Animal lovers save Chester zoo with £2.2m donations in five days after bosses were told it must stay shut ‘indefinitely’ due to coronavirus
- Bosses pleaded with the public to help keep them afloat during the lockdown
- Measures taken during the pandemic have set the zoo back by £5million
- The zoo had hoped to secure £1.6million for the public to help it survive
- But generous donors have helped Chester zoo smash its target
- Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19
Animal-lovers are saving the UK’s biggest zoo with £2.2m in donations in just five days – as the founder’s granddaughter says she would be ‘devastated’ if it permanently shut.
Chester Zoo launched a campaign on Wednesday as government laws keeping zoos shut mean it could be closed ‘indefinitely’.
Its boss pleaded with the public to help keep them afloat as the Covid-19 lockdown has already cost them a staggering £5m and put it ‘at risk of extinction’.
Now the UK’s most visited zoo has not only surpassed its £1.6m target but now raised a staggering £2.2m – with the total still rising.
A sun bear eats from a wooden pole at Chester Zoo after the attraction launched a campaign to raise money to help keep the zoo running
Elephants feed in their enclosure at Chester Zoo in Chester, north west England on June 4, 2020
Meanwhile the granddaughter of the man who founded Chester Zoo said she is ‘truly devastated and heartbroken’ the attraction is under threat.
Jo Williams’ late mother June was the youngest daughter of founder George Mottershead and has fond memories of growing up in the zoo’s grounds.
Eighty-nine years ago, her grandfather realised his lifetime dream of turning nine acres of land into a zoo where animals could roam freely without bars.
Now Jo said she would be ‘devastated’ if it had to close, adding: ‘I care deeply about it and its future.
A zoo keeper feeds the lions at Chester Zoo after the attraction launched a campaign to raise money to help keep the zoo running
‘If it shut, my family’s dream of a better, more caring zoo for animals, a ‘zoo without bars’, would be shattered.
‘The zoo gives me a glimmer of hope for the many species on the brink of extinction that it is helping.
‘Through education the zoo is enthusing future generations to take better care of our planet and its wildlife.
‘Surely this is a positive thing and yet another reason why I really don’t want Chester Zoo to not have a future. ‘
The zoo, which welcomed two million people in 2019, normally gets 97 per cent of its income from visitors.
The £1.6m donation target was the amount it needs every month to cover the cost of its staff, 128-acre site, conservation and breeding projects and 35,000 animals.
Chester Zoo’s chief operating officer Jamie Christon said they have been closed since 21st March and warned by the government to prepare to stay shut ‘indefinitely’.
He said being unable to open meant it faced a year-end debt of more than £24m that ‘will financially cripple us’.
The government said it had provided a £14m fund to zoos to support animal care.
A Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) spokesman said although zoos were not included in the list of outdoor ticketed venues that can reopen, work ‘to understand how and when’ they may be able to was ‘ongoing’.
Mr Christon added: ‘We’re heading towards debt in excess of £24m by the end of 2020 [and] this will financially cripple us.’
Last Friday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock told the daily coronavirus press conference he hopes zoos like Chester can reopen in a safe way.
Mr Hancock, who comes from the city and attended the King’s School in Chester, said: ‘It’s something that is close to my heart.
‘So I very much hope that we can get the zoos reopen in a safe and Covid-secure way.’
Chester’s MP Chris Matheson has also backed the fight by writing to the Government asking them to reverse a decision not to allow Chester Zoo to reopen.
Mr Matheson said: ‘The Government is in an absurd situation. They are allowing Kew Gardens and Alton Towers to open but not the 128 acres of Chester Zoo.
‘I’m really concerned not just for the local economy but for the world-leading environmental and ecological work such as the sustainable palm oil campaign which it has led the world on.’