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Animals enjoy Easter treats at London Zoo
Asiatic lion cub Shanti explores enormous scented Easter egg at London Zoo.

Lions, meerkats and lemurs tuck into their favourite snacks. 

With the Easter holidays in full swing, keepers at ZSL London Zoo are treating their residents to “an assortment of seasonal surprises”, including an enormous papier-mâché egg for the young lions to investigate and enjoy.

While chocolate is not on the menu, the animals are enjoying a feast of some of their favourite snacks, specially prepared for the occasion. The Zoo’s endangered ring-tailed lemurs have been enjoying sweet potato cubes, hidden in a carefully handcrafted nest, woven from dried grapevines, twine and rope.

Elsewhere, the zoo’s meerkats, Frank, Penelope and Dracula, put their exploratory skills to the test by foraging inside another papier-mâché egg filled with mealworms. Lion cubs Mali, Syanii and Shanti, who turned one last month, have also been delighting visitors with their playful antics — pouncing and rolling around on a giant Easter egg, scented with perfumes and spices. 

Zoological operations manager, Dan Simmonds, said: “Easter is often a time for treats, and while there were no chocolate eggs in sight for the animals, our meerkats and ring-tailed lemurs enjoyed some of their favourites — mealworms and sweet potato.

“Our Asiatic lion cubs, who have just turned one, are at a crucial stage in their development, honing their natural exploratory and hunting instincts. Enrichment — like the enormous, scented Easter egg — plays an important role in this, helping to diversify their habitat and encouraging them to fully engage their strength and remarkably keen sense of smell.”

Image (C) ZSL London Zoo.

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Strangles survey seeks views of horse owners

News Story 1
 With Strangles Awareness Week just around the corner (5-11 May), vets are being encouraged to share a survey about the disease with their horse-owning clients.

The survey, which has been designed by Dechra, aims to raise awareness of Strangles and promote best practices to prevent its transmission. It includes questions about horse owners' experiences of strangles, together with preventative measures and vaccination.

Respondents to the survey will be entered into a prize draw to win two VIP tickets to Your Horse Live 2025. To access the survey, click here 

Click here for more...
News Shorts
DAERA to reduce BVD 'grace period'

DAERA has reminded herd keepers of an upcoming reduction to the 'grace period' to avoid BVD herd restrictions.

From 1 May 2025, herd keepers will have seven days to cull any BVD positive or inconclusive animals to avoid restrictions being applied to their herd.

It follows legislation introduced on 1 February, as DAERA introduces herd movement restrictions through a phased approach. Herd keepers originally had 28 days to cull BVD positive or inconclusive animals.

DAERA says that, providing herd keepers use the seven-day grace period, no herds should be restricted within the first year of these measures.

Additional measures, which will target herds with animals over 30 days old that haven't been tested for BVD, will be introduced from 1 June 2025.

More information is available on the DAERA website.