Longleat in lockdown

Ben Fogle reveals how the safari park has fared during the pandemic

- CAREN CLARK, IAN MACEWAN, SEAN MARLAND

Longleat Safari Park in Wiltshire, like many zoos across Britain, has faced one of the toughest periods in its history during the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdown.

The return of BBC1’s fly-on-the enclosure series Animal Park, airing each weekday morning and hosted by Ben Fogle, Kate Humble and Jean Johansson, explores how the park coped with being shut to the public for the longest time since it opened in 1966 and how a skeleton staff of dedicated keepers worked tirelessly to look after the animals in their care.

‘We follow the profound changes and see how the keepers have tried to carry on as normal in abnormal times and how they have dealt with this unprecedented period, which also saw [Longleat’s owner] Lord Bath sadly pass away,’ says Fogle, 46.