New Forest Wildlife Park is hosting a week-long otter celebration from 23–31 May 2026, featuring four different otter species in one location—a unique offering in the UK. The park is home to Europe's largest collection of giant otters and the UK's largest collection of smooth-coated otters, including the country's only successful breeding pair.
The UK's only successful breeding pair of smooth-coated otters at New Forest Wildlife Park welcomed two cubs in December. This breeding success represents a significant milestone for the species at the park, which houses the largest collection of smooth-coated otters in the UK.
The Native Species Butterfly House at New Forest Wildlife Park has reopened following winter closure and now features European pond turtles, three-spined sticklebacks, yellow-tailed scorpions, and yellow-bellied toads. The exhibit is part of the park's Easter holiday attractions and will be open to visitors during the Easter period.
European pond turtlethree-spined sticklebackyellow-tailed scorpion
New Forest Wildlife Park is hosting a family-focused Easter holiday event from 27 March to 12 April 2026, featuring woodland exploration, wildlife discovery, and springtime activities. The event includes an Easter egg hunt and wildlife quiz, extra keeper talks, adventure playgrounds, and the reopening of the Native Species Butterfly House after winter closure.
New Forest Wildlife Park has opened a new habitat for its two resident Eurasian lynx, Tora and Inga, replacing an enclosure in use since before 1998. The redesigned space features multiple enrichment elements including scratching posts, a sunbathing platform, and a climbing tower, designed to encourage natural behaviours while improving visitor viewing opportunities.
New Forest Wildlife Park is launching a series of exclusive Photography Experience Days this spring, offering amateur photographers guided, behind-the-scenes access to photograph Europe's native species in natural light. Sessions run monthly from March to June 2026, limited to eight participants per date, with expert keeper guidance to capture authentic animal behaviour.
Families can visit New Forest Wildlife Park during the February half-term to watch the newborn smooth-coated otter cubs exploring their naturalistic enclosure alongside their protective family group. The cubs took their first swim on 23rd January and have passed all health checks.
New Forest Wildlife Park is sharing detailed growth data and measurements of the newborn smooth-coated otter cubs with rescue centres across Southeast Asia to improve care protocols for orphaned and confiscated cubs. The data provides crucial benchmarks for nutrition and development that help give wild cubs their best chance of survival and eventual release back to the wild.
Two male smooth-cooted otter cubs were born on 7th December 2025 to Soriah and Song, the UK's only successful breeding pair of this vulnerable species. The cubs, now thriving and swimming, represent a significant conservation milestone for a species facing a 30% population decline over the past three decades in the wild.
The park is backing #ShareSavvy, an initiative educating social media users to identify and report harmful wildlife content that fuels illegal trafficking of otters as pets. The campaign addresses a growing crisis where viral "cute" otter videos normalise wild animals in domestic settings and drive demand from wildlife traffickers.
