Santa’s slippery little helpers

12:00pm Monday 1st December 2008

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THREE of the slippiest panto performers you’ll ever come across are taking centre stage in an unusual Christmas show this week.

Knowsley Safari Park sealions Max, Biffo and Arthur are to be the stars of a panto-style production that will be the highlight of the park’s festive celebrations this year. And the talented trio have been learning a number of new Christmas-themed tricks and routines for the production.

On show days Father Christmas will arrive at the attraction to appear in Santa’s Sealion Show at noon before taking his place in the park grotto. Further Christmas-themed sealion shows will follow at 2 and 4pm.

Safari park general manager, David Ross, commented: “Over the last few years we’ve had a number of special festive events here at the park. One year Santa arrived by helicopter and in 2007 he was pulled by a team of husky dogs. However, as surveys consistently show that the sealions are one of our most popular attractions, we thought we’d get Max, Biffo and Arthur involved this year.”

The Christmas production is the climax of an exciting year for the sealions who moved into their new £600,000 home in the spring. The new facility includes a much larger pool, rocks, beaches and waterfall effects as well as an underwater viewing area which enables visitors to watch the sealions’ antics throughout the day, and not just at show times.

The fishy trio also learned a new trick earlier in the year to mark the safari park’s sponsorship of Saints rugby league club - they now catch oval rugby balls in their act rather than the footballs they used in the past.

The safari park will present Santa’s Sealion Show at weekends only to Sunday, December 14. The show will then be performed daily from Monday, December 15 until the curtain comes down for the final time on Tuesday, December 23.

The park will open at 10.30am each day with the last admission to the animal reserve at 3pm. The grotto will be open from 12.30pm onwards.