This week (April 29) London Zoo (ZSL) celebrated its 200th birthday. To commemorate the big 200, ZSL unveiled plans for an ambitious new attraction that will let visitors get a new view into how the zoo works, experiencing first-hand the hard work of ZSL’s vets.
ZSL announced plans to build a new world-class wildlife health centre, made possible by a recent £20 million donation. To be built at the zoo’s HQ in Regent’s Park, the new centre will deliver expert care to the zoo’s animals while also supporting the Zoological Society’s research and conservation efforts – from monitoring emerging diseases in the wild, to strengthening early warning systems that could prevent the next pandemic.
Excitingly, the centre will bring veterinary science to the public, with visitors to the centre able to watch live procedures, which could include everything from penguin health checks, to frog x-rays and dolphin autopsies. A perfect day out for any wannabe vets.
ZSL’s Head of Wildlife Health Services, Dr Amanda Guthrie told indy100 that it will be a ‘state-of-the-art facility’ providing more space and new equipment for ZSL’s veterinary team and trainees. It will have audio-visual equipment to allow teaching for wildlife vets and conservationists remotely around the world and potentially a new CT-scanner and post-mortem area.
With plans still in their early stages, the exact location of the site is still to be decided.
Kathryn England, chief executive of ZSL said: ‘For 200 years, ZSL has been committed to growing our understanding of wildlife and taking people on that journey with us; from opening the world’s first scientific zoo, to launching the Institute of Zoology, and establishing global conservation projects. In those two centuries we have evolved from studying wildlife, to conserving it, to fighting for it.
‘As we celebrate our bicentenary with the announcement of our ambitious new wildlife health centre, we are drawing on those two centuries of scientific leadership, making us uniquely positioned to deliver this vision. We established the foundations of modern zoo veterinary care, have advanced conservation science on a global scale and been at the vanguard of public engagement with wildlife; our history has shaped how wildlife is studied, treated and protected. Now, that legacy becomes a platform for action.’
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