The arrival of a white lioness did not go quite to plan this week, but visitors will be able to see her from half term onwards.
On Thursday (February 14th), Frosty was due to be unveiled at the conservation centre, but she refused to come out of her transportation container. She has been brought down from the West Midlands to be with her half-brother Casper after being rejected by a pride there, reports iwcp.co.uk.
Charlotte Corney, zoo director, thanked the ferry company Red Funnel for helping to get her across the Solent to the island. Frosty could be a real draw for the zoo – white lions are a genetic mutation of the African tawny lion, with a very pale coat and green or blue eyes.
She said: “All the other lions, like Charlie Brown and Nahla, are calling and making lots of noise. We were thinking they were calling out her out. But she’s having none of it. We have high hopes that these two lion hearts will not give one another a ‘frosty’ reception when they eventually meet!”
For nature enthusiasts keen to see a white lion, a stay in Isle of Wight accommodation could be on the cards, as there are only two other places in the UK where people can see this breed of lion.
According to remarks published on onthewight.com, Red Funnel was very pleased to be able to help with transporting the lion, with head of marketing at the ferry firm Tom Pell-Stevens labelling saying lion conservation is an issue that the firm is keen to back.