Stork sparks baby boom at Wickid Pets

The stork has always signalled the pitter patter of tiny feet. And now the fable has come true at an animal park in Wolverhampton after the bird's real-life arrival sparked a baby boom.

After taking delivery of Jarak the stork at Wickid Pets Animal Adventure 12 weeks ago, dozens of newborn animals have been welcomed into the world.

Holly the wallaby, micro pigs Jess, Alice and Laura, Nanu the baby Jenet, snowy owl Hedwig and meerkat Sebastian are among the new arrivals at the site, who have all been born since the arrival of Jarak.

New fruit bats, a ground squirrel and two sets of twin monkeys, which staff have not yet named, have also been born during the boom.

Ringo, an eight week-old Corcac fox, has also been taken in by the site after being abandoned by her natural mother. She is now being brought up by the owners' European fox called Anfield.

The £1 million menagerie opened its doors exactly a year ago.

And the site, in the heart of Dunstall's industrial district off the A449 Stafford Road, features a host of exotic animals including snakes, monkeys, meerkats and birds of prey. Visitors can also get up close to rare goeldi monkeys, ostriches, otters and squirrels. Wickid Pets is the brainchild of Wednesfield brothers Jimmy and Ben Wick who, after running an exotic pet shop for more than a decade, ploughed their life savings of £500,000 each on their wildlife dream.

They spent a year transforming a patch of land at the side of their shop in Gorsebrook Road into the park, which features dozens of creatures that have come from zoos, breeders, animal sanctuaries and Jimmy's contacts from the pet shop world.

As well as the more exotic breeds there are also hedgehogs and squirrels hand-reared on site.

The site, which also has an exotic pet licence, includes enclosures and a refreshment area, while the brothers are still working on the creation of a nocturnal animal house and pirate-themed aquarium. Jimmy, aged 40, has run Wickid Pets for the past 12 years and takes care of the wildlife. He said today: "Since we had the stork we have had lots of births at the park. They say storks bring babies and that's what seems to have happened.

"It is all going really well and all of the new arrivals have come as we are celebrating our first anniversary.

"There was nothing like this in the heart of Wolverhampton and we wanted to give people the chance to get up close to the animals."

Jimmy also runs classes showing people how to care for exotic pets.

"A lot of people buy exotic pets but don't know what to feed them or how to take care of them which is why we run these classes," he said. Admission to the park is £1.50.