Longleat Safari Park chipmunks sent hundreds of socks Published duration 14 December 2019

image copyright Longleat image caption The family of chipmunks at Longleat Safari Park use the socks to nest in during the winter

A wildlife park has been inundated after putting out an appeal for "chipmunk worthy socks" to help keep the rodents warm over Christmas.

The family of chipmunks at Longleat Safari Park, in Wiltshire, use the socks to nest in during the winter.

Following an appeal on Facebook, the park has received hundreds of pairs from as far afield as New Zealand.

Longleat's Alexa Maultby said: "There's now a sock mountain and we're looking for other uses for them."

image copyright Longleat image caption Following the appeal, the park received a mountain of socks from as far afield as New Zealand

The Christmas appeal for "fresh, clean" old socks in any size, shape or colour was made by keepers last month on social media.

But despite saying "the more the merrier", keepers have been overwhelmed with "literally hundreds of socks".

"The chipmunks use one sock for a bed and one sock to keep all their food in so we need a constant supply of fresh socks as they nibble holes in them," said Ms Maultby.

"But we weren't quite prepared for the huge number of socks the public have provided us with."

image copyright Longleat image caption Keepers thought it would be a fun way to recycle old clothing and the socks would be a colourful nesting material for the chipmunks

She said they are now planning to use some of the "sock mountain" as bedding for some of the park's other animals.

"We'd like to thank everyone who has made the effort to donate," she said.

"But we definitely have more than enough now so we'd kindly request no more are sent in."