It was all hands to the deck this week at Drusillas Park, as the zoo continued to cope with staff shortages due to the prolonged spell of snowy weather.

Zoo owner’s daughter, Cassandra Smith was amongst the workers called upon to muck in, to ensure all the animals received the normal standard of care and were cleaned out and catered for.

A far cry from her normal role as Visitor Services Coordinator, Cassie kicked off her usual high heels in order to don a pair of wellies and dirty her clean white collar.

She then got stuck in with preparing the morning meals, before feeding the capybaras, cleaning out the lemurs and unloading an additional delivery of straw, ordered to provide extra bedding for many of the zoo’s four legged residents.

Cassie commented: “I really enjoyed lending a helping hand to the zoo keeping team, who have been doing an excellent job despite some challenging conditions. It is great that everyone can pull together in these times, although I must admit I was very grateful to return to a warm office and a hot cup of tea!”

Although the animals appear to be coping well in the big freeze, the relentless cold has proved a hazardous start to the season, both in terms of the disruption caused and its effect on the days out market. Deterred by the arctic conditions, considerably fewer people have braved the cold to visit the zoo so far this year than would normally be expected based on previous years’ figures. 

Nevertheless, Drusillas Park remains open for business as usual and with the big thaw on the way, the snow clouds will hopefully disperse to reveal a much sunnier outlook.

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For more information please contact:
Claire Peters

Head of Public Relations

Drusillas Park

Tel: 01323 874112  Fax: 01323 874101

Email: claire.peters@drusillas.co.uk

Photo: Cassandra Smith with the capybara at Drusillas Park

About Drusillas Park

Drusillas Park in Alfriston, East Sussex is a small zoo where you can get nose to nose with nature. There are over 100 animal species in naturalistic environments including meerkats, penguins, monkeys, otters, bats, snakes and lemurs. For more information visit www.drusillas.co.uk

Directions – Drusillas (postcode BN26 5QS) is situated just off the A27 at Alfriston, approximately 7 miles from Eastbourne and 15 miles from Brighton.