A STOURPORT wildlife and education centre has welcomed a multitude of newborn creatures during a summer baby boom.

Staff at the Dinosaur Wildlife and Education Centre, based on the A449 in Dunhampton, have been delighted with new baby skunks, wallabies, crested geckos, pythons, tarantulas and meerkats.

Business owner Kelly Shambley said: “All the animals are doing really well here and we’ve had a very successful mating season.

“We rescue a lot of unwanted exotic pets and zoo animals. We were given a female meerkat recently with a severe foot injury; we’re chuffed to say she’s just become a fantastic mother to five beautiful baby meerkats.”

The family run business and rescue centre has been busy over the summer holding educational animal and dinosaur shows at Eastnor Castle and Wales Biological Gardens.

Kelly added: “We want to educate members of the public on the fantastic animals we have, how to care for them and how big some animals can get. Hopefully this will help reduce the number of unwanted exotic pets, as many people buy turtles, snakes and tarantulas as babies, with no idea of how large they will grow.”

The staff at the centre are looking forward to visiting schools and children’s parties in September, showing the new baby meerkats and skunks, amongst their many other animal friends.

People can visit dwaec.co.uk to find out more information about the centre.