As the UK’s biggest and most popular charity zoo, we’ve tried to stay positive during this pandemic.
Our conservationists have continued to prevent extinction, our virtual days have cheered up the nation, and our learning resources have helped thousands of home-schooling families.
We wanted to remain a beacon of hope.
We really tried.
But now, as the government has ordered that we may have to stay closed indefinitely, it hurts us to say that this crisis has left us fighting for our future.
Not being able to open, despite being a huge outdoor site with all the necessary safety measures in place, is having a devastating impact on our much-loved zoo. We’re heading towards debt in excess of £24m by the end of 2020 – this will financially cripple us. We need to raise £1.6m each month to keep going.
Meanwhile, we’re having to sit back and watch as people are piling onto beaches and into public parks, where there is no way of controlling numbers, no way of guaranteeing people are socially distanced and no way of ensuring safety. We, can do all of this.
We look on as, from this week, private gardens open up, while our own 128 acres of gardens and 16km of pathways remain closed, and under enormous financial pressure.
We REFUSE to cut corners when it comes to caring for the animals.
We REFUSE to give up on our fight to prevent extinction.
And because of that, we’ve now reached the point where we desperately NEED YOUR HELP.
We need you to SAVE OUR ZOO…
To donate go to www.justgiving.com/campaign/ChesterZooFuture
Catch up on all the virtual zoo days so far https://www.chesterzoo.org/virtual-zoo-2/
For anything else go to www.chesterzoo.org/saveourzoo
