More than £800,000 raised to save Chester Zoo from closure in less than a day

The government has ordered Chester Zoo to stay closed indefinitely, throwing the future of the much-loved zoo into doubt. 

Chester Zoo is the UK’s biggest and most popular charity zoo that provides conservation to many endangered species.

Throughout lockdown, the zoo has taken to social media to provide virtual days around the zoo. The virtual days lasted for hours at a time and included an array of animals, educational pieces and the chance to watch feedings.

The zoo has taken to its Facebook again but this time with a message titled ‘Save Our Zoo’. 

The post revealed that the staff had received the devastating news that they would have to remain closed despite putting safety measures in place and ensuring they are COVID secure.

The statement says: “We’ve tried to stay positive during this pandemic, we’ve planned for our opening, we’ve cut no corners in terms of care for our animals and commitment to our conservation work, we’ve looked forward to welcoming You back soon,”

“But we have now received the devastating news that the government has ordered us to ‘stay closed indefinitely’ despite being ‘COVID secure’ and able to safely manage numbers and social distancing.

“While other ticketed gardens open this week our 128 acres must stay closed. This has thrown the future of the zoo into doubt.”

The zoo recently released pictures of the new safety measures it had put in place, hoping it would be able to reopen the doors in July. 

The statement addresses the issue of the public ‘piling onto’ beauty spots where there is ‘no way of controlling numbers’, stating that the zoo is able to guarantee people keep socially distanced and can easily control numbers.

The charity now needs to raise £1.6m a month to save it. 

The zoo is urging people to make a donation here, adopt an animal from your favourite species here, become a member of the zoo here, or if you already do, keep paying your membership fees.

So far, the Just Giving page has more than 44,000 supporters and £839,839 donated.

The statements ends with: “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…”

Keep up to date with the news of Chester Zoo here.