West Midland Safari and Leisure Park is a safari park located in Bewdley in Worcestershire, England. It was opened under the name of West Midland Safari Park in spring 1973. The park holds over 165 species of exotic animals, among other attractions such as a small theme park. The park contains the largest groups of white lions, cheetahs, hippopotami, and meerkats in the UK, as well as the largest lemur walk-through exhibit. It was also the first park in the UK to have the African big five game animals. The park is a member of the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA) and the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA). The Dhole and Cheetah enclosures in the drive-through safari are part of a larger heathland Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) which the park is restoring. History The park was opened by founder Jimmy Chipperfield on 17 April 1973 and at the time hosted a few ex-circus animals (it had animals like rhinoceroses, elephants, ostriches, zebras, giraffes, camels, wildebeest, baboons, lions, tigers, bears & wolves, according to a video from the 1970s, date unknown). Early on, the park had a dolphin area where the sea lion theatre is today, but this was a travelling show and the dolphins were later returned to Margate. The 1970s also saw the park develop a "Boat Safari" in keeping with the fashions of the time, although this was later removed, and a narrow gauge railway through parts of the park was constructed by Severn Lamb in 1979. The park saw its first new animal exhibit for some time with the arrival of four African white lions in "Kingdom of the White Lions" in 2004. The park was the first safari park in the UK to have all five African big game animals, although its leopards have since been moved to Scotland, leaving it with only three of the five as the last remaining cape buffalo left in 2022. It was also the first park/zoo in Europe to successfully breed white lion cubs and has done a great deal towards conserving the species. In 2006, the managing directors of West Midland Safari Park officially opened the Ongava Research Centre on the Ongava Game Reserve near the Etosha National Park, their "sister park" in Namibia. The centre focuses on researching lions and rhinoceroses and carrying capacity of the reserves, which hold many