Sadly the zoo industry has been hit massively by the coronavirus pandemic. This is the industry that I have dedicated my life to since I was a teenager leaving school and it means the world to me. When a zoo closes its gates to visitors their income dries up- but the cost of providing for the animals does not change. Most of you will know that I am a zoo keeper at Chester Zoo and I literally know first hand how difficult things are for zoos at the moment. At Chester Zoo we have recently had a massive outpouring of support and donations and we are extremely glad to be opening our gates on the 15th June, welcoming visitors again. Our booking site has crashed with the popularity of people trying to book their tickets! Excellent. But the truth is- no zoo can act alone. We are a community and we need each other. We work in conjunction with other zoos to make our breeding programmes a success and we regularly transfer animals between zoos. We are a team. As someone that really values the importance of the zoo industry I would really like to encourage everyone to support their local zoos! If you don’t know which zoo is your local one, have a look online and maybe consider a visit if you can? Or even adopt an animal! Sometimes the smaller collections are the little gems! I have visited over 140 zoos and some of my favourite ones are the small ones! Please please please support your local zoo if you can. The animals don’t have a clue what’s going on but if they did I am sure they would be very grateful. 

Jersey Zoo (run by Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust) is currently fighting for survival and urgently needs help. Along with Chester Zoo, Jersey Zoo is one of the top zoos for conservation. They have amazing projects saving endangered species from extinction around the globe.  The difference is that Jersey Zoo is obviously on an island and the bulk of their normal visitors are tourists, holidaying in Jersey. With no tourism on the island at the moment they are down to only 20% visitor numbers which is heartbreakingly not sustainable at all. After all there is only so many times the local people can keep visiting the zoo!! These must be extremely tough times for my Jersey Zoo colleagues and I want to show support to them and the incredible work that they do. I visited Jersey Zoo for the first time a few years ago and the highlight was their amazing fruit bat enclosure- I have never seen anything like it. I would love to visit Jersey Zoo again this year to show them my support in person but as things stand I don’t think that will be an option. Instead I am going to cycle there- virtually. Door to door from Chester Zoo to Jersey Zoo is 370.8 miles. That is just shy of 600km....and I am going to be cycling that distance over the next few weeks. I aim to ‘get to Jersey Zoo’ by the end of the month, but my fitness levels may have other ideas!! Wish me luck.

If you love wild animals you will probably know that virtually all natural habitats are seriously threatened and need protection. So many species are on the brink of going extinct forever. Good zoos across the planet provide support in the form of conservation. They can only protect the animals and their habitats with your help. The Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust are in crisis and the future of one of our best zoos is in jeopardy. Please join me in supporting them in any way that you can. Thank you so much xxx