Howletts Wild Animal Park (formerly known as Howletts Zoo) in the parish of Bekesbourne, near Canterbury in Kent, was established as a private zoo in 1957 by John Aspinall. In 1962, the House known as Howletts was being restored. A small cottage was inhabited by an employee. The animal collection was opened to the public in 1975. To give more room for the animals another estate at Port Lympne near Hythe in Kent was purchased in 1973, and opened to the public as Port Lympne Zoo in 1976. The collection is known for being unorthodox, for the encouragement of close personal relationships between staff and animals, and for the breeding of rare and endangered species. Steve Irwin visited the park in 2004 and described the zoo's gorillas as "the finest in the world". Since 1984, both parks have been owned by the John Aspinall Foundation, a charity. Following his death, John Aspinall was buried in front of the Howletts House and a memorial was built next to the grave near the bison. A later extension to Howletts was an open-topped enclosure for black and white colobus, just behind the entrance. Animal collection The park is most famous for having some of the largest family groups of western lowland gorillas in the world. It is also home to the largest breeding herd of African elephants in the United Kingdom and has one of the largest breeding groups of lion-tailed macaques in the world. Some of the animals in its collection include: African bush elephant African wild dog Amur leopard Black-and-white ruffed lemur Black lemur Brazilian tapir Cape buffalo Capybara Celebes crested macaque' Chital Clouded leopard Crowned lemur De Brazza's monkey Dhole Dusky leaf monkey Eastern black-and-white colobus monkey Eastern black rhinoceros Eastern bongo Eurasian wolf European bison Fishing cat François' langur Gelada Giant anteater Greater kudu Honey badger Iberian wolf Javan langur Lion Lion-tailed macaque Margay Nilgai Pallas's cat Red-bellied lemur Red river hog Ring-tailed lemur Serval Siamang Silvery gibbon Snow leopard Sumatran tiger Waterbuck Western lowland gorilla White-naped mangabey Charity events The charity that runs Howletts and Port Lympne Wild Animal Park, the John Aspinall Foundation, also runs animal conservation programmes. It has had recent success in releasing a black rhino into the wild and has previously released other black rhinos and gorillas. Television Howletts and Port Lympne have featured on the CBBC television programme Roar. This shows the two