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fantastic animal keepers, made sure our animals were well looked after throughout, but many of our staff in other departments were furloughed. “The amount of support


we received from our local communities, both here in Torbay and also in Newquay, was humbling and, thankfully, we had a successful summer season as many tourists were holidaying in the UK. “The fact we are now open, people are coming in every day and we are able to move forward with plans for the future is great.” Running Paignton Zoo is a huge


365 day-a-year undertaking. “In many ways, running the zoo is like running multiple businesses at once. As well as our zoo keepers, vets, maintenance staff and gardeners we also have catering and retail teams, education and research staff and front of house and cleaning staff. “We have in the region of 250 animal species; the biggest is either the black rhinoceros or giraffe depending if you are going for bulk or height, and the smallest are leaf cutter ants. “A dedicated stores team looks


“But this is not just a zoo, we are a charity whose reason for being is to protect wildlife. If you come here you are making a very definite tangible difference to that work.”


after all of the animal feed, with walk-in freezers full of meat and fish and fridges full of fruit and veg. “We have our own vets on site, and the health and welfare checks


Protecting rare seagrass beds in Tor Bay.


of our animals are constantly ongoing. “The keepers know their animals inside out and they would be the first person to notice a slight change in behaviour.” Paignton Zoo’s mission is to help halt species decline. One of the ways it does this is through involvement with collaborative European breeding programmes for endangered species, such as electric blue geckos and Sulawesi crested black macaque. Its key aim is to show people the


zoo is part of a huge global, co- ordinated effort to protect animals and wild habitats. Steve explained: “Good zoos


work together to protect wildlife and support conservation. We don’t buy and sell our animals and there’s no financial aspect to our breeding programmes, it’s all about maintaining healthy populations of these species, increasing our understanding of how they live, breed and behave, and working with colleagues and communities around the world to make a difference.” He continued: “The zoo’s


centenary is next year and we’re


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