Animal magic 185 years of wonder – and a bright future ahead for zoo
Dr Justin Morris, chief executive of Bristol Zoological Society, looks to the past and the future of Bristol Zoo Gardens as it reaches a historic anniversary
IT was 185 years ago on July 11, 1836, that Bristol Zoo Gardens welcomed its first visitors. Founded by Henry Riley, a local physician, it was designed to facilitate ‘the observation of habits, form, and structure of the animal kingdom, as well as affording rational amusement and recreation to the visitors of the neighbourhood.’
As I stand at the front entrance I wonder how they must have felt walking through the gates that day to come face-to-face with animals they may have only seen before in drawings. Their eyes must have opened wide in wonder and their heartbeats would have quickened.
Times may have changed but our visitors today have a definite connection with those Georgians of 185 years ago, because they also get the same excitement as they walk in knowing in a few moments they will get close to some of the most amazing animals on the planet.
Like probably every family in Bristol we came to the zoo when I was a boy. I remember that thrill as I stepped inside. It’s a feeling I still have today. It never leaves you.
Walking around the zoo’s 12-acres, with its award-winning gardens, I think of the hundreds of thousands of people who have visited over the years.
The gasps of awe, the excited screams of children, the sighs of people as they watch animals with their infants. Young and old – they are all moved.
I pass Gorilla Island and catch sight of the plaque celebrating one of the zoo’s most famous animals, Alfred the gorilla.
He lived at the zoo from 1930 until 1948 and became internationally famous as visiting American troops sent letters home, telling loved ones about him during the Second World War.
People still talk about him and they still remember the elephants too. Rosie in the 1940s and 1950s, then Christina and finally Wendy who died in 2002 – our last elephant.
If I stop for a moment I can picture them and the years seem to melt away.
There is a timelessness to this place. I can almost imagine Animal Magic presenter Johnny Morris walking around the corner in his Bristol Zookeeper uniform with a lemur sitting on his shoulder!
“I’m just taking this little chap to the vet for a check-up,” he would say. And then he would lend his voice to the lemur who would whisper: “Yes, just a check-up.”
I turn towards the heart of the zoo and the main lawn where families have sat eating ice-creams and enjoying a day out for almost 185 summers.
And then I think of how the zoo has changed during those years. The animals today live in enclosures that reflect their natural habitats and many represent species that in the wild are threatened with extinction – one species, the socorro dove, is extinct in the wild.
We work with many other zoos across the world on breeding programmes to safeguard some of the rarest species. That includes mighty western lowland gorillas, many types of lemurs, Desertas wolf spiders and blue monitor lizards.
Since 1836 we have helped save over 175 species through breeding programmes, established more than 30 conservation and research projects across the world, showed 40 million children the value of nature, and given more than 90 million people a great day out.
We are proud to be the first to use the term ‘zoo,’ the first zoo in Europe to breed chimpanzees, and our reputation for pioneering zoo design including the nocturnal house, Twilight World.
But what of the future? We announced last November that we intend to leave this site.
It was a decision taken by the zoo’s trustees with heavy hearts . They like me, and you, love this place.
But we have a duty to ensure that Bristol Zoological Society and Bristol Zoo will continue long into the future and so we have to let our heads rule our hearts and move.
Our new home, at what is now Wild Place Project on the northern edge of the city, will give us almost 12 times as much space and allow us to create a world-class zoo for the 21st Century.
It is a massive undertaking and a hugely exciting opportunity for us, and we are approaching it with the same zeal that led our forebears to create Bristol Zoo Gardens.
We are aiming to officially open the new Bristol Zoo in 2024. Before that, in autumn next year, we will close Bristol Zoo Gardens for the final time.
Will there be tears shed on that day? Of course there will and some of them may well be mine.
But as much as it will be the end of one chapter it will be the start of another for Bristol Zoological Society.
Today the society is working with partners across four continents to save animals from extinction and delivers several degree programmes with colleges and universities to train the next generation of conservationists.
This work will be celebrated and developed even more through the new Bristol Zoo.
We have a statement that underlines everything Bristol Zoological Society does – it is Saving Wildlife Together. Three simple words but they represent almost immeasurable passion, commitment and love for animals.
They guide every decision and every action we take – and I know they always will.