A wildlife park in Perthshire is gearing up for a busy summer after a recent ownership transition.
Auchingarrich Wildlife Park in Crieff first opened in 2009 and is home to more than 70 different species of animals, including ruffed necked lemurs and meerkats.
The wildlife park was recently acquired by London-based Star International Enterprises, managed by Rob Matthews. Since the takeover towards the end of April, the park has already welcomed growing numbers of visitors.
Over the coming months, the business has ambitions to transform the centre’s offering and initiate a series of wildlife conservation initiatives to develop the park and its surroundings.
To help boost animal numbers in Scotland, the business is engaging in conservation programmes in association with the Highland Wildlife Centre. These include conservation initiatives for lemurs, wild cats and other animals at the park.
In addition to this, the Auchingarrich team has plans to grow the number of beehives at the park from two to four and develop and expand the current animal closures to provide larger, natural habitats for the animals.
The new ownership team also plan to introduce new interactive learning facilities around the park, alongside an expansion of the park’s café into a licensed restaurant.
The business is therefore looking to recruit new staff, including a new zoo manager and chef.
Rob Matthews, director of Auchingarrich Wildlife Park, said: “We’ve had ambitions to acquire a wildlife park for many years and knew that Auchingarrich Wildlife Park would be a perfect opportunity to realise our ambitions because it is loved by the local community and has so much untapped potential.
“The recruitment drive and internal progression system will provide a huge boost for the local area,” he added.
Star International Entreprises’ acquisition of Auchingarrich Wildlife Park was assisted through a funding package from Bank of Scotland.
The 131-acre park was privately run by the Scott family for more than 10 years.
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