MP urging PM to give zoo access to support
A COUNTY MP has called on the government to grant Twycross Zoo access to a largely unused fund set up to help struggling animal centres during the lockdown.
The £100 million Zoo Animals Fund is intended to help groups affected by the Covid-19 outbreak, but a centre has to be in its last 12 weeks of reserves before receiving a grant, meaning many zoos like Twycross are not eligible.
Also, most zoos would already be taking steps to close before reaching 12 weeks of reserves, as it takes months to find and move some of the world’s most endangered animals to suitable homes.
Dr Luke Evans, MP for Bosworth, has signed a letter along with 15 other MPs urging Prime Minister Boris Johnson to “work with the sector to implement new schemes that will meaningfully support all zoos, aquariums and safari parks until we win our fight against the coronavirus”.
Dr Evans said: “To claim financial support from the government, zoos have to be at imminent risk of going under.
“The government’s £100 million Zoo Animals Fund is well meaning but has stood largely untouched because thankfully many have not got to the point of planning for closure yet.
“Only five out of some 300 zoos, aquariums and safari parks have been able to claim. Unfortunately, by the time zoos like Twycross are planning for closure, irreversible damage will have already been done.
“Twycross Zoo is a charity globally respected and locally beloved for its primate conservation programme. We can’t get to a state where it is just weeks from closure before providing support.
“The animals and amazing scientists who look after them need the government to step in now.”
The zoo is struggling to meet its £650,000-a-month costs and is closed due to the second lockdown restrictions, with managers hoping to reopen the attraction on December 3.
It was also closed from late March for almost three months when the first lockdown came into force.
Twycross chief executive, Dr Sharon Redrobe, previously warned of a “mass cull” of the animals if the funding shortfall continued.
Andrew Rosindell, chairman of the all party parliamentary group for zoos and aquariums, said: “We are in an astonishing place where a £100 million support fund has been established and yet zoos that need help cannot access this money.
“This fund flawed.
“The government has been told this for months. We should not have had to get to this position.
“We are facing an extinction crisis and need zoos like never before.” is inadequate and