The stars with stripes pounce back onto the screen from July 18th when an all new and exciting series of ‘Tiger Island’ begins.

The Tiger Island series, which follows the fortunes of feline residents such as Rambo (pictured) recently won a prestigious ITV award. 

Now, after last summers successful run the show that goes behind the scenes of one of the Isle of Wight’s most popular attractions follows in its paw prints to catch up with the lives , losses and loves of the zoo’s famous big cats and the dedicated staff who care for them.

More than a year of filming was needed to complete this series of seven ‘fly on the wall’ style documentaries and a mix of simple good story telling and state of the art technology ensures that the intricacies and intimacies of their lives are revealed through ravishing photography and the raw reality of looking after one of the worlds greatest conservation icons . Rare , beautiful and dangerous , who can resist the appeal of these wonderful and charismatic animals ?

The dramatic rescue of ‘Rambo’ , an ex-circus tiger from Florida forms one of the main features of the series . After series one followed the preparations for the difficult re-homing exercise the crew accompanied zoo staff to bring this lovely Tiger back to the UK and then monitored his settling into quarantine at the zoo.

Of course there were hitches and hurdles , but without spoiling the plot , this part of the story has a happy ending ! But its not always so , much loved animals die and there are tense times as others endure life threatening operations - all part and parcel of the zoos dynamic day to day life .

Regular viewers and visitors will remember the delicate operation to remove an eye from ‘Zena’ , the zoos celebrated white Tiger and her continued progress is charted  . Lots of time is spend enriching the lives of all of the animals and one of the more unusual ‘games’ features a ‘Human-Tiger’ tug of war and the fortunes of another star of last years series ‘Mangoky’ the orphaned Ring-tailed Lemur are followed as she is carefully introduced to the zoos troupe of these endearing creatures .

Also of tremendous excitement is the design and construction of an all new enclosure , purpose built for ‘Rambo’ and into which he will be moved during the start of the summer season.

Many of the species featured are endangered and this forms a key part of the animals educational purpose at the zoo , conservation of their wild counterparts is a crucial concern and we see how the staff tackle this often frustrating affair from the confines of the zoos workplace . And its not just Tigers. the Lions , Jaguars , Lemurs , Monkeys and a whole plethora of mini and not so mini beasts form the supporting cast for what is a fabulous summer show for all the family.

Be sure not to miss ’Tiger Island - Series Two , Fridays at eight from July 18th on Meridian.

For more details visit: Isle of Wight Zoo

Isle of Wight Community News @Island Pulse.