MP visits Kirkley Hall Zoological Gardens and officially opens new animal enclosures

Guy Opperman, Member of Parliament for Hexham Constituency, has visited Northumberland College's Kirkley Hall Zoological Gardens and officially opened a brand-new animal enclosure.

Guy was welcomed by zoo staff on Friday and enjoyed a tour of the zoo's newest enclosures and animals, concluding with officially opening the zoo's rainbow lorikeets enclosure, a species of parrot originally found in Australia.

During his visit, Guy received a tour of the zoo's new civet enclosure, home to Teemo the civet, a slender nocturnal carnivorous mammal with a barred and spotted coat, native to Africa and Asia.

Guy also visited the zoo's four new common squirrel monkeys, who arrived form Budapest Zoo last month.

Animal Resource Centre Manager at Kirkley Hall Zoological Gardens, Steven Sykes said: "We are thrilled to have had Guy Opperman officially open our brand-new Rainbow Lorikeet enclosure, which is one of the largest walk through enclosures in the UK.

"We are very proud of all our brand-new enclosure purpose built to suit enclosures here at Kirkley Hall Zoological Gardens. A lot of time and effort has been spent ensuring these are all to high standards for the new arrivals and are equipped with plenty of exciting interactive items to keep the animals stimulated and safe, such as indoor and outdoor swinging perches, interactive rope swings, suspended branches and naturalistic planting."

Guy Opperman has visited Kirkley Hall and its Zoological Gardens several times since the zoo opened in 2011, speaking with students and staff as well as the College's Principal, Marcus Clinton.

He said: "I was delighted to be asked to open Kirkley Hall's brand-new rainbow lorikeet enclosure, which will serve as a fantastic home for these beautiful birds. Kirkley Hall Zoological Gardens offer a great family day out, whilst doing important conservation work, and I thoroughly recommend a visit."