Edinburgh Zoo Edinburgh Zoo News 2025

Quincey said:
Edinburgh Zoo’s 13-year-old sun bear, Babu, is now in remission following a terminal diagnosis last year.

Edinburgh Zoo sun bear Babu in remission following terminal cancer diagnosis
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That’s wonderful news, although I disliked how in the last AGM, DF wrote off Babu and gave us the impression that she had a few weeks to live.

While perhaps that’s what they thought at the time, I can’t help but feel that attitude is almost like they wanted to wipe the slate clean with the sun bears because they wanted a different animal, especially given since they have had a number of other animal deaths since.
 
GeeZee said:
That’s wonderful news, although I disliked how in the last AGM, DF wrote off Babu and gave us the impression that she had a few weeks to live.

While perhaps that’s what they thought at the time, I can’t help but feel that attitude is almost like they wanted to wipe the slate clean with the sun bears because they wanted a different animal, especially given since they have had a number of other animal deaths since.
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I think that’s unfair. Cancer is clearly as unpredictable in other animals as it is with humans. I know of family members who were told they would likely die within a fortnight but went on to live for seven months, another for seven years as new treatments became available.

surely if they were in such a hurry to get rid of Babu they’d just have euthanised her under the circumstances.
 
Cobi said:
I think that’s unfair. Cancer is clearly as unpredictable in other animals as it is with humans. I know of family members who were told they would likely die within a fortnight but went on to live for seven months, another for seven years as new treatments became available.

surely if they were in such a hurry to get rid of Babu they’d just have euthanised her under the circumstances.
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That is true & as have I from my personal circumstances - but if I remember he was talking about plans to replace them and what was going on with the exhibit etc, seems a bit crass no?

It’s like talking about a relative with cancer retrospectively before they’ve actually died, without considering the fact that there is a possibly for recovery, it also came across as rather negative and this is from the top guy.
 
Cat-Man said:
Was the plan to bring in new Sun Bear, or a new species entirely?
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From memory I don’t believe they were going to get them replaced, but I remember it being spoken about of how to use the space once they had died (which hasn’t happened).
 
Just been on the Edinburgh zoo AGM some of the things mentioned were- Working on getting a female cheetah in, a new female lion, a new male Tiger hoping the new EU deal might help speed up transfers of animals between UK and Europe. Looking at bringing in two Camels from Yorkshire to move to current Zebra enclosure alongside the horses once the zebras move to their new enclosure beside the giraffes. They are looking at potentially a species of Antelope at the current horses enclosure. They are looking at potential of new Indoor enclosure with the wet weather mentioned plans to do up old monkey house enclosure beside the penguins (in their words watch this space) also mentioned plans of potentially crocodiles, reptiles. They are looking at sight plans and developments to make changes for the next 5-10-20 years
 
A few updates from tonight's AGM:

  • Visitor numbers for 2024 were 530,000
  • RZSS now has 50,000 members
  • Although female Sun Bear, Babu, is now in remission from cancer, it is unlikely the zoo will seek a partner for her
  • A female Cheetah will be arriving in the future to pair with resident male, Billy. It was mentioned that getting the relevant licences from Europe were the issue causing the delay in her arrival, and it was also mentioned that the zoo are hopeful the recently announced UK-EU deal will help to speed up animal transfers between the UK and the EU.
  • Akiko, male Pallas' cat, has had a female recommended to be paired with him for breeding, however she has not been born yet.
  • Qabid, male Indian Rhino, will be moving to Eindhoven, the zoo there was not ready to receive him and that's why his move has been delayed, they are now ready to receive him however Edinburgh do not believe that moving him in the summer is in his best interests so he will remain for another few months before departing. When he leaves 2 young males will arrive to replace him.
  • The 2 males Sloth Bears will be arriving towards the end of June/start of July. One is coming from Berlin, the other from Zlin Zoo. The moves have been delayed slightly as the bear in Berlin has required some health tests. It's hoped in time the Sloth Bear's will share there enclosure with an other species, although no particular other species was mentioned.
  • One of the female capybara is pregnant.
  • New lioness, Bindi, has health issues and the zoo are therefore looking for another lioness to pair with male, Jay.
  • Male Tiger, Lucu, will be moving to Bratislava, with a new male arriving after his departure.
  • 2 Bactrian Camels will be arriving from Yorkshire Wildlife Park, they will be going into the enclosure currently occupied by the Zebra. The Zebra are due to move to there new enclosure very shortly, one of the mares is in foal and due in a few months. The Przewalski's horses will be moving to join the Camels in a shared enclosure. With a new species of Antelope (hopefully) arriving to go in the enclosure that the horses currently occupy.
  • They are hoping to complete the Koala enclosure refurbishment in 2026, a new male is lined up and ready to come when the enclosure is ready.
  • They have signed a lease for a new vehicle to assist people getting to the top of the hill, it should be in place for next summer.
 
Quincey said:
A few updates from tonight's AGM:

  • Visitor numbers for 2024 were 530,000
  • RZSS now has 50,000 members
  • Although female Sun Bear, Babu, is now in remission from cancer, it is unlikely the zoo will seek a partner for her
  • A female Cheetah will be arriving in the future to pair with resident male, Billy. It was mentioned that getting the relevant licences from Europe were the issue causing the delay in her arrival, and it was also mentioned that the zoo are hopeful the recently announced UK-EU deal will help to speed up animal transfers between the UK and the EU.
  • Akiko, male Pallas' cat, has had a female recommended to be paired with him for breeding, however she has not been born yet.
  • Qabid, male Indian Rhino, will be moving to Eindhoven, the zoo there was not ready to receive him and that's why his move has been delayed, they are now ready to receive him however Edinburgh do not believe that moving him in the summer is in his best interests so he will remain for another few months before departing. When he leaves 2 young males will arrive to replace him.
  • The 2 males Sloth Bears will be arriving towards the end of June/start of July. One is coming from Berlin, the other from Zlin Zoo. The moves have been delayed slightly as the bear in Berlin has required some health tests. It's hoped in time the Sloth Bear's will share there enclosure with an other species, although no particular other species was mentioned.
  • One of the female capybara is pregnant.
  • New lioness, Bindi, has health issues and the zoo are therefore looking for another lioness to pair with male, Jay.
  • Male Tiger, Lucu, will be moving to Bratislava, with a new male arriving after his departure.
  • 2 Bactrian Camels will be arriving from Yorkshire Wildlife Park, they will be going into the enclosure currently occupied by the Zebra. The Zebra are due to move to there new enclosure very shortly, one of the mares is in foal and due in a few months. The Przewalski's horses will be moving to join the Camels in a shared enclosure. With a new species of Antelope (hopefully) arriving to go in the enclosure that the horses currently occupy.
  • They are hoping to complete the Koala enclosure refurbishment in 2026, a new male is lined up and ready to come when the enclosure is ready.
  • They have signed a lease for a new vehicle to assist people getting to the top of the hill, it should be in place for next summer.
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Great Breakdown exciting times, i am interested what they will do with the old monkey house wonder if thats where the reptiles and crocodiles may go when they do a new roof and do up the enclosure as they said watch this space in regards to this and interested what the potential sight plans and explanations etc could be in future wonder if there’s any other plots undeveloped they can use or if it’s a case of changing current enclosures only
 
Pingu22 said:
Great Breakdown exciting times, i am interested what they will do with the old monkey house wonder if thats where the reptiles and crocodiles may go when they do a new roof and do up the enclosure as they said watch this space in regards to this and interested what the potential sight plans and explanations etc could be in future wonder if there’s any other plots undeveloped they can use or if it’s a case of changing current enclosures only
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That wasn't my understanding of what was said about the Monkey House. I think the building is in a state of disrepair and will need to be demolished. I think David was trying to advise that the redevelopment of this area is in the pipeline, although how far into the future is anyone's guess.
 
Quincey said:
That wasn't my understanding of what was said about the Monkey House. I think the building is in a state of disrepair and will need to be demolished. I think David was trying to advise that the redevelopment of this area is in the pipeline, although how far into the future is anyone's guess.
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Ah that could be right I took it as it was just a new roof that was needed and that they were going to do something with it as part of their sight plans I could see it being a similar set up to the sloth house the zoo needs a few more indoor enclosures for the bad weather. I do think long term they could do something big with the old zebra enclosure it’s a massive enclosure also there’s space for something to go in between the new Zebra enclosure and the Solar panel sight just curious if there’s any other untapped space for expansion or if they’ve reached the peak and now have to go into developing existing areas
 
Pingu22 said:
also mentioned plans of potentially crocodiles, reptiles.
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I hope this eventually happens, Edinburgh doesn't have many reptiles now and it would be great if they got some more. A crocodilian especially would be fantastic.

Quincey said:
The 2 males Sloth Bears will be arriving towards the end of June/start of July. One is coming from Berlin, the other from Zlin Zoo. The moves have been delayed slightly as the bear in Berlin has required some health tests. It's hoped in time the Sloth Bear's will share there enclosure with an other species, although no particular other species was mentioned.
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I didn't realise the bears would be arriving that early, that's very good to hear! While I probably won't visit Edinburgh any time this year because I have a few other things planned and can't really fit it in anywhere, it's definitely high on my list of priorities for 2026.
 
Excellent summary of the AGM, I too was there, just a few additional points I picked up on at the AGM:

It all seemed rather positive noting some of the work the RZSS has been doing the past year, the new 'land train' sounds good to get up the hill at EZ (I presume this is going to be a bit like a mini shuttle bus). I wasn't aware one of the Sloth Bear's was coming from Berlin, I was in Berlin last month at the Zoo so I have already seen the Edinburgh Sloth Bear!

DF did note that they wished to avoid the empty enclosures, but noted that there has been a delay with regards to obtaining a number of animals such as a new male bison and Przewalski's horses for the HWP was delayed because of an outbreak of Bluetongue disease.

Haggis the Hippo is due to leave in 6 months (I cant remember if they had somewhere in mind yet).

HWP due to get a new red panda exhibit.

Monkey House is currently overrun with cockroaches but DF said 'watch this space' and that the RZSS are currently mapping out all the infrastructure of EZ.

I did also find it interesting when they discussed the RZSS financials, the Conservation Budget dropped from 2m to 1.7m (300k saving) and this was the annual payment to China for the Giant Pandas, this is seemingly not quite a high price as we were led to believe (some sources claimed they cost 1m annually!).
 
GeeZee said:
Excellent summary of the AGM, I too was there, just a few additional points I picked up on at the AGM:

It all seemed rather positive noting some of the work the RZSS has been doing the past year, the new 'land train' sounds good to get up the hill at EZ (I presume this is going to be a bit like a mini shuttle bus). I wasn't aware one of the Sloth Bear's was coming from Berlin, I was in Berlin last month at the Zoo so I have already seen the Edinburgh Sloth Bear!

DF did note that they wished to avoid the empty enclosures, but noted that there has been a delay with regards to obtaining a number of animals such as a new male bison and Przewalski's horses for the HWP was delayed because of an outbreak of Bluetongue disease.

Haggis the Hippo is due to leave in 6 months (I cant remember if they had somewhere in mind yet).

HWP due to get a new red panda exhibit.

Monkey House is currently overrun with cockroaches but DF said 'watch this space' and that the RZSS are currently mapping out all the infrastructure of EZ.

I did also find it interesting when they discussed the RZSS financials, the Conservation Budget dropped from 2m to 1.7m (300k saving) and this was the annual payment to China for the Giant Pandas, this is seemingly not quite a high price as we were led to believe (some sources claimed they cost 1m annually!).
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Interesting on the last part. Was it stated this was the whole panda fee, or just the part which is allocated to panda conservation?

I believe the fee is generally stated to be $1,000,000 per year, so about 750k give or take, but I’m not sure on the exact amount, it could well be different.
 
Thank you to the three of you for providing a great summary of yesterday's RZSS AGM. I really like the way things are sounding for Edinburgh in particular and I think the only real bad news to come out of RZSS recently is the death of breeding female Polar bear Victoria at HWP. Even then, arguably her life should be celebrated given her (unique in the UK this century) breeding successes.
On Sun bear Babu, I think it is the right decision for her to remain solitary given her health, her genetic representation and the exhibit (the 3 other UK holders all have modern complexes more suitable for breeding constructed in the last 15 years), though I am happy that Edinburgh will remain with the species for now.
That is certainly interesting to hear about young female Pygmy hippo Haggis (who has a full sister Amara born in April 2021 living at London) as it would make her just over a year old when she leaves, so presumably she is in high demand for wherever she ends up! It could indeed be Wingham wildlife park, as they have recently released plans to build an enclosure for the species. Elsewhere in the UK, Marwell already has an intended breeding pair and London will in the future, I suspect she won't end up at Whipsnade for the same reasons as her sister and I don't see Colchester taking on a second female.
I want to reiterate it is brilliant to hear about the rest of these planned breeding programme moves, I also appreciate the intention to get good use of the Grevy's zebra paddock after they vacate it with Bactrian Camels and Przewalski's horses.
 
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Cat-Man said:
Interesting on the last part. Was it stated this was the whole panda fee, or just the part which is allocated to panda conservation?

I believe the fee is generally stated to be $1,000,000 per year, so about 750k give or take, but I’m not sure on the exact amount, it could well be different.
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From what they were saying it appeared to be the whole panda fee paid to China, as per Quincey's post that is true, they got a 'half price deal' from 2021-23, so I guess as half of 750k is 375k that perhaps isnt far off, and I do know that food cost roughly around 70-100k a year (this comes out what is known as the animal welfare budget), so thats about right with the food costs, but I dont think this point was made clear in the media as you'd be led to believe that the zoo were paying the full whack up until the end of 2023 which wasn't the case, regardless I've always found financial data and figures very interesting!

On a different note, DF brought up the death of Roxie the Red Panda, while this is very sad, I think its a bit unfair that the zoo are trying to ban the sale of fireworks when events like Bonfire Night and Hogmanay were a thing a long time before EZ came about. I'd argue that these days there's probably significantly less fireworks than ever, due to people being more pet centric and a number of supermarkets (Sainsburys as one of them) haven't sold fireworks for many years.
 
GeeZee said:
I think its a bit unfair that the zoo are trying to ban the sale of fireworks when events like Bonfire Night and Hogmanay were a thing a long time before EZ came about. I'd argue that these days there's probably significantly less fireworks than ever, due to people being more pet centric and a number of supermarkets (Sainsburys as one of them) haven't sold fireworks for many years.
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The problem with fireworks nowadays is that they seem to be used over a prolonged period during the darker nights in winter. Private parties and celebrations not related to those national dates seem to be the norm these days. So asking for a ban on just a couple of dates would be pretty ineffective.
 
From the Zoos X account:

Meet Sol and Salento

This pair of adorable, critically endangered cotton-top tamarins were born at the zoo on Tuesday! They’re doing well and have been enjoying cuddling their parents Elf and Zecca in the sun
 
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