the Orangutan also stands proudly along the brick trail. He’s been made by four modelmakers who spent 180 hours creating him from 50,000 individual bricks.

The trail aims to educate visitors about endangered species. (PA/Peter Byrne)

Each model animal will have an educational information board sharing fun and interesting facts about each endangered species. It will also inform visitors about the animal’s level of threat, according to the IUCN’s Red List categorisation (vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered).

Rachel Scott, Head of Marketing, Knowsley Safari, said: “We’re absolutely thrilled to welcome back BRICKLIVE. These displays have been hugely popular with our visitors in the past and this summer’s installation, our third, is set to be even more popular. Not to mention, more important.

“Our focus, this time, on Endangered Species perfectly aligns with the global and national conservation programmes that Knowsley Safari supports, and we know that our visitors are also really interested and passionate about them.

A total of 1.1 million bricks have been used to create the 27 animals. (PA/Peter Byrne)

“The amazing high-profile work undertaken by Sir David Attenborough – and many others – has brought conservation and how we can protect our planet to the masses, which is incredible. Now, activities such as our brick models can bring their plight event closer to home. It will enable visitors to Knowsley Safari to see them up close, learn a bit about them and appreciate the progress being made to protect them – as part of a fabulously fun family day out.”

Christina Anthony, from model builders BRICKLIVE, said: “At BRICKLIVE we’re focused on creating an environment that encourages interactive play, fosters creativity, collaboration and physical experiences.

“By combining all of these fun factors with such an important and interesting design theme as endangered species, is a really powerful, enjoyable and engaging way to convey the importance of conservation to all ages.”

The Endangered Species BRICKLIVE event at Knowsley Safari opens at 10am on Saturday, July 9, and runs until Sunday, September 4, 2022. You must book tickets for the Safari Park online here ahead of your visit.

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