Zoo news – June 2025

June has been a busy month for the zoo with lots of work going on behind the scenes. Read below to find out more!

Primary School Packages

Our Primary School tours have been well underway, lots of little ones experienced guided tours of our zoo. These tours provided by our Discovery & Learning team are educational, engaging and exciting as the children learned about the weird and wonderful. Getting to see some of their favourite animals and ask questions, educating and see the delight on their faces, it’s the best part of science communication!

Have you booked a school tour with us? If not you can contact us about the next season to learn more, we hope to see you here!

Manchurian & Freya update

The cat is out of the bag, we recently announced the arrival of Manchurian our male Amur leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis). His arrival is a most welcome one as himself and Freya are part of a breeding programme known as an European Ex-Situ Programme (EEP). We’ve been slowly introducing them to each other through the enclosure, and so far everything is looking positive!

Amur leopards are the most endangered big cat, with less than 120 individuals in the wild we are honoured to have Manchurian and Freya here with us. Threats in the wild include habitat loss and fragmentation, humans poaching their prey, as well as poaching of the leopards themselves. The fragmentation of their habitat prevents wild individuals encountering many individuals which is leading to a reduction of genetic diversity, this is why it is vital to maintain high genetic diversity in captive specimens to ensure healthy individuals can be released into the wild.

If you haven’t seen them yet be sure to come to the zoo and spot our leopards!

Emerald Park Represents at Major European Zoo Event

Emerald Park Zoo recently featured at a landmark event in the European zoo world — the first-ever Animal Training Seminar hosted by the EAZA Academy at ZSL London Zoo.

The seminar focused on science-based training techniques that ensure compassion and assent from all the animals — empowering them to take part in their own care, such as stepping onto scales or showing a paw for inspection. Zookeepers, trainers, and behaviour experts from across Europe and the US gathered to share ideas, case studies, and hands-on examples.

Zookeeper Rebecca Tull and Deputy Zoo Manager Mónica Haroun Izquierdo presented the great work the zookeepers in Emerald Park are doing, showcasing real-life training stories from Emerald Park Zoo, offering grounded, everyday examples of how animal training is applied in practice. This helped attendees connect the theory to real-world situations and made the scientific content easier to digest. Mónica also supported the coordination of the event, as part of the EAZA Animal Training Working Group committee. Their combined presentation was a proud moment for both Emerald Park and the wider Irish zoo community.

Kevin Smith Blog on BIAZA

It’s Pride Month and Kevin from our Discovery and Learning team has written a fantastic piece on his experiences. Follow the link below

Blog: From Silence to Voice – Growing up Gay in 1980s and 90s Ireland | BIAZA

https://biaza.org.uk/news/detail/blog-from-silence-to-voice-growing-up-gay-in-1980s-and-90s-ireland

Pride Weekend

The last weekend of June the Zoo celebrated Pride, an event that celebrates and highlights the importance of diversity and inclusivity. The Zoo team made up Pride-themed enrichments which were a delight to watch the animals interact with. The Discovery & Learning ran themed games and educational content, such as a rainbow trail where guests explored the zoo with an activity sheet and had to find brightly coloured animals. The D&L team also made rainbow stripes which guests could write their names or messages on and stuck them to our life-sized tiger silhouette! All of this activity within the zoo spread awareness of different types of families and lifestyles found in the animal kingdom. Talks throughout the park highlighted the variety of relationships animals can have. We know ecosystems with a high biodiversity is a healthy one, and a diverse community is one that thrives!

Rabbit awareness week

The park was hopping from the 23^rd-27^th of June as it was Rabbit Awareness Week! We highlighted various things such as the domestication of rabbits, their ecology and behaviour and husbandry requirements. Here in Emerald Park we have a variety of rabbits, from the huge continental giants which are among the largest rabbit breeds to more smaller breeds like the lionheads. Our activity table discussed good husbandry practices which food is better and what to avoid, as well as space requirements and how rabbits are also very social animals. We also had a daily rabbit talk where guests could learn more and asked questions about these fascinating yet often overlooked creatures!

Thanks for reading. Check back next month for more zoo updates!

The Emerald Park Zoo Team