Due to the extreme weather in 2012 with non stop rain all year, we experienced a huge landslide within the park. This happened during the night of the 22nd Dec, luckily no people or animals were hurt. 

Mission statement:

“Preserving the past and future through education and entertainment”

We aim to provide learning and aid conservation in a variety of ways here at the park. Below you can find information on the various ways we achieve this and find out more about our educational facilities. At the bottom of the page you can find information on school visits and classroom based activities such as lessons, worksheets and handling sessions along with information on how to go about arranging an educational, group visit to the park and our current price list. There is also information for research students and those interested in studying our animals for other subjects such as art and literature.

Signage

We have already improved education around the park through new signage that aims to teach visitors more about the animals we have and their life in the wild, as well as giving information on their conservation status.

Talk and Presentation programme

Our existing daily talk and presentation programme has been expanded and improved, all of which aim to be interesting, educational and conservation based. We aim for every visitor to go away having learned something new about one of the amazing animals we share our planet with, along with having the opportunity to have up close, inspiring experiences with our animals. Please go to the ‘information’ tab and select ‘free shows, talks and encounters’ to see our daily timetable of events (subject to change and bad weather).

Conservation campaigns

We also support EAZA (European Association of Zoos and Aquariums) and BIAZA’s (British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums) conservation campaigns through fund raising, educational signage and mini conservation talks at the end of other presentations. From 2012 we have supported the EAZA Southeast Asia Campaign. During the 2012 open season we raised over £2000 towards the Southeast Asia campaigns vital projects and raised visitor awareness of Southeast Asias amazing biodiversity, the problems it faces and the conservation that needs to be done.

http://www.southeastasiacampaign.org/

Our falconry section exclusively supports and fund raises for The Barn Owl Trust and has educational and informative signage around the section as well as further information in our daily owl presentation. During the 2012 open season we raised over £300 for this local Devon charity that protect and conserve our British barn owls and their natural habitat.

http://www.barnowltrust.org.uk/

From the 2013 open season onwards our sea lion and penguin section is supporting SANCCOB (the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds). They are at the forefront of conserving the African Penguin which is a cause very close to our hearts as we have a group of ten African Penguins here at the park. They also help to protect and rescue other sea birds. They do vital research into bird diseases and are the international leader in helping oiled birds plus much, much more!

http://www.sanccob.co.za/home.html

Natural areas and habitats

To help conserve the natural beauty of the park we have left several areas completely natural and untouched. This provides great natural habitats for many native species such as woodpeckers and wagtails along with the extra help provided through the large amount of nest boxes we have fitted around the park. Keep an eye out for wild, native species during your visit.

Outreach’ programme

Our ‘Outreach’ programme involves us taking a variety of handleable animals out on educational visits to other establishments with talks and question and answer sessions. For the last few years we have provided a weekly outreach programme at Golden Coasts holiday park in Woolacombe and at John Fowlers holiday park in Ilfracombe. We also attend a variety of events, such as the Birdman festival in Ilfracombe. To talk to us about arranging an educational outreach at your establishment, school or event please phone us to discuss your requirements.

Dinosaurs

Here at the park we feel we feel we are unique in the fact we can educate about the past as well as the present! This is all thanks to our lifelike, animatronic dinosaur enclosure and ‘dinosaur domain’ featuring static dinosaurs in a natural forest environment. It can give the old and young a-like a glimpse at what living dinosaurs may have looked like. Our animatronic dinosaurs ‘come alive’ on the hour every hour along with an educational talk. We also have a small dinosaur museum with a small cinema giving further information about dinosaurs and their time on our planet. As dinosaurs are now extinct, we feel it really outlines why it is so important to protect and conserve the animals we still share our planet with so they don’t suffer the same fate as the dinosaurs.

You can now find us on facebook! Please ‘like’ and ‘subscribe’ to us on www.facebook.com/wildlifedinosaurpark

Follow the park and its updates along with regular photos and information on special offers. We are also running a facebook giveaway for a free family ticket once we reach 500 likes. To be in with a chance of winning simply ‘like’ our page by clicking the like button, then share our page publicly on your own profile. Once you have done so simple write a post saying ‘done!’ on our 500 likes giveaway post and we’ll check your entry and enter you into the draw.

We are also now on twitter if this is your preferred social network https://twitter.com/CMWDP

Did you see us on the One Show on the 25th May on BBC One? The One Show team came down to film at the park that week after picking up the story of Sambava who was in several national newspapers the previous week. Sambava, our gorgeous, now famous, Ring-tailed Lemur who is free roaming in the park decided to have a little adventure one evening, he went across fields and woodland and ended up in Berrynarbor, a little village 3 miles away. Imagine the surprise of the family in the morning who saw him in their garden. They phoned us, and we picked him up safe and sound and escorted him back to the park. The family took some fantastic photos of him, this one included of Sambava enjoying the fantastic view.