Hampshire's Marwell Zoo ‘can’t wait’ to welcome back visitors for Christmas

To help families get into the Christmas spirit the zoo’s Marwell Hall has been decorated with festive illuminations including a fairytale princess carriage and Santa’s sleigh with flying reindeer.

As visitors make there way round the wildlife park there are plenty of fun festive competitions for all the family to enjoy as well as a giant postbox to send letters to Father Christmas.

While visitors have not been able to visit since the start of lockdown the zoo has still faced the financial costs of looking after the animals. Marwell's chief executive, James Cretney, has urged families to visit the zoo to help support the costs of vital conservation work.

He said: ‘Even when the zoo is closed, our daily costs remain incredibly high as the responsibility of looking after our animals to the highest standard does not change, so we are of course delighted that we can reopen next week.‘We’re undoubtedly facing our toughest challenge in our nearly 50 year history. Since March we’ve lost more than £4m in revenue due to the pandemic and each month it costs us more than £220,000 just to care for our resident animals.

‘We are a charity and our wider conservation work, both here in the UK and overseas also needs to continue. Many people and projects depend upon us.’

SEE ALSO: Say hello to Marwell Zoo's cute new arrivals

Tickets for the first few days of opening (December 2 to 4) will go on sale on Monday November 30.

James added: ‘The best way to support us is to come and visit us this winter. The zoo just isn’t the same without the buzz of families making memories together and we can’t wait to welcome everyone soon.’

Over the winter months the park has also introduced its supersized initiative with giant toy brick creations of creatures including a towering three-metre tarantula and colourful kingfisher.

The 140 acre park is home to hundreds of endangered animals such as curious meerkats, stunning snow leopards, towering Rothschild’s giraffe and magnificent rhinos.

Tickets for the park must be booked in advance via the zoo’s website.

You can support Marwell’s conservation work by donating via their JustGiving page which has raised more than £70,000.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

You can subscribe here for unlimited access to Portsmouth news online - as well as fewer adverts, access to our digital edition and mobile app.

For Black Friday we’ve slashed the cost of a new subscription by 30 per cent - so you can get unlimited access to our coverage for as little as £1.40 a month.