High there... Scots zoo to welcome giraffes
THE world’s tallest animals should always have the best of views.
So bosses at Edinburgh Zoo are planning to give their new giraffes a setting that is head and shoulders above the rest.
The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) is proceeding with an ambitious plan to bring giraffes back to Edinburgh after an absence of 15 years.
Work had already begun on a £2.8 million state-of-the-art giraffe house and unique landscape for the animals before the Covid-19 pandemic struck. Although work was delayed, it is now hoped a herd of Rothschild’s giraffes could arrive as soon as next spring.
The house, made from steel frame with blockwork and insulated panels, will include raised feeding stations and a specially designed heating system.
Outdoors, the giraffes will roam around a landscape the size of a football pitch.
Gavin Whigham, RZSS head of property and estates, said: ‘We have used the most modern giraffe enclosures as our inspiration and spoken to our colleagues at other zoos around the world to learn from them and to make improvements on their facilities where possible.’
Edinburgh Zoo was home to giraffes from as early as the 1930s, but the animals have been absent in recent years due to a lack of an appropriate-sized enclosure to care for them.
David Field, RZSS chief executive, said: ‘All animal movements have been on hold unless there has been a welfare requirement, so we are now starting to arrange those moves.
‘The giraffe construction was fully funded and was ongoing, so we weren’t actually having to put out any additional costs on the construction. It was delayed, but the guys are back now finishing things off.
‘The giraffes won’t come in now until next spring, or maybe next summer, but one feels a little more confident that we will be able to do this.
‘There is something just remarkable about this zoo.’