Kate Humble on 20 series of Animal Park: 'I feel like everybody's great-granny'
ok.co.ukBBC One’s Animal Park returns for its 20th series this week, with Kate Humble back at Longleat in Wiltshire to visit its array of fascinating animals.
Kate, 54, who launched the show back in 2000, admits that she’s starting to feel like “everybody’s great-granny”. “It’s like a family reunion, because a lot of these animals and keepers I’ve known for a very, very long time,” she says. “The thing that keeps me coming back is they feel like extended family now.” The series follows the lives of the keepers and animals at Longleat Safari and Adventure Park, from the endangered Amur tigers to an elephant rescued from the circus.
Over the years, Kate has seen the arrival of many new residents and in this series she celebrates a landmark with two big cats with whom she has a long history. “We celebrate the 18th birthday of Jasira and Malaika, who are two female lions, and I was there when they were born,” she says.
It’s not just her animal friends that bring Kate back to the show year after year, but also her colleagues. Ben Fogle joined Animal Park in 2001 and hosted alongside Kate for the rest of the original nine-year run before returning for the show’s revival in 2016. “It’s lovely because we’ve effectively grown up together,” says Kate. “We were both right at the beginning of our careers then and have honed our skills.
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