Telford Hoo Farm's new enclosure opens

Hundreds of people donated money towards the new meerkat enclosure at Hoo Farm Animal Kingdom, after being saddened by the death of three of the animals at the beginning of the year.

Lucky, Jasper and Jabu had been hand reared by staff at the farm on the outskirts of Telford and took part in their Meerkat Experiences, where visitors were able to get up close with the animals.

But after four years spent at the farm, Jabu died on Christmas Day last year, Lucky died on New Year's Eve and Jasper died on January 5.

Will Dorrell, exotics manager at the farm, said: "They all passed away in the space of about 11 days.

"It was very sudden, we believe it may have been caused by a virus that came in on their fruit.

"We were all very close to them because they had been hand reared so they were quite special to us.

"When they suddenly died, without sounding overly dramatic, it was like a family member had passed away.

"When we announced it on Facebook, there were hundreds of people commenting with their memories of the meerkats and hundreds of emails saying how sad people were."

The farm decided to find away to remember the meerkats by calling for donations for a new enclosure, to be named after the three animals, for future meerkats to enjoy.

Generous donations raised £1,000 towards the enclosure.

On Sunday (JUL 27) everyone who donated was invited to Hoo Farm to see the grand unveiling of the new enclosure, along with a special plaque naming everyone who contributed.

Mr Dorrell said: "It's really nice because people have been able to see exactly where their money has gone.

"The new meerkats are loving it, because it is a very big enclosure."