History

History-Ark wildlife park & exotic animal sanctuary

Michelle and I have been involved with keeping and rescuing exotic/domestic animals for a number of years.

My introduction to exotic animals was from being bought up with many parrots and parakeets, as my mother was a prominent breeder who helped pioneer the idea of captive breeding in the UK as opposed to catching birds in the wild.

My love however has always been for members of the reptile family, I had my first pet snake at the age of twelve, and 30 years on that love of reptiles has never diminished, a number of years ago we started taking on unwanted or mistreated reptile pets, ranging from the common pet species familiar to most like bearded dragons and cornsnakes, to the more obscure and unsuitable species people sometimes try to keep such as crocodilians.

We shared our home not only with a diverse selection of reptiles and bugs but also a whole host of more furry residents, from traditional rabbits that Michelle specialises in rescuing, ferrets and guinea pigs to the more unusual and exotic, such as our skunks, raccoons, meerkats, dwarf hedgehogs, chinchillas, skinny pigs and coatis to name a few

Two years ago, with the scale and scope of rescued animals increasing we decided to fulfil a lifelong dream and open up our own wildlife park, featuring a broad cross section of animals, from reptiles, to exotic and domestic mammals .

In the Spring of 2016 we came across the site of a closed down farmpark that showed huge potential, and we then set ourselves the target of turning it around and opening to the public that year.

After several months of renovation, with huge amounts of help from family, friends, volunteers from Stickney and the surrounding villages and local companies(A massive thank you to everyone involved), the park opened it’s gates late summer 2016.

We hope that through our wildlife park and sanctuary we can continue to offer permanent homes to animals in need and help people to gain a better understanding of the creatures we share our world with and hopefully dispel a few fears along the way as well as help educate the public to the growing issues within the exotic pet trade.

Jamie & Michelle