Cotswold Wildlife Park celebrates the birth of its eighth White Rhino
Molly is the newest addition to the Rhino family at Cotswold Wildlife Park & Gardens.
She is the eighth Rhino calf to be born at the Burford collection and is Monty and Ruby’s fourth breeding success together. Her birth is testament to the dedication of the mammal keepers and the Park’s commitment to the European Breeding Programme (EEP).
Head Keeper Mark Godwin, who has worked at the Park for 31 years, had the honour of naming the youngster. Mark has looked after the ever-growing 'crash' of Rhinos for the last 13 years and this is the first Rhino calf he has named. She has been called Molly after Mark's four-year-old daughter. Mark's family live on-site at Cotswold Wildlife Park and Molly, along with her five-year-old brother Henry, have grown up at the wildlife park and regularly visit the Rhinos. During lockdown when the Park was temporarily closed to the public, they even lent their dad a helping hand by mucking out the Rhinos and Camels.
Cotswold Wildlife Park is committed to Rhino conservation and works closely with the UK based conservation charity Tusk Trust to protect Africa’s many threatened species. The effects of the coronavirus pandemic have had a devastating impact on Rhino conservation and poaching has once again escalated to serious levels. Reggie Heyworth, the Park’s Managing Director and a Tusk Trust Ambassador, explains: “Conservation programmes throughout Africa’s wildlife areas and national parks often depend on income from tourism and support from charities such as Tusk Trust. With so few tourists visiting Africa, it is all the more important for us to support the work of Tusk Trust, who fund over forty programmes throughout sub-Saharan Africa, including vital work to protect rhinos and elephants from poachers”.
Cotswold Wildlife Park, near Burford, is open from 10am every day (except Christmas Day).
Explore Gloucestershire
4 October 2021
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