Pre-Christmas treat for 400 animals at Christchurch's Orana Wildlife Park

Tuesday, 24 December 2019

Orana Wildlife Park in Christchurch has celebrated its ninth annual Christmas-themed fun day for its animals.

A blood ice block is not most people's idea of a great Christmas present.

But for lions Meeka and Mambila, it was the perfect treat on a hot afternoon at at Christchurch's Orana Park.

All of the park's more than 400 animals were given a Christmas Eve gift – a tradition the zoo has been running for nine years.

One of Orana Wildlife Park's lions rips into a Christmas snack.

For visitors, it was a chance to see a different side of the animals as they unwrapped their presents.

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Christmas has gone to the apes at Orana Park.

For orangutans Charlie, Melur and Wanita, it will be their last Christmas at Orana.

The trio has been in Christchurch for two years while a new enclosure was built at their home, Auckland Zoo. They will be transferred back to the custom-built facility in mid-January.

Exotic mammal keeper Sam Gordon says the orangutans play almost constantly.

When the presents came out, the intelligent apes were quick to swing into action and unwrap the tasty treats.

Exotic mammal keeper Sam Gordon said it had been incredibly special to have the country's only orangutans stay at the park, alongside New Zealand's only gorillas.

'They get a little bit of a bad rap, especially in captivity, that they look a bit sad all the time – but it's just their face.

'They play almost constantly, they love finding absolutely anything to play with.'

The orangutans and gorillas were chowing down on treats of broccoli and popcorn for Christmas.

Gordon said it would be bittersweet to see the orangutans go, but it would be great to see them in their custom enclosure.

'It's going to be very quiet around here without them.'

He said the keepers wanted to give the animals as fun of a time as possible, with lots of presents and Christmas-themed toys.

Gordon said a lot of the animals at the park were not doing so well in the wild and it was a great chance for people to connect with the animals, learn about how they are doing in the wild, and maybe take some action.

Some animals were enjoying their first Christmas at the park. Tostada, the 23-year-old spider monkey, transferred from Hamilton Zoo in November, while 20-month-old giraffe Kamili arrived from Perth Zoo in early December.