BORTH Wild Animal Kingdom, which has been embroiled in a licence battle with the county council following the death of two lynx, is to reopen on Saturday ahead of schedule.

The zoo has been closed voluntarily since October after an escaped lynx was shot dead and the death of a second lynx following a handling error.

Zoo owners Tracy and Dean Tweedy had planned to reopen the zoo in time for the February half-term holidays but they have just announced it will now open tomorrow after a lot of hard work to upgrade the attraction.

Enclosures have been improved and external consultants having been appointed to help the work.

On the zoo’s Facebook page, they said: “This is a week earlier than first anticipated which is largely thanks to a Herculean effort by our staff to get the zoo up to code and meet the criteria demanded of us.

“We will be opening our doors to the public from 10am till 5pm every day and hope you will join us to appreciate the improvements we have made.

“We still have a lot of work to do so please don’t expect a miracle transformation. Our work has focused on the animal enclosures.

“We have chopped out and replaced a mountain of rotten wood and rusty wire to give the animals homes that are safe, secure and fit for purpose.

“We hope that you will forgive the fact that we still have a great deal of cosmetic work to do on the human habitats.

“Some sections of the zoo will be fenced off for health and safety reasons, but the lion extension end of the zoo will be open as normal.”

However, a court hearing in January heard that it was hoped that a compromise could be agreed between the council and the owners.