Massive fire at Chester Zoo :(
- Thread starter Rainmaker
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Soldato
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Zoo Statement:
Yesterday was one of the toughest days in Chester Zoo’s long history. The remarkable efforts from the zoo team and the emergency services meant the fire was extinguished as quickly as possible.
Visitors were evacuated immediately and we would like to thank them for their understanding and cooperation. Thankfully, no staff or public were harmed in the incident.
Keepers were able to encourage all mammal species away from the fire and to safety - including the zoo’s group of critically endangered Sumatran orangutans, Sulawesi macaques, endangered silvery gibbons and birds such as rhinoceros hornbills.
We are though, devastated to say that we were unable to save some of our insects, frogs, fish and small birds who were located near to the outbreak of the fire. It’s absolutely heart-breaking to lose any animal, especially when conservationists have worked so hard to breed these wonderful species.
New homes have been found within the zoo for all of the animals that were led to safety and our teams are working around the clock to relocate them as soon as possible.
The strength and support from the public has been incredibly overwhelming and the messages of goodwill have been of great comfort to our teams. We will support each other in rebuilding this part of the zoo and continue our mission of preventing extinction.
The cause of the fire is currently unknown, but we will be helping the relevant authorities with the investigation that will take place over the coming days and weeks. We would again, like to thank the emergency services for their swift response.
Jamie Christon – Chief Operating Officer
Please refer to our website and social media pages for accurate information. We will continue update you with more details as soon as we have them.
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Many of you have expressed that you would like to come along to the zoo to show your support, so we are able to confirm that the zoo will be open today, Sunday 16 December. Monsoon Forest and our Islands zone will remain closed as our conservationists and vets continue to provide expert care and attention to the species there.
The Lanterns event will go ahead this evening (Sunday 16 December) as planned.
As a result of the overwhelming numbers of people asking how they can donate to support our work as a conservation charity in light of the fire, a Just Giving page has been set up here: https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/monsoonforest
Thank you to everyone who has donated. Of course, we will be working with our insurers regarding the building damage but the generosity of our supporters will help us to recover our conservation efforts for threatened species as we fight against extinction.
Yesterday was one of the toughest days in Chester Zoo’s long history. The remarkable efforts from the zoo team and the emergency services meant the fire was extinguished as quickly as possible.
Visitors were evacuated immediately and we would like to thank them for their understanding and cooperation. Thankfully, no staff or public were harmed in the incident.
Keepers were able to encourage all mammal species away from the fire and to safety - including the zoo’s group of critically endangered Sumatran orangutans, Sulawesi macaques, endangered silvery gibbons and birds such as rhinoceros hornbills.
We are though, devastated to say that we were unable to save some of our insects, frogs, fish and small birds who were located near to the outbreak of the fire. It’s absolutely heart-breaking to lose any animal, especially when conservationists have worked so hard to breed these wonderful species.
New homes have been found within the zoo for all of the animals that were led to safety and our teams are working around the clock to relocate them as soon as possible.
The strength and support from the public has been incredibly overwhelming and the messages of goodwill have been of great comfort to our teams. We will support each other in rebuilding this part of the zoo and continue our mission of preventing extinction.
The cause of the fire is currently unknown, but we will be helping the relevant authorities with the investigation that will take place over the coming days and weeks. We would again, like to thank the emergency services for their swift response.
Jamie Christon – Chief Operating Officer
Please refer to our website and social media pages for accurate information. We will continue update you with more details as soon as we have them.
------------
Many of you have expressed that you would like to come along to the zoo to show your support, so we are able to confirm that the zoo will be open today, Sunday 16 December. Monsoon Forest and our Islands zone will remain closed as our conservationists and vets continue to provide expert care and attention to the species there.
The Lanterns event will go ahead this evening (Sunday 16 December) as planned.
As a result of the overwhelming numbers of people asking how they can donate to support our work as a conservation charity in light of the fire, a Just Giving page has been set up here: https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/monsoonforest
Thank you to everyone who has donated. Of course, we will be working with our insurers regarding the building damage but the generosity of our supporters will help us to recover our conservation efforts for threatened species as we fight against extinction.
Man of Honour
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- 21 Nov 2004
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That is really sad. Poor creatures.
Caporegime
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The excess for claiming against insurance will be high.
Well that's mildly disingenuous, i'd love for them to explain how temporarily saving a few dozen critters/plants in an engineered environment is "staving off extinction". The genetic's alone would degrade eventually, much like Atlantic Salmon is just from the farming.
Soldato
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Anyone who’s tasted crocodile before?
I quite enjoyed it.
that is a small % of people then. sounds like there is a large untapped market here.
Soldato
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Tastes like slightly salty chicken, can’t say it would be my first choice on the menu but it certainly wasn’t awful.
Caporegime
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Yep, i thought it was very tasty.
I'd imagine they know a bit more about it than you. Of course, I could be wrong.
Because money made by zoo's is reinvested in conservation programmes. Breeding exercises also exist between pretty much every zoo in the civilised world which promotes genetic diversity.
Ahh like charities that abuse their positions, time and again. Gotta pull on those heartstrings.
Yup and in some cases the worldwide conservation effort is probably keeping a wider genetic diversity of some species than would be found in the remaining habitats where they maybe a few hundred in one, then a few hundred in another so far apart they're effectively two small gene pools.
IIRC the modern conversation and breeding efforts track where the animals came from originally (where they were caught/their ancestors were caught), then the lineage from captivity. I think if it's done carefully you can maintain the diversity from a much smaller number of animals than would be required in the wild, simply because you can keep animals that are too closely related apart.