London Zoo and its important conservation work faces a perilous future without immediate support because of the Covid-19 lockdown.
The world-famous charity Zoological Society of London said the venue and its sister site Whipsnade Zoo, Bedfordshire, have been closed to visitors since March 20-21 due to the pandemic.
They have been shut for most of the peak season, including school holidays at Easter, when they would expect 250,000 visitors, and two May bank holiday weekends.
Core income has dried up while costs for keepers and vets to care for 20,000 animals, many of them rare and endangered, remain the same.
The income from the zoos also covers scientific research institute and global conservation programmes, which help nature, research diseases in wildlife, and works to prevent the illegal wildlife trade.
Director general Dominic Jermey said the situation was putting it in a “very challenging” position.
ZSL said it was struggling to obtain financial support from banks, because the organisation has no history of borrowing and cannot access the kind of major commercial loan it needs.
Ministers have announced a £14 million fund to support zoos hit by the pandemic lockdown but ZSL said the focus was on small grants for small zoos and an institution of its size needs much more significant support.
The charity has warned that without financial support, the zoos face a un uncertain future.
Mr Jermey told the PA news agency: “In good faith we are having conversations with very generous people who have supported us in the past, and with banks, in order to make sure the future does not remain perilous.
“But at the moment it’s a very challenging moment for the organisation.”
The idea that the pandemic could spell the end of London Zoo “would be absolutely unthinkable”, he said.
“But the plain facts of any organisation is we can’t continue to operate without any income.”
Mr Jermey said the zoos had measures planned for visitors if lockdown is eased. These include contactless-only payments, hygiene points, a one-way system at London Zoo and by being an outdoor-only experience to begin with.
He said London Zoo had only ever shut once before, for two weeks during the Blitz, before it reopened at the request of the Government to boost morale in the capital.
While he acknowledged the Government had a lot on its hands, he said: “a national institution such as ZSL and its zoos cannot slip through the cracks.”
* ZSL has also launched a fundraising drive for members of the public to support the zoos and its work: zsl.org/donate
