IT’S National Armadillo Day and two of Cannon Hall Farm’s special animals are in for a treat!
Farmer Georgie Kaye, who is in charge of the farm’s mammal house, prepared gifts and treats including meal worms for armadillos Nessa and Tank to mark the occasion.
Cannon Hall Farm, which opened as a tourist attraction in 1989, has invested in its small mammal house, and partnered up with various conservation groups to assist with the recording and protection of a variety of small mammals.
Georgie said: "It’s really important to celebrate our armadillos on their day, there are 20 different subspecies and we have the large, hairy ones.
"In the wild, they are losing their habitats due to loss of rainforests which impacts on them so we do need to raise awareness and celebrate them at the same time.
"We’ve done really well with the breeding of our armadillos here at Cannon Hall Farm. Nessa and Tank have had a few litters now – and their babies have been sent all across the UK and Europe, like France and the Netherlands.
“We are really proud of helping to keep a nice, healthy captive population of these guys to educate people and also, just in case we ever need to take conservation action in the wild."
