Howletts Wild Animal Park (formerly known as Howletts Zoo) in the parish of Bekesbourne,Edward Hasted, 'Parishes: Bekesborne', in The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Volume 9 (Canterbury, 1800), pp. 266-27

/ref> near

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, was established as a private

zoo A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility where animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for conservation purposes. The term ''zoological garden'' refers to zoology, ...

in 1957 by John Aspinall. In 1962, the House known as Howletts was being restored. A small cottage was inhabited by an employee. The animal collection was opened to the public in 1975. To give more room for the animals another estate at Port Lympne near

Hythe Hythe, from Anglo-Saxon ''hȳð'', may refer to a landing-place, port or haven, either as an element in a toponym, such as Rotherhithe in London, or to: Places Australia * Hythe, Tasmania Canada *Hythe, Alberta, a hamlet in Canada England *The ...

was purchased in 1973, and opened to the public as

Port Lympne Zoo Port Lympne Hotel & Reserve near the town of Hythe, Kent, England is set in and incorporates the historic Port Lympne Mansion, and landscaped gardens designed by architect Sir Herbert Baker, for Sir Philip Sassoon. The estate with an Edward ...

in 1976. The collection is known for being unorthodox, for the encouragement of close personal relationships between staff and animals, and for the breeding of rare and endangered species.

Steve Irwin Stephen Robert Irwin (22 February 19624 September 2006), known as "the Crocodile Hunter", was an Australian zookeeper, Conservation movement, conservationist, television personality, wildlife educator, and environmentalist. Irwin grew up ar ...

visited the park in 2004 and described the zoo's gorillas as "the finest in the world". Since 1984, both parks have been owned by the John Aspinall Foundation, a charity. Following his death, John Aspinall was buried in front of the Howletts House and a memorial was built next to the grave near the

bison A bison (: bison) is a large bovine in the genus ''Bison'' (from Greek, meaning 'wild ox') within the tribe Bovini. Two extant taxon, extant and numerous extinction, extinct species are recognised. Of the two surviving species, the American ...

. A later extension to Howletts was an open-topped enclosure for black and white colobus, just behind the entrance.

Animal collection

The park has some of the largest family groups of

western lowland gorilla The western lowland gorilla (''Gorilla gorilla gorilla'') is one of two Critically Endangered subspecies of the western gorilla (''Gorilla gorilla'') that lives in Montane ecosystems#Montane forests, montane, Old-growth forest, primary and sec ...

s in the world. It is also home to the largest breeding herd of African elephants in the United Kingdom and has one of the largest breeding groups of lion-tailed macaques in the world.

Charity events

The charity that runs Howletts and

Port Lympne Wild Animal Park Port Lympne Hotel & Reserve near the town of Hythe, Kent, England is set in and incorporates the historic Port Lympne Mansion, and landscaped gardens designed by architect Sir Herbert Baker, for Sir Philip Sassoon. The estate with an Edwardi ...

, the John Aspinall Foundation, also runs animal conservation programmes. It has had recent success in releasing a

black rhino The black rhinoceros (''Diceros bicornis''), also called the black rhino or the hooked-lip rhinoceros, is a species of rhinoceros native to East and Southern Africa, including Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namib ...

into the

wild Wild, wild, wilds or wild may refer to: Common meanings * Wilderness, a wild natural environment * Wildlife, an undomesticated organism * Wildness, the quality of being wild or untamed Art, media and entertainment Film and television * ''Wild ...

and has previously released other

s and

gorilla Gorillas are primarily herbivorous, terrestrial great apes that inhabit the tropical forests of equatorial Africa. The genus ''Gorilla'' is divided into two species: the eastern gorilla and the western gorilla, and either four or five su ...

Television

Howletts and Port Lympne have featured on the CBBC television programme ''

Roar A roar is a type of animal vocalization that is loud, deep and resonating. Many mammals have evolved to produce roars and other roar-like vocals for purposes such as long-distance communication and intimidation. These include various species of ...

''. This shows the two parks, the life of the animals and how the keepers look after them. The first series was filmed in 2006 and, as of March 2009, there have been four series in total.

Howletts House

Originally called Owletts, in the parish of Bekesbourne, the present house containing 30 rooms was built for Isaac Baugh in 1787 and replaced a previous house which had been the seat of the Isaac family until the reign of Queen Elizabeth I,Hasted later of the Hales family for several generations. It passed into the ownership of the Gipps family in 1816. It has been a

Grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

building and on the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, ...

since January 1967. The house is presently let by the Aspinall Foundation to Damian Aspinall

References

External links