There is baby joy for Manor House Wildlife Park owner Anna Ryder Richardson as gibbons Steve and Lisa complete their family.

Anna declared “I’m a granny” after the male siamang gibbon was born last week and is doing well despite the autumn weather.

Following seven years in isolation Anna transformed gibbon Steve’s life when she took over the park near St Florence and he has now become a father aged 14.

Senior Keeper, Sarah Eastwood discovered the baby last Thursday on her breakfast feed round at the 52 acre park.

“We knew that she was pregnant, but we weren’t expecting him to be born for at least a couple more weeks. It was such a privilege to be the first to set eyes on him. He’s gorgeous,” she said.

For Anna this is the end of a long journey with Steve.

“When we bought the park we inherited Steve in a small iron cage. He was born in that cage and lived alone there for seven years following the death of his mother.

“We were advised to put him down as he was likely to be severely psychologically damaged, but we were determined not to go down that route.

“Instead we found him a mate and rehoused him in a state of the art gibbon enclosure with access to space and trees as well as a properly heated house.

“And now he’s a daddy. Which of course makes me a granny. We’re all so delighted for him, and for Lisa,” said Anna.

Anna now wants the public to help choose a name for the new addition, a Welsh name is preferred but any suggestions are welcome.

You can catch a glimpse of the new family at weekends at the park if inspiration is needed.

*For more on this heart-warming tale and much more animal magic at Manor House on a new TV series starting on ITV Wales on Monday, November 15th, 8pm.

The series was produced for ITV by Pembrokeshire based TV Production company, Barefoot Rascals, and produced and directed by Gordon Main from Broad Haven.

All the music for the series has been specially composed by another Pembrokeshire resident, Greg White from Walton West.