ALMOST 10,000 people have visited a popular wildlife park near Pangbourne since it reopened less than one month ago.

Beale Wildlife Park reopened to the public on Monday, June 22, having been closed due to the coronavirus pandemic since March 22.

Since reopening, almost 10,000 people have visited the park to enjoy the animals on show including alpacas, otters, macaws, meerkats, and lemurs.

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Social distancing measures have been put in place including a one-way system around the park and the closure of the play areas, paddling pool, and sandpit.

Andrew Nicholls, the park’s curator, said: “Visitors seem to accept the social distancing requirements and understand why small areas of the Park (such as the Bee Zone) continue to be closed.”

He added: “It has been great to hear laughter in the park again.”

A new toddler trail has been introduced at the park and is designed to encourage visitors to look out for cut-out plastic Ring-tailed Lemurs which have been placed in different locations.

The aim is to see how many they can spot.

Mr Nicholls said the Lemurs are moved from time to time and it has “proved very popular”.

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He explained over the summer holidays, the park usually has one Family Discovery trail but this year there will be more to encourage visitors to return and discover more about the animals and trees in the park.

These include a ‘Marvellous Mammals’ event from Wednesday, August 5, to Tuesday, August 18, and a ‘Terrific Trees’ event from Wednesday, August 19, to Friday, September 4.

Mr Nicholls and the team thanked visitors for being “so understanding”.

He said: “As a team we would like to thank all of our visitors for being so understanding to the changes we have had to make and just to say it is lovely to see the Park full of people enjoying themselves.”