EDINBURGH

Zoo and the Highland Wildlife Park in Kingussie, Inverness-shire, are ‘an endangered animal’, according to bosses.

The venues, which cost £700,000 a week to run, have now had to take out a multi-millionpound loan to avoid going under.

While supporters have been generous, the zoo – home to the UK’s only giant pandas, Tian Tian, inset, and Yang Guang – and park rely on visitors.

David Field, chief executive of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS), which runs both parks, is begging the Scottish Government to let them reopen, with special measures such as a cap on visitor numbers and access restricted to outside enclosures.

The RZSS does vital conservation work. Nicola, it’s over to you.