ZOO OPENING TIMES
We are open every day of the year, including Christmas Day, from 9am until:
| 6.00pm | April - September |
| 5.00pm | October & March |
| 4.30pm | November - February |
2009 Events
Find out what's happening
at the Zoo in 2009.
Events include owl flights,
wildlife lectures, quiz nights and
a wine tasting.
Chief Executive's Update
The future of Edinburgh Zoo depends upon our providing an exciting and inspiring day out for our visitors. We will do this by creating a unique and constantly changing collection of animals housed in modern and imaginative enclosures with interpretation that connects our animals to their conservation in the wild. We must also provide good quality restaurants, shops, toilets and other facilities which visitors nowadays expect.
Budongo Trail, Rainbow Landings and Living Links set the standard for our future zoo.
But all this takes money and lots of it with a zoo nearly 100 years old and covering 87 acres. In the absence of any government or local authority funding the Society has to rely entirely on its own resources. And that is why the Society needs to raise substantial sums of money by developing some surplus land along the western boundary of the zoo.
Approval was given for this by planners in 2006 but the decision was reversed in 2007 by the new Council administration in producing its Local Plan for the city. The Society now has to engage in the costly Local Plan inquiry process to reverse that second decision.
If we are not successful it is a serious matter for the Society and, dare I suggest, the city of Edinburgh. Glasgow Zoo shows what can happen when a popular visitor attraction fails to invest in its facilities.
The issue is simple. Does the city of Edinburgh want a world class visitor attraction and conservation organisation? We have the ideas, the plans and the passion to bring them to fruition. Despite regular and widespread consultation nobody has come up with alternative plans, only that we should be prevented from going ahead.
The easy option is to say “the Government should pay”. We prefer to take responsibility for our own future. I would welcome letters of support for the Society’s plans for Edinburgh Zoo, including the development of its surplus land. These letters will demonstrate the invaluable support we have from the public and our members and will be gratefully received. Please write to me c/o Edinburgh Zoo or to your local councillor expressing that support. Thank you.
David Windmill
Chief Executive
The Royal Zoological of Society of Scotland
Further details on the RZSS Management Team