Animals ready for Christmas treats on Cambridgeshire zoo's 'busiest' day
It's thought animals could be treated to more than 200kg of festive food
It's not just children on the 'nice list' who'll be treated this Christmas, but animals at a Cambridgeshire zoo, too.
Festive enrichments will be the pick of the day for the dozens of species who make Johnson's of Old Hurst their home.
Zookeepers there are making final preparations for the big day, where around 200 kilogrammes of food is expected to be given to the animals, including donkeys, crocodiles and lions.
Alex Ward is one of the zookeepers:
"Christmas Eve is normally the busiest," she said.
"You'll do all your food preparation for Christmas Day; we still have to come in and make sure all the animals are okay, so when you do come in Christmas Day, you're here for a few hours, make sure everyone's okay," she said.
"We can get cardboard boxes, still wrap them up and can either hide food in them, do scent enrichment on them and give them to the animals; it's almost like you're watching them open up a present."
That's one example of enrichment that the animals get at this time of year, as well as Christmas trees donated after the festive period by the local community.
"We use them for the bears, the lions, we can put fruit in them and the bears go absolutely crazy over them," zookeeper Kat Choppin said.
And by providing this enrichment, it's hoped the animals will feel mentally as well as physically healthy.
"We like to keep them physically and psychologically stimulated and you want them to be able to express their most natural behaviours," Alex said.
"If they were in the wild, they'd come across different smells daily so it's good to give them things that are different as regularly as you can."
Working at Christmastime doesn't faze Alex or Kat "because we're so connected to the animals and we wish them a merry Christmas as well".
The zoo is open today but closed on Christmas Day and reopen to the public on December 29.