HUNDREDS of visitors attended Tropiquaria Zoo, near Watchet, to witness the official opening of its new bobcat enclosure on Sunday (April 13).

The enclosure will be home to Bode, a bobcat rescued by zoo director Chris Moiser just hours before veterinary surgeons were due to euthanise the homeless animal.

West Somerset residents quickly took Bode to their hearts and helped raise nearly £6,500 toward the cost of a new zoo enclosure.

The official opening was performed by members of the Bournemouth Bobcats American football team and their mascot after they had helped zoo staff to lay wood chip in the enclosure and along the path to it.

Mr Moiser said: “They are a fantastic bunch.

“Thank you to everybody who joined us for Bode’s official opening, it was a true pleasure to see so many of our friends, new and old, all together in one place.”

Mr Moiser said Tropiquaria was now one of only four places in the UK where people could see a bobcat.

And it was the only place in Europe where a bobcat could be seen in an enclosure with a ‘beautifully crafted aquascape ecosystem pond’.

Mr Moiser said: “We are immensely proud of what has been achieved, and of everybody who has contributed in so many different ways.

“For a small zoo with a small team, this project has pushed us to mental and physical extremes.

“We have worked every day, in all weathers, starting early and working often into the dark, to pull this together.

“But, to see Bode now enjoying the space and keen to meet so many people has made it all worthwhile.”

Bode was to have been put down in January when a new home could not be found for him after a judge ordered the closure of a big cat sanctuary in Hertfordshire.