Concerning the recent events at South Lakes Wild Animal Park
It is not often I write a post such as this, in fact this is the first. Normally i would post photographs, time-lapse video or links to articles. But the recent tragic events at South lakes wild animal park and more so the disgusting responses left by individuals and gutter press has prompted me to write this.
I have visited the park on a number of occasions as a photographer over the past few years. As a self confessed animal hugger I have always looked at the welfare and condition of the animals first whenever I have visited these kind of establishments, as they are the best indicators of how good the establishment are at looking after the animals. The next thing i do is talk to the staff and gauge what and how they feel about what they are doing, whether it's just a job or if they have a real passion for what they are doing. Lastly I look at what the establishment is contributing in the larger scheme of things, or to be blunt, what conservation programs they have in place, or contributing too. South Lakes Wild Animal Park to my mind is the only park I have visited that has successfully ticked every box to my level of satisfaction.
All the animals at South Lakes Wild Animal Park are highly active and engaged. That is to say they all behave in the manner that I would expect to see if i saw them in the wild. That goes from the smallest creature to the largest. Its easy to see that all the animals in the park are happy and content. This only comes from being looked after in the CORRECT manner. A point a lot of other establishments could do well to learn from.
Talk to ANY of the keepers at the park, no matter which one you talk to they will tell you that the animals they look after (in their opinion) are the best in the park, and they tell you this with such conviction and enthusiasm that they leave no doubt as to the passion and dedication they have. Employing the right people for the right role is key to having contented animals, and again South Lakes Wild Animal Park excel at this.
Conservation. This is a biggie for me. Yes other establishments run conservation projects and I have seen many. But the conservation work done by South Lakes Wild Animal park is DIRECT. That is to say if they raise £1 for a project then that project gets £1, not £1 minus a 20% admin fee, not £1 minus a percentage to cover travel costs postal costs, any costs. They give the entire £1. For this, the park needs to be open. As stated by the owner David Gill some time ago, the yearly cost of opening the park is about £2million, this covers food, utilities, wages so on and so forth. Every penny that that the park earns beyond that goes into conservation. This make a huge difference on the global scheme of things. The sumatran tigers, the spectacled bears, the lemurs, the snow leopards, the jaguars the list goes on and on.
Through my photography I have had the pleasure of meeting and talking to a lot of these dedicated and passionate people, people who I personally admire, people who do more for conservation in a week than most people would achieve in a lifetime. They do it with a smile on their faces and passion in their hearts, regardless of whether it's helping settle in a new animal, feeding the animals or cleaning up the droppings to ensure the animals health and welfare is not compromised in anyway, and don't forget they do this EVERY day.
I only met and spoke to Sarah a couple of times. The last time she was trying to encourage Nina (the resident Amur Tigress) to go back to the animal house so that she could let the lions out in the enclosure. The way Sarah was laughing and joking about the difficulties of getting Nina to do anything Nina didn't want to do provided an insight to the love, passion and dedication that Sarah had for her role. The fact that Sarah succeeded in getting Nina showed me just how well Sarah knew Nina and conversely all the animals under her care. A bright, bubbly, passionate young woman, Sarah will be greatly missed by her family, friends and colleagues.
Nina (the resident Amur Tigress)
What really annoys me is this. If this had happened to anyone else, (and believe me when I say I wouldn't wish this on anybody) I have no doubt that Sarah would have been just as upset, just as angry and just as disgusted at some of the comments and accusations made by some "people" on Facebook and at the sensationalist mis-reporting by the gutter press. Also I have no doubt that like the rest of the staff chose, Sarah too would have chosen the park to open the next day, recognising the valuable conservation work that opening would continue to provide. To those that perpetrate the above I say this, YOU are dishonouring Sarah's memory, her work and her passion for conservation. You knew her less than I did, and I didn't know her at all, so you don't have the right to comment, accuse and mis-quote the way you have. Sarah's family, her friends, David Gill and all the staff at South Lakes Wild Animal Park are already distraught over this tragedy and what you are doing is only making it worse. You can claim it's to make sure it can never happen again, but you are fooling no-one, simply put you are doing it for your own selfish reasons be it for money (papers, media ect) or because you feel small and inadequate in your own life and need to be the centre of attention. So I ask, politely and respectfully to stop. If you are a paper or media publisher, please don't sensationalise the resultant news (i.e. the investigation outcome) in Sarah's memory just report the facts.
My condolences to Sarah's family, her partner and her friends and colleagues.
Rest in Peace.
Andrew Stephenson
AWSPhotography
