A wildlife park and sanctuary near Looe is appealing for donations to help care for it’s elderly residents during the winter months. 

Established in 1989, Porfell wildlife park is a family run business located in the village of Lanreath. Since opening Porfell to the public in 1989, the late founder of the park John Palmer has worked alongside Joy Palmer to establish a sanctuary for unwanted animals with the help of their children before being able to employ a small team of animal keepers.

Michelle Bulmer, staff member at the park and daughter-in-law of Joy, said: “Everything that you see at Porfell was hand built by John and Joy and the family over 30 years ago so it has a unique energy about the place.”

The non-profit sanctuary’s mission is to provide a safe haven for elderly and problem exotic animals for the rest of their lives. 

“We are purely public funded by admissions with every bit going back into the farm to get us through the winter months.” Michelle added. “This means that everything that we make during our open season pays for our animal keepers, vet bills, specialist animal food, enrichments, electric, maintenance of the enclosures and everything in between.” 

Porfell offers sanctuary to a menagerie of animals from all over the world – some neglected, injured, imported illegally or no longer wanted. ­

Michelle continued: “For whatever reason they come to us and we support them for the rest of their life, they’re always welcome if we have the space. 

“We have a range of animals from donkeys, goats, wallabies, lemurs, cloud rats, squirrel monkeys, servals, elderly eland, zebra, ostrich, skunk, raccoon, capybara, racoon dog, deer, meerkats, kinkajou, owls, parrots, battery hens just to name a few.” 

Porfell currently has around 130 residents in it’s care and many of them are in need of essential items to get them through the winter. 

Michelle added: “We do not normally reach out for help unless it is needed but at the moment we have been looking for equine horse mats to support our elderly equine residents but we are also looking to do up our farm area of the park this year before looking at different ways to re-opening the other part of our woods which is currently closed to the public. Our late founder John Palmer took four years to build the board walks by hand and the family would like to do the same in memory of him.” 

If anyone is interested in supporting Porfell and it’s residents there are a few ways to do so:

Take a look at the sanctuary’s Amazon wish list to buy an animal a present. All of the presents are gratefully received by the animals.

If you would like to adopt any of the animals at Porfell you will receive a photograph of your animal, a certificate and one free visit. Speak to one of the keepers or contact the park for further information. An animal adoption is £50 a year.

([email protected]) If you would like to donate via PayPal the sanctuary will ensure that all money received is spent on the animals, their enrichment and the upkeep of their enclosures and maintenance of the park.

If you would like to donate food to Porfell please contact the park. The sanctuary  do have people and businesses that like to donate surplus food to the park. Please be aware that the sanctuary only accepts food that is edible for the animals.

Link on Facebook and website.