Woburn Safari Park in Bedfordshire has come under fire from the government agency Defra following an inspection made back in January.

The criticism relates specifically to the lion enclosure used overnight in the winter, with the report stating:

“There were clear signs of fighting between the animals; the overnight house was inadequate in space provision and facilities for the animals, structurally unsound and unsafe to operate.”

“The lions were confined in the winter season for unreasonable lengths of time.”

However, Woburn Safari Park was praised for its conservation work in other areas and the report did note that the unacceptable situation was a temporary one:

However, it was clear that the Woburn management were acting to improve the situation.

A spokesman for Woburn Safari Park has stated that the Defra inspectors misunderstood the fact that lions were free to move between 10 interlinked enclosures during the evening, and also confirmed that a new state-of-the-art enclosure was currently being built:

“The new overnight facility will be bigger than most zoo facilities for lions and the existing day-time facility is bigger than most UK zoos in their entirety.”

It is surprising that conditions in a UK zoo were allowed to deteriorate to such an inadequate standard but fortunately the situation is now being improved.

You can take a look at the lions at Woburn Safari Park in the video below: