The Yorkshire Wildlife Park situated on the outskirts of Doncaster was opened in April 2009. 

This forward thinking Wildlife Park is always changing and developing. It is home to the Yorkshire Wildlife Park Foundation which was founded in 2013 and aims to make the world a better place for wild animals by promoting the conservation and welfare of endangered animals, both in the wild as well as in captivity. The foundation works with many organisations overseas and across the uk. It also supports education and research projects aiming to inform and inspire people to support conservation and animal welfare. 

In keeping with the ethos of conservation and animal welfare in February 2010, the park rescued 13 lions from a Romanian zoo and, after their quarantine period, released them into the newly built 10-acre ‘Lion Country’ enclosure. This was a huge project with considerable help from local businesses and enterprise which put the park firmly on the map for animal welfare. Display boards around the ‘Lion Park’ gives an interesting and informative update on the work the park is doing to look after these beautiful animals.

In 2011, the zoo opened ‘Land of the Tigers’, one of the largest Tiger enclosures in Europe, which contains two pools and a waterfall and was created next to a wetland reserve. There is an excellent viewing area which consists of a 150-metre long raised walkway, with the tiger enclosure on one side and the wetlands on the other. Regular daily talks by the rangers and staff provide interesting and informative information about the endangered Amur Tigers which are part of the European Breeding Programme, their story is all about the conservation of this endangered species and the threats they face.

In March 2012, the park opened ‘Leopard Heights’ which is the largest Amur leopard facility in Europe. Designed as a purpose built breeding and reintroduction facility, it won the BIAZA (British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums) award for Significant Advances in Husbandry and Welfare. The Amur Leopard is the only big cat with a reintroduction programme approved by the IUCN and all the Amur Leopards in zoos and parks worldwide are being bred in a programme towards this reintroduction. It is hoped that one day soon, Drake and Freya’s cubs will play an important role in this project. The open-topped enclosure lets you view the leopards from an 8-metre viewing tower or from ground level through a 10-metre long glass wall. 

In July 2014, the park opened a large 10 acre enclosure for polar bears, named ‘Project Polar’ featuring several lakes.  Today the reserve is home to four polar bears, Victor, the oldest bear arrived at YWP in August 2014, now retired from the European breeding programme after siring 10 cubs, his grandson Pixel who arrived at the park  March 2015 from Holland, Nissan who arrived all the way from Moscow in October and YWP’s latest arrival, Nobby who arrived from Munich on the 18th of February. The 8 metre deep lake is fantastic for Victor, Pixel, Nissan and Nobby to swim, dive and play in and features an island that you will frequently see the bears launch themselves off into the water.

The Polar Bear enclosure was built to reflect the habitat of the summer Arctic tundra. The polar bear population of South Hudson Bay spend up to 7 months of the year on habitat like this – and not snow and ice! The temperatures in summer can reach up to 26 degrees C. So these bears are quite at home in this environment.

The Park is sectioned into different regions of the world to reflect the animals on the Park including ‘South American Viva’ , The Safari Village, Lemur Woods and the Wallaby Walkabout. 

In August 2018 the YWP re homed four endangered Ussuri Brown Bears from Japan. The preparatory work in arranging this re homing project was quite remarkable and similarly to that of the Lions these Brown Bears are now enjoying and getting used to their new environment. The bears will be the first residents in a new Rehabilitation Centre built at YWP.  They will initially be in the 2.5 acre specialist reserve at the Park which has been designed for short to mid-term housing of carnivores who have been rescued or rehomed before developing a species specific long term home at YWP.  Again with the help and support of local businesses and enterprise these bears can enjoy a safe and secure future at the Park.

These are just a brief overview of some of the major projects which have taken place at the Wildlife Park since its fruition in 2009. 

There are daily talks and demonstrations throughout the year by the staff and rangers. For more details and to plan your visit visit www.yorkshirewildlifepark.com