Three cheers for ‘roar’ some triple celebration at Blackpool Zoo!

Blackpool Zoo is marking a trio of special occasions as its year of 45th anniversary celebrations continues in earnest!

The UK’s only father and son lion group have both celebrated their birthdays in recent weeks while it is 10 years since the zoo’s Pride of Blackpool Big Cat House opened to the public.
Wallace turned nine on Tuesday 30th May and Khari celebrated his second birthday just a day later on Wednesday 31st May.

The pair were left as the only residents in the lion house at the zoo after the cub’s mother passed away unexpectedly on Christmas Eve 2015, when he was just seven months old.

Since then the two have become inseparable as the only father and son coalition in Britain.

Adam Kenyon, Section Head of Large Mammals at Blackpool Zoo, said: “It has been amazing to watch Khari and Wallace over the past two years, they have such a special bond.

“They play together during the day and snuggle up each evening. Khari is becoming a man in his own right now and is half way between a cute fluffy cub and an impressive fully grown male!

"We were devastated when Rachel passed away and we kept a close watch on little Khari in the following weeks and months.

“He was unsure about the situation at first but within 24 hours he was eating normally and had turned his attention to Wallace for care and reassurance.

“Wallace isn’t a first time father and has always been fantastic with cubs in the past, so we were confident that he would take to his role as a single father very well.

“So, ten years after we opened our Pride of Blackpool we couldn’t be more ‘proud’ of our boys!”

The Pride of Blackpool attraction opened in 2007 and two-year-old Wallace arrived from Longleat Safari Park in 2008. He became father to three beautiful female cubs in 2009 and then to Khari in 2015.