Edinburgh Zoo

Chief Executive's Update

In celebrating our 100th birthday there is a more than reasonable excuse to look back briefly at the history of the Society. Going through the Annual Reports all the way back to 1909 makes fascinating reading, if only to confirm that the challenges and ambitions we have today are nearly identical to those Thomas Gillespie and the founding members faced all those years ago.

We may wish to express in a more modern way the original objective of the Society, which was ‘ …..to foster and develop amongst the people an interest in and knowledge of animal life and for these purposes to establish and carry on living zoological collections in Scotland…..’ – but it still remains at the heart of why this Society exists.

The relationship between human beings and nature has changed radically since those words were written and that change – which unfortunately has been for the worse – has made the Society’s role and activities even more important for Scotland and in my view augurs well for the next hundred years! 

This seems to be borne out by the more than 740,000 people visiting Edinburgh Zoo and the Highland Wildlife Park in 2008, up by 10% from the previous year and during what was a decidedly mixed summer. The highlight was St Andrew’s day when over 18,500 people visited Edinburgh Zoo for free. As you can imagine, this presented our staff with major challenges, but it did underline very clearly the continuing popularity of the animals in our collection and the conservation message associated with them.

At the end of May the Society, in conjunction with the Scottish Wildlife Trust, will release four families of beavers from Norway into the Knapdale Forest in Argyll and thus start a five-year study of their survival and behaviour in the wild. This project has not been without some controversy, but an overwhelming majority of the public support it and we firmly believe that beavers will make a positive contribution to Scottish wildlife conservation.

We have set up an appeal for funds to move our polar bear to a new, much larger enclosure in the Park.  This fulfils a promise made some years ago because the animal collection there is based on mountain and tundra biomes and Mercedes is much more suited to that environment. I hope very much you will support our appeal.

With the approach of Easter, our thoughts turn to the new season. In these difficult economic times we hope that the Society continues to offer value for money and that we can welcome your continued support in 2009.
 

David Windmill
Chief Executive
The Royal Zoological of Society of Scotland

Further details on the RZSS Management Team

Registered charity number: SC004064

Edinburgh Zoo and the Highland Wildlife Park are owned by The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland.

Edinburgh | Scotland | United Kingdom | EH12 6TS

Tel: 0131 334 9171 | Fax: 0131 314 0384 | Email: info@rzss.org.uk

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