We are especially concerned with the welfare of our animals and try to display them in near-natural surroundings; we hope that you too will appreciate the space that the animals have in their large paddocks. We feel sure that this ensures natural social structures and behaviour.

Endangered species are being added to the collection whenever possible, and we aim to play an active part in national and international breeding programmes. Many animals that are fairly common in Africa at the moment still have an uncertain long-term future, and some of the herds of African animals at Knowsley are now large enough to play an important role in ensuring that these species survive.

Our Pere David's deer herd is one of the largest in the UK. These deer were classified as extinct in the wild until the mid 1980's when a group of 39 deer went back to China as part of a project organised by the Zoological Society of London. Four of our deer formed part of this group returned to the 1,000 hectare Dafeng reserve. Now classified as critically endangered, they are protected from hunting on the reserve and the captive breeding herds such as ours at Knowsley are still very important to ensure the future of these deer.

With the construction of our new education centre and safari school, we hope that visiting the Safari Park will help children from all over the north-west to learn more about the natural world and understand the fragility and importance of the Earth’s ecosystems.

With the enormous rise in visitor numbers we have experienced over recent years, we still feel that our priorities should be to place particular emphasis on the welfare of our ever-increasing number of animals.