About us

The Park was officially opened by Justin Fletcher MBE, more commonly known as the delightful children's TV presenter, Mr Tumble, on 4th April 2009.

In February 2010, the park rescued 13 lions from living in very poor conditions in a dilapidated Romanian zoo and released them into the newly built 10-acre Lion Country enclosure.

In 2011, Land of the Tigers opened, where the majestic big cats can freely roaming their woodlands and grasslands or play in their very own waterfall pool. Pictured is Sayan's very first steps into her new reserve.

In March 2012, Leopard Heights opened as one of the largest leopard reserves in the world. Designed as a purpose built breeding and reintroduction facility, it won the 2013 BIAZA Award for Significant Advances in Husbandry & Welfare.

July 2014 saw the opening of the 10 acres Project Polar reserve - the largest Polar Bear centre outside Canada. Featuring grassy plains, rocky beaches, water pools, and shaded caves, meticulously designed to replicate the Arctic tundra found in North Canada during the summer.

The first bear that arrived was a 500kg male Victor; a second arrived in March 2015 called Pixel; Victor's grandson.

In 2018, Yorkshire Wildlife Park also saw planning permission granted for the development of a new 150 acre site at YWP. 

In 2018 the park rescued four Brown Bears from a Japanese museum. Riku and his brother Kai, along with Amu and Hanako, were rescued from a tourist attraction on the island of Hokkaido. Yorkshire Wildlife Park took them from tiny cages, concrete floors and school dinner scraps to a huge grassy reserve, lakes, toys, hay beds and shelters.

In 2021 the brand new Yorkshire Hive also opened to the public, introducing themed restaurant 'Evolution' and indoor play area 'Uproar'. As well as new retail outlets, gift shop and entrance gateway, enhancing visitor facilities and providing a huge boost for the local economy.

The new entrance to the Wildlife Park also included a whole new land - Atlantic Forest, boasting Maned Wolves, Tapir and Bush Dogs.

The brand new Sea Lion reserve opened featuring two naturalistic lakes, with one holding an incredible 1.9 million litres of filtered water making it the largest purpose built habitat of its kind in the world!

The Earl of Wessex officially opened the award-winning Yorkshire Wildlife Park’s new sea lion reserve.
The Earl unveiled a plaque marking the official opening of the world class new facility, Point Lobos, the largest filtrated sea lion complex in the world.

In 2022 the continued development of The Yorkshire Hive continued with the opening of 'Hex Wildlife Hotel' boasting 100+ rooms and another on-site restaurant, 'Wilds Café Bistro'.

Pangea - Discovery of Dinosaurs, an immersive Dinosaur attraction was officially opened by Helen Skelton in May 2022. The immersive, prehistoric walkthrough experience features over 30 life-sized moving dinosaurs, bringing the prehistoric world to life.

The summer of 2023 saw the opening of Cheetah Territory, the 10,000 square metre reserve specially designed for the ferociously fast felines.

March saw the arrival of 4 lions rescued from their holding facility in Poland having escaped the Ukraine and Russia conflict. After a seven-month operation and an incredible journey spanning 2000 miles and crossing six continents, they arrived at their new home in Yorkshire.

As the conflict continued in Ukraine, the Park and WildLife Foundation, the charity based at the park, raised the funds to cover the specialist transport costs for the 1,700 mile trip to bring 3 more lions to safety.