A range of additional animals will flock to Natureland tomorrow with the aim of giving visitors some wonderful hands-on encounters at a Meet and Greet Event.

Operations Manager, Gail Sutton, says: "We aim to hold a special event during the school holidays to provide something different for visitors. This event is a Meet and Greet Day as visitors will have the chance to see and learn about some special animals."

Some of the highlights will include:

� Timor ponies, a miniature donkey and horse plus donkey rides (age and size limits will apply).

� Grace the rescue turtle will be on-site. Grace was discovered at the side of the road with a broken shell after being run over. She is now thriving after needing surgery and a fibreglass cast to support her shell while it healed.

� Rosie the wallaby will be at Natureland to interact with visitors. Rosie suffered from lumpy jaw and underwent revolutionary hyperbaric chamber treatment to remedy the problem.

"Staff and volunteers will also bring some of our resident animals, such as rabbits, guinea pigs and goats, out of their exhibits enabling people to have close encounters with these friendly animals. Our daily animal feed presentations will occur as normal. There will also be an opportunity to see a range of Natureland bugs including locusts, mealworms, crickets and katipo spiders.

We think this event will be great fun and complements the tree planting event with the theme of 'bugs on the beach' hosted by the Nelson City Council" concludes Gail.

Normal zoo admission will apply.