Two lemurs found dead after Curraghs Wildlife Park fire

Two of the four lemurs are being cared for in the park's hospital

A pair of rare lemurs have died after a fire "completely destroyed" their enclosure at a Manx wildlife park.

The Manx Fire and Rescue Service was called to the Curraghs Wildlife Park just before midnight on Wednesday.

Two of the four Alaotran Gentle Lemurs, a critically endangered species, were rescued by keepers but two others were later found dead.

A park spokesman said the most likely cause of the fire was "an electrical component failure".

"All electrics were new and signed off after testing before lemurs moved in four weeks ago, so this is such a tragic accident," he added.

The newly built lemur enclosure housed four lemurs - a breeding pair and two offspring, Georgia and Nina. They were three and one respectively.

'Tough day'

The park said the two youngest lemurs perished in the fire.

"This has been a tough day and staff at the park, contractors and fire service have all worked tremendously," continued the park spokesman.

"I would particularly like to thank keepers who have worked through last night and today despite being devastated, and remind them how well they did to rescue the adult pair of Gentle Lemurs.

The wildlife park saw its first Alaotran Gentle Lemur born there in 2015

The primates are on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) critically endangered list and are threatened with extinction.

It is thought there are less than 2,500 of the animals left, primarily in a small region of their native Madagascar.

The Manx park houses the animals as part of a captive breeding programme coordinated by the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria.

The park will reopen on Friday morning.