The Big cat experience – If you love cats you will love the big cat experience!
Whether you believe big cats should be kept in captivity or not, you cannot deny they are magnificent animals. It is a real experience to be able to see them close up. The enclosures at Blackpool zoo are large and the keepers are always looking at ways to enrich their lives. The cats seemed to be quite content.
We understand Alyona the Amur Tiger was part of an animal exchange program with less than 500 found in the Russian Far East and less than 5000 in the wild in total making her one of the rarest tigers.
Covid-19 Update
Unfortunately, there has been some change since Covid-19. The Zoo is now open but the big cat experience seems to have been removed from animal encounters options.
There are still a lot of other encounters available. We do hope this experience returns but in the meantime, we hope the other experiences continue to provide the zoo with additional income to support them during these difficult times.
Our big cat experience
Please note the majority of this review was written for an article on Tripadvisor in 2012. We have ported it over to our blog and added it to it.
Here goes…
We have just got back from our ‘big cat experience’ at Blackpool Zoo, booked as an experience for Hayley’s birthday. We were lucky enough to feed Alyona the tiger and Wallace the lion. Originally, we were actually only supposed to be feeding Alyona, Wallace was a surprise and a real treat.
Our YouTube video
We made a short video of the feeding experience, we hope you enjoy it…
A superb visit to Blackpool Zoo
To be honest, I did not have high expectations of the zoo and booked the experience there as it was relatively local to us. I tend to think of Blackpool as a whole as a little tacky. Perhaps Blackpool even markets itself in that way.
All we can really say is from start to finish the zoo was superb and anything but tacky.
We arrived at 8.45 and make our way to the reception. After our ‘forms’ were checked we entered the zoo with our guide. Unfortunately, I do not remember her name or the names of the other keepers but everyone was excellent.
The big cat area
We made our way down past the giant tortoises to the big cat’s area. We met the big cat keeper and went to the food preparation room where Hayley helped with the food preparation. It was a little gruesome, to be honest, but it was honest, that is what the big cats eat.
After the food was prepared, we then went to the tiger enclosure. We got to feed the zoos newest tiger, Alyona. Words cannot describe how good this was!
After feeding Alyona, there was still some food left so we made our way down to the lion enclosure and were lucky enough to be able to feed Wallace as well. We were only expecting to be able to feed Alyona!
More than just the big cat experience
We then went behind the scenes to the meercat exclosure, again something we had not expected. We got to feed the meercats. Perhaps a little bit of an anti-climax after the big cats, but just a bonus. The staff were just so friendly and accomodating.
After the experience had been completed, we returned to reception where a ‘goody bag’ was waiting. We were given full-day tickets to the zoo so we could visit the rest of the attractions.
Blackpool zoo itself
The zoo itself is a smaller zoo, but was spotless and was very well maintained.
We spent the rest of the morning looking around the zoo, we loved the giraffes and orangutans. We hope to return to feed the giraffes as that was another of the experiences on offer.
I would have no hesitation in recommending a visit to the zoo. If you get a chance for an animal experience then it is excellent, but it was a lovely smaller zoo to visit anyway.
If you are in Blackpool or the area the zoo is something that would be a shame to overlook.
A few photos from the day
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Link to Blackpool Zoo
Here is a link to the Blackpool Zoo website so you can see what is currently open. You can also check out their opening hours and exact location.
If you are reading this when covid-19 restrictions still apply you may also need to pre-book a ticket, again just check out their website for details.
Enjoy your day!