Does this land have any conservation-type status on it, or can it be used for animal exhibits? I think I read it will be for marshland animal enclosures but just checking.
I don't think it has any sort of preservation or S.S.S.I status but I doubt very much that the particular area will ever be used for captive animals. It is home to lots of natural wildfowl and waterfowl etc at the moment and it gets very very wet when the River Torne over-flows (which can just about be made out in the photo,where the foliage changes colour about 100 metres away).
There is an area adjacent to the walkway leading up to Polar Project,just past where the male Sitatunga is housed,that is ear-marked for a different project to highlight global warming and the associated rising sea-level issues.It is still a marshy area but not as bad as the area shown here. There is a thread regarding this on the discussion forum. Project N.O.A.H. is something like the title if my memory serves me correctly. Indian one horned Rhino have been hinted at.
