Bristol Annual Review 2013 Contents Chair of Trustees’ 4. Winter welcome 5. The opening of the Wild Place Project

8. Spring

9. New gorilla house opens

12. Summer It is my pleasure to introduce this so many pupils in one year and a 13. Field conservation year’s Annual Review and to report brilliant milestone. and science that 2013 marked another year of great achievements by Bristol Perhaps our biggest success in 16. Autumn Zoological Society. 2013 was the opening of the Wild Place Project – the first step 17. The year in figures We were delighted that HRH the towards our world-class National Earl of Wessex became our first Wildlife Conservation Park. The Royal Patron this year. His Royal Wild Place Project is a fun, family Highness has visited Bristol a attraction that provides adventure, number of times in the past and play and learning, with an has always shown a great interest emphasis on protecting threatened in the Society’s conservation and habitats. The opening came after Trustees education work. Earlier in the a great deal of hard work by our during the year year, Dr Bryan Carroll and I visited staff and an army of corporate Buckingham Palace to present volunteers to whom I extend my Richard Clarke – Chairman of Trustees information on the Zoological heartfelt thanks. Bristol Zoological Victoria Arrowsmith-Brown Society and to invite His Royal Society is a charity and we Professor Innes Cuthill Highness to become our Patron. appreciate the continued support David Esam He returned in November to of our many corporate partners Professor Allen Goodship officially open our new £1.4 million and affiliates. Paul Kearney gorilla house – another of our Claire Ladkin fantastic achievements this year. Finally, I would like to thank the trustees, the C.E.O., the senior Mathew Laws management team and all the staff Professor Helen Langton The Society’s mission is ‘to save wildlife, through conservation and volunteers for their continued James McArthur action and engaging people with hard work and dedication to the Charlotte Moar the natural world’. This year Bristol Zoological Society. Professor Frank Smith we reached a milestone as the 40,000th pupil this year was taught Richard Clarke Michael Bothamley left the board of Chairman of trustees trustees in 2013. The Society would in an education session at the Zoo like to thank him for his support. – the first time we have taught Chief Executive Off icer’s welcome

Welcome to our Annual Review and our Malayan box turtles, which We received a Darwin grant from for 2013. It was a momentous we bred here for the first time. the UK Government for our work and extremely busy year for the on gorillas and bushmeat hunting Society; a major event being the We had success in many in Cameroon, and we were opening of the Wild Place Project fundraising initiatives, including instrumental in the launch of a new on the Hollywood Tower Estate. In raising over £15,000 for our three-year strategy to conserve 2010, we gained planning consent conservation projects at our lemurs in Madagascar. to create the National Wildlife Christmas gala dinner. Conservation Park (NWCP) on We are also highly active in our the site, but due to the economic Our conservation programme community here in Bristol and the climate post 2008, we could not work also went from strength region. Our Bristol Community fund that scheme. We have taken to strength. We are working Plant Collection project has the decision to grow towards in Colombia on establishing a engaged a variety of social groups NWCP organically, with the Wild protected area for two highly in growing and conserving plants. Place Project being the first step on threatened primate species, the We also continue to play a central that path. The Wild Place Project is Colombian brown spider monkey role in the Avon Gorge and Downs ecosystem-themed and, like NWCP, and the silvery brown tamarin. If Wildlife Project. will forge strong conservation links we are successful, the protected around the world. area will benefit a host of other Our zoo events, whether species from jaguars to frogs to Shakespeare or fireworks, continue In the Zoo, we completed our butterflies. to provide enormous enjoyment to gorilla house project in December. thousands of people. This involved a complete rebuild of the inside area for our gorilla family, Overall, it has been an astonishingly and has transformed the lives of busy year, but one that has been the gorillas and their keepers, as immensely satisfying, and I’m sure well as the viewing experience you will join me in thanking our for guests. dedicated staff and volunteers for all we have achieved. Our breeding programmes continued with an calf, Dr Bryan Carroll Socorro doves (extinct in the wild) C.E.O. DinoZoo Dinosaurs stomped back into as the popular DinoZoo exhibition returned. Ten fearsome new species joined the previous year’s most popular dinosaur - the enormous T-rex. The DinoLab also made a comeback and a series of dinosaur talks were held over the summer holiday. Winter

January March

The year began with the This year’s Edible Garden was refurbishment of Bug World, created following a competition including the creation of two new for local schools to design their display rooms for breeding and own garden within the Zoo. The conservation projects and new winning entry was from Wansdyke exhibits in the forest area. We Primary School and the theme was also refurbished the marine area ‘edible flowers’. including the coral reef tank and another tank housing upside- A highlight of spring was our twin down jellyfish. cubs going on show to the public after months of intensive hand-rearing. February

We once again supported local toad patrols this year and recruited volunteers to help save amorous amphibians as they made their perilous migration across busy roads for the breeding season. Record numbers of toads were saved at Fishponds and Chew Valley and high numbers at Charlcombe Lane, Pill and Abbots Leigh.

4 The opening of the Wild Place Project

July was a landmark month for As impressive as it is, the Wild the Society as the eagerly awaited Place Project would not be what Wild Place Project opened its doors it is without the time, energy and to the public for the first time. commitment that so many of our dedicated staff and corporate The new attraction offers an volunteers put in prior to the insight into ecosystems from park opening. around the world and is home to exotic animals from Madagascar, Employees from local businesses East Africa and the Congo, such played a crucial role, with more as , , lemurs, eland, than 700 staff volunteering almost pygmy goats and guinea fowl. 4,000 hours in total to help get the There are plans to bring in red river Wild Place Project ready to open. hogs, European grey wolves and The Wild Place Project offers In addition, £5,500 was donated by rare Boreray sheep in 2014. guests the chance to get outdoors corporate volunteers to help pay for a fun and affordable day out, for materials across the site. including exploring the woodland and gardens, playing in the Fun Our gardeners created Fort or relaxing in the Tower The Sanctuary Garden at Meadow. The attraction also has the Wild Place Project, a barefoot trail created by our so-called because it is marketing and development team along with staff from Burges home to air raid shelters Salmon who also helped to cover from World War II. It is the cost of materials. now home to plants in need of conservation as We have two commercial partners well as being where we at the attraction who have provided important investment - Levy grow vegetables to feed Restaurants and Event Network. the animals, herbs for the They operate the beautiful cafe and fruit trees. Courtyard Café and gift shop. 5 Over 30,000 guests visited the Wild Place Project in 2013.

The ongoing efforts of staff and corporate partners help make the Wild Place Project a success as it continues to grow. We are very “It’s hard to believe that much looking forward to the future this is so close to the and all the exciting plans we have for the project, as we continue our M5 – a tranquil oasis of commitment to develop it into a conservation, I can’t wait truly world-class attraction. to visit regularly to see it grow and develop.” Founding Families With the opening of the Wild Place Project, we offered 100 families and groups the chance to become members of our Founding Families scheme. This gave families, schools and businesses the opportunity to become founding members, have a plaque in the grounds and attend special events and receive discounts. The scheme has raised over £150,000. 6 Project Lemur Frog

We are one of very few institutions world-wide to successfully breed Costa Rican lemur leaf frogs – one of the rarest frogs in the world. This year we joined an international conservation project to help the species. We have started a DNA study of our frogs, with partners, which will help us set out guidelines for a new European breeding programme to help maintain the genetic diversity of the species in captivity.

Photo: Ron Holt Spring

six Roti Island snake-neck turtles. with world-renowned music April Meanwhile, the bird team oversaw festival, WOMAD, for the third the hatching of two Bali starlings, year running, selling 3,000 tickets. Eight local conservation heroes two spreo starlings, one Palawan were inducted into the Bristol peacock pheasant, an African Two Socorro doves hatched in Walk of Fame, sponsored by penguin chick, an Inca tern and our the summer - a vital boost for Mama Bear’s Day Nursery. The first breeding of a satyr tragopan the breeding programme for this new inductees join the city’s most which was hatched in an incubator species which is extinct in the wild. renowned people, places and and hand-reared. We also rehomed a stowaway icons celebrated on plaques around huntsman spider after it arrived the Zoo. in the UK from South America, hidden in a bunch of bananas! We also took journalists from June the Bristol Post on a press trip to Cameroon to see how the money This month, we became the first raised by the successful Wow! UK zoo to offer Segway tours, and Gorillas project in 2011 has helped were nominated for a ‘Tourism fund the primate sanctuary we Experience of the Year’ award. support there. Music and dance from around the world were showcased at Bristol May Zoo this month, as we partnered

We enjoyed a baby boom with a host of animal births, including an okapi calf, ring-tailed lemur twins, a Goeldi’s monkey and a white- faced saki monkey. Bristol Zoo’s reptile and amphibian keepers were kept busy tending to 60 Chinese mandarin newt larvae and 8 Our new gorilla house opens

glass to slide on and perform roly polys.

The new house also includes an oak tree climbing frame, donated by Westonbirt Arboretum, ropes and play equipment and an indoor pool as well as additional ‘dens’ for the gorillas and weighing scales built into the floor. A new food preparation area and additional space for staff allows for much greater flexibility for our keepers and veterinary team in their day-to- day care of the group. The first phase of our spectacular wellbeing of the gorillas and £1.4 million gorilla house provide additional space for our renovation opened to the public growing family, as well as greatly in August. enhancing guest viewing of these magnificent animals. The new house is a world- leading example of a state-of- Built using sheets of toughened the-art gorilla enclosure, boasting glass, the atrium offers enhanced impressive features such as a viewing of the family of seven new atrium-style glass entrance gorillas from a unique perspective. with an overhead glass panel, The glass also has a lower iron allowing guests to see the gorillas content than normal glass to walking above. maximise the amount of light coming through and to reduce We decided to undertake the reflections. Our youngest gorilla, renovation to improve the Kukeña, can be seen using the 9 Our ‘Gorilla Guardians’ – people who bought a Wow! Gorilla in 2011 - supported the new gorilla house by donating £7,500 over two pledge nights.

The construction of the house enclosure is now double the size Grill for Gorillas was a feat in itself – the glass of the original space. used is over 5cm thick and able To coincide with the to withstand the force of a small Bristol Zoo’s gorilla house has building of our new gorilla car travelling at 30mph - this is been home to western lowland the same as the whole family of gorillas for 16 years and previously house, we ran a successful gorillas charging at it. housed elephants and giraffes. guest conservation The gorillas at Bristol Zoo are part action campaign over the Keepers worked extremely hard of an international conservation summer to encourage with the construction team to breeding programme. guests to choose FSC- ensure the building work was as certified products for stress-free as possible for the gorillas, who remained living in the their summer barbecues. house while the work was done We teamed up with around them. the Forest Stewardship Council, an organisation Outside, a new, giant sandpit was promoting responsible created on Gorilla Island using 12 forest management, and tons of sand, shovelled by Zoo staff and volunteers from Bristol ran a series of talks, a University’s Conservation Society. ‘Zoopermarket’ game, volunteer advocacy, Taking over a year to complete, pledging and a new Wow! phase one of the build was Gorilla painting activity. the most significant part of the We engaged with over transformation, with a total re- 5,790 guests during the design of one side of the Grade II listed building, previously campaign, with overall home to okapi. The final phases improved recognition of of the build were completed the FSC logo. by December and the finished 10 Animal arrivals Animal births this year included two Livingstone’s fruit bats, two six-banded armadillos, three West African dwarf crocodiles, six stingrays and the hatching of a number of Malayan box turtles - the first breeding of this species here. Zoo arrivals included 19 upside-down jellyfish, 12 European sousliks, a species of endangered Mexican pupfish and two customs- seized giant clams. Summer

Our groundbreaking July September Bristol Community Plant Months of hard work came to A ‘penguin day’ of games and Collection is the first fruition with the opening of the activities for guests was held of its kind and involves Wild Place Project. Turn to page to celebrate our hosting of an community groups and five for more detail. international penguin conference. schools from around the city growing varieties of Back at the Zoo’s Reptile House, We were involved in the planting three green tree monitors and 14 of greater water parsnip in the marigolds (Calendula). common chameleons hatched. Somerset Levels - an important This year we formally Despite the name, this species is reintroduction and habitat adopted the Calendula as not common in captivity and is very restoration project for the area. rarely bred. part of the Plant Heritage Seeds for the plants were National Collection – a germinated by our gardeners and hundreds of seedlings were commitment by us to planted out. document, develop and August preserve this plant in trust The first phase of our new, state- for the future. of-the-art gorilla house opened to the public in August, offering guests the chance to step into our gorilla family’s world. Turn to page nine for more details.

A successful calendar of events took place at the Zoo this summer, including three open-air film nights showing a total of six films; three Sunset Special events and an open-air performance of Shakespeare’s ‘As You Like It’. 12 Field conservation and science

Bristol Zoo works in the UK and Society, along with the IUCN whilst reducing the unregulated around the world to save wildlife Primate Specialist Group and take of wildlife in the region. We through conservation science and Conservation International. It have been implementing this with action and engaging people with contains 30 action plans for 30 Living Earth, the University of the natural world. priority sites of lemur conservation. Bristol, and FCTV (Cameroon).

A highlight this year was the A milestone in the conservation Our project in Colombia has discovery of a new arboreal frog of South African penguins was progressed well this year with of the genus Boophis, and the reached this year, when the South the establishment of the Central rediscovery of a population of African government published a Magdalena Alliance with a number Boophis tsilomaro, a Critically Biodiversity Management Plan for of NGOs, including Pantera, Endangered species with a tiny the birds. This is one of the first Wildlife Conservation Society distribution in Madagascar. such plans to be officially published and Proyecto Primates. The main for any species in South Africa objective of the Alliance is to In the summer, primate experts and commits the government join individual efforts in order to from around the world gathered to safeguarding the remaining become an influential actor in the to write a three-year emergency penguin populations and reversing conservation of biodiversity in strategy for the conservation the species’ decline. This year of lemurs in Madagascar, many we helped track 43 juvenile South This year we funded of which are on the brink of African penguins in the wild. This extinction. The £4.6m strategy helps us establish new colonies in an education project was jointly led by Bristol Zoological places more suitable for their long- for secondary school- term survival. aged children in the south of Negros Island, This year we received a Darwin Philippines. The project Initiative grant for our work aims to raise awareness developing a pro-poor, sustainable bushmeat harvesting model in of the importance of Cameroon. The aim is to reduce the landscape and its poverty among communities living biodiversity including Photo: Gonçalo M. Rosa around the Dja Biosphere Reserve bleeding heart doves. 13 Native species Avon Gorge & Downs - Bristol Wildlife Project - Bristol

White-clawed crayfish Père David’s deer - South West England - China

Partula snails Negros bleeding heart - French Polynesia doves - Philippines

Primates of the lowland Livingstone’s fruit bats forest - Colombia - Comoros

Primates (Ape Action Lemurs and amphibians Africa) - Cameroon - Madagascar

Dja Biosphere Reserve African penguins - Cameroon - South Africa

the Magdalena River Valley. This and will be released into ark sites includes conducting landscape in 2014 to help supplement wild This year we established analyses and defining the main populations. conservation issues. a local NGO to continue We continued our annual summer conservation work with Our native species conservation surveys of the silky wave moth the Livingstone’s fruit bats projects have continued this year, in the Avon Gorge - the only site in the Comoro Islands. with great success. The South where the species is found in West Crayfish Project has seen England. Silky wave moth numbers excellent results over four years, recorded were approximately 50% including the creation of 14 safe lower than in the past two years, at ‘ark sites’ and a 50% increase in all three of the Bristol priority sites. populations in the South West. Efforts have included organising 22 This year, egg-bearing female We have been hard at work on Himalayan balsam bashing events, white-clawed crayfish were the River Frome this year clearing teaching over 300 children and brought into Bristol Zoo. The invasive plant species as part of extensive spraying of Japanese eggs were hatched and reared the Avon Invasive Weed Project. knotweed and giant hogweed. 14 Our volunteers Our volunteers continue to be a great asset to the Zoo. Last year, 5,000 hours were given to staffing Butterfly Forest, 53 ‘Zoo to You’ outreach visits were made, 20,000 people attended Animal Encounter sessions in the Terrace Theatre and over 8,500 guest faces were painted! The impressive Christmas grotto proved popular again this year, with over 1,270 children visiting Santa. Autumn We reached a milestone in the autumn as the 40,000th pupil this year was taught in an education session at the Zoo. This was the first time we have taught this many pupils in one year.

Our Christmas charity gala dinner We were pleased to October was hosted by Chris Serle with receive commendations Johnny Ball as a special guest. It Our popular Fright Night returned was a huge success, attended by for best research project at Halloween and was a sell-out, over 100 corporate and individual and best education project followed by three nights of Family supporters, and raised £15,000 for from the British and Irish Friendly Fireworks. our conservation projects. Association of and Aquariums in November. The research project November looked at the different alarm calls made by the This year, we were proud to Critically Endangered announce that HRH the Earl of Sahamalaza sportive Wessex became the first Royal Patron of the Bristol Zoological lemur and the education Society. His Royal Highness has commendation was for visited Bristol Zoo a number of our Bristol Community times and has always shown a Plant Collection. great interest in our conservation and education work. He returned to the Zoo in November to officially open our new gorilla house.

December

Three Enchanted Christmas festive celebrations were held in December, attended by nearly 8,500 people. 16 The year in figures

Visitors to the Bristol Zoo website 1,569,724 Our penguins eat 8,400kg Cost of building the new gorilla house in £ 1,400,000 of fish per year, the equivalent weight of three Money generated via Bristol Zoo’s website in £ 1,080,217 Asian elephants! Total guests to Bristol Zoo 554,344 Amount spent on UK native species conservation in £ 110,000 Ice creams and ice lollies eaten at Bristol Zoo 84,837 School children taught 40,647 Total guests to the Wild Place Project (July-Dec) 31,724 Bristol Zoo annual members 30,270 Number of guests attending dinosaur talks over the summer 7,000 Corporate volunteer hours spent at the Wild Place Project 3,990 Our environmental Daffodil bulbs planted at the Wild Place Project 3,500 achievements for the year Wild Place Project annual members 2,911 included a reduction in the Animal talks given at Bristol Zoo volume of waste going 1,900 to landfill, a reduction in Litres of nectar eaten by the rainbow lorikeets 1,350 electricity use by 1.3% Animal x-rays taken by our vets 812 and gas use by 2% Number of eggs laid by birds at Bristol Zoo (against 2012). 709 Pots of yoghurt eaten by Jock the silverback gorilla 156 Kilometres of riverbank cleared of invasive plants along the River Frome 80 Okapi calves born 1 17 Where our money comes from

Admission income Gift Aid and gate donations Annual membership Miscellaneous Our green Grants and donations for field conservation and research credentials Fundraising and voluntary income Retail sales and commission Our green credentials Catering commission Conference facilities were once again Other income generating activities (car parks, recognised this year as events etc.) we were awarded a silver Investment and property income accreditation for our sustainable travel plans. We were commended Where the money for our commitment to is spent achieving the ISO14001 standard for sustainability Animals as well as for pro- Marketing Costs of generating income (shops, catering actively seeking transport costs, fundraising etc.) partnership arrangements, Administration, HR, overheads etc. offering free park & ride Conservation and research projects services for guests, Education (inc dinosaur exhibition) arranging cycling Gardens, estates, maintenance and running of the Zoo roadshows and launching Wild Place Project operating costs a new affordable bus route for guests. 18 Bristol Zoological Society would like to thank its staff, volunteers, members, partners, sponsors, donors and other affiliates who have supported us throughout 2013.

Bristol, Clifton and West of England Zoological Society Ltd Registered Charity No. 1104986 Registered in England No. 5154176