Making zoos more commercial

Embu

Embu

Well-Known Member
5+ year member
I've been having a think this last week after the discussion regarding YWP music acts. What other ways could public animal collections make financial gains?
Obviously most/all zoos,safaris and wildlife/farm parks have catering facilities and gift shops which will be big contributions but is there other commercial ways that zoos don't do currently which may benefit in future?

Suggestions I've thought of(these are only my personal views which may not work or may already be in place) are if collections have non exotic species that they could breed from to sell either as pets or for meat ie; red deer, pygmy goats, donkeys, chickens etc.

I'm aware there are logistics that need to be followed for such things that may make it unviable ie; vaccinations, passports etc but just wondered if any of this would possibly work. What are people's thoughts?
 
Embu said:
Suggestions I've thought of(these are only my personal views which may not work or may already be in place) are if collections have non exotic species that they could breed from to sell either as pets or for meat ie; red deer, pygmy goats, donkeys, chickens etc.
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Animal Rights groups and the media would have a field day if any UK collection went down this route I fear!:eek: It would destroy their reputation.

Other than giving the catering rights to outside companies (e.g McDonalds) I can’t think of any revenue streams that collections aren’t already trying. For example, I don’t think Whipsnade’s partnership with the River Cottage brand has been as successful as they’d had hoped.
 
I personally think that zoos are already enough commercialised and should try to limit this as much as possible. I am fully aware that zoos need the income from tickets, catering, shops etc to function (wages, food, heating, conservation, construction and other projects), but at some point you have reached your limit.

Modern day zoos should focus more on improving their image to the public by spending more time and money on education, conservation and research. There is still a large group of people that see zoos solely as a source of entertainment and use this as one of the arguments against them.
 
Embu said:
Suggestions I've thought of(these are only my personal views which may not work or may already be in place) are if collections have non exotic species that they could breed from to sell either as pets or for meat ie; red deer, pygmy goats, donkeys, chickens etc.
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Panthera1981 said:
Animal Rights groups and the media would have a field day if any UK collection went down this route I fear!:eek: It would destroy their reputation.
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I know of two New Zealand zoos/wildlife parks that breed Kunekune pigs and sell the piglets to the general public. I’m surprised this isn’t done in the UK. One also sells fresh Ostrich eggs, with advice for cooking them.

Commercially speaking, the best thing any zoo can do is film a TV series. The exposure from having their zoo on the world stage pays dividends. Chester Zoo, London Zoo, Longleat Safari Park, Australia Zoo etc.
 
Zoofan15 said:
Commercially speaking, the best thing any zoo can do is film a TV series. The exposure from having their zoo on the world stage pays dividends. Chester Zoo, London Zoo, Longleat Safari Park, Australia Zoo etc.
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I suspect there is limited viewership for these programs and they do not come without costs. Even if a commercial production company has taken on the filming and distribution, these programs take a large amount of zoo staff time and bring no income into the zoo (one wonders if they even increase visitation)
 
Panthera1981 said:
Animal Rights groups and the media would have a field day if any UK collection went down this route I fear!:eek: It would destroy their reputation.

Other than giving the catering rights to outside companies (e.g McDonalds) I can’t think of any revenue streams that collections aren’t already trying. For example, I don’t think Whipsnade’s partnership with the River Cottage brand has been as successful as they’d had hoped.
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All of the River Cottage branding / signage on the outside of the building etc was replaced on the restaurant / deli near the rhino's fairly recently so the partnership on that seems to have come to an end / been reworked. It's now the Viewpoint kitchen / Deli

Food and drink

May have been related to the wider River Cottage issues and closures following lockdown.

I can't see most zoos introducing breeding animals for meat though some have a link eg Watatunga selling buffalo products from their part roaming herd, but it's not on the sort of scale a zoo would have to do it to make it pay. I doubt commercial farming as a fundamental revenue stream would be feasible for most zoos and it's not core business but it could be done small scale. Would it pay off as a real commercial endeavour vs be a bit of a 'all publicity is good' initiative though, I doubt it.

TV and social media would appear to be the things that commercially brings in the most money / attract visitors (Longleat, Paradise both running active series at the moment) and I am surprised more zoos haven't tried getting more heavily involved with 'influencers' given that's such a trend. As zoos and captive animals can be a constroversial topic, perhaps in house social media seems safer.
 
Iirc, Paignton Zoo sold honey from their personal bee-hives when I went there in 2017.
Not sure if it is still as such ...
 
Birdworld sells small mammals and cage birds in the Farm on site.
Or at least did, on my most recent visit, pre lockdown.
 
Don't most zoos in the UK with wild boar generally sell any offspring to be turned into sausages?
 
I seem to remember Marwell getting some stick for selling Ostrich chicks to a commercial farm some years ago.
 
Some zoos occasionally sell surplus animals of species kept as pets, like pygmy goats, llamas, parakeets, fish. But I doubt it can be a reliable and significant income.

In the recent decade, zoo hotel rooms / cottages with windows opening to animal exhibits became really popular. Examples are Pairi Daiza 'Land of the Cold' and many big animal exhibits at Fleche.

Special 'animal encounters' where visitors are taken behind the scenes by a keeper and can feed and look closely at a particular animal became really common, too.

Giraffe feeding for a small price is very common in the U.S. zoos but rare in Europe, for the reason unknown to me.

My private thoughts:
Paid feeding of animals and rides on camels, donkeys, ponies etc. used to be common in zoos, but became rare. I think they should be brought back in a modern form, because people lose contact with real, live animals.

Some zoos have a carousel, but for me it is something like a non sequitur. It has nothing to do with animals, education, conservation. And unfortunately, they are usually tacky and loud, so a disturbance to animals and many visitors.

As a simple visitor, I feel that simply making children playground really attractive with convenient places for parents to sit nearby would bring profit just as well. In Dutch zoos, one sees many people who come to the zoo but don't really look at animals. Moms bring their children to the playground, sit nearby and that's it. Some zoos like Gaiapark and new Emmen extended it into building a big playground under the roof for bad weather. If the zoo takes care to do the playground attractive to children and babysitting parents, and adds real educational topics, this could be a win-win for commercialism and education. A real life example is Copenhagen Zoo. Some time ago I written on Zoochat about observations / ideas how to make a children zoo playground educative, not simply a playground.
 
Jurek7 said:
Paid feeding of animals and rides on camels, donkeys, ponies etc. used to be common in zoos, but became rare. I think they should be brought back in a modern form, because people lose contact with real, live animals.
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I find this point interesting -
I recall when I went to Wildkatzenzentrum Felidae earlier this year, I would say that perhaps the highlights, as far as activity goes,were the snow leopards - up to this point my experience with snow leopards in zoos had been seeing them [mainly at Marwell] lazing on a rock in an exhibit, or doing nothing in particular. But here at the cat park, these three cats were running around, snarling, doing many interesting things! I even got to feed them meat using tongs. Here, for the first time, I was able to sense the real danger that these animals possessed - even as the smallest of the big cats. And around the corner, where the holdings of smaller mammals was to be found - the ichneumon seemed relatively innocent - and then one leaped itself onto the metal bars in quite a manner !
I find that such intimate experiences such as this can really add to one's appreciation of such animals - and that wherever possible, it is always nice for visitors to be allowed close encounters with animals.
The sentiment with playgrounds with I also agree - integrating play into a child's discovery of nature allows for endless possibilities - so I am somewhat surprised that not too many zoos have exploited this to full potential.
 
I'm not sure how I feel about it but I did a few Polish zoos this year and it's common there for corporate sponsorships, like the elephants would be "Elephants bought to you by Adidas". It's not super classy but if it's that or the zoo not surviving I'd definitely choose that.
 
Devi said:
I'm not sure how I feel about it but I did a few Polish zoos this year and it's common there for corporate sponsorships, like the elephants would be "Elephants bought to you by Adidas". It's not super classy but if it's that or the zoo not surviving I'd definitely choose that.
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That's an interesting point and one I hadn't thought about. Sponsorship of an animal section would obviously help with general maintenance and contribute towards any upgrades for that particular species.

Clearly there are not a lot of options available in terms of new ways to generate income but some interesting points made(especially in terms of the animal rights activists) that I hadn't thought of.
 
While some of these ideas seem sound, my yardstick to measure additional revenue streams for zoos has been two-pronged: how close to the zoo's primary mission(s) is the scheme, and how much additional income might it bring in. Selling animals for butchering seems off-mission and won't change a facility's bottom line; Selling porcupine quills isn't off-mission but won't change the facility's finances; adding animal-themed play areas is somewhat off-mission but can increase membership and help the bottom-line; opening a brothel is entirely off-mission but could really help a zoo's finances; etc.
 
Zooplantman said:
I suspect there is limited viewership for these programs and they do not come without costs. Even if a commercial production company has taken on the filming and distribution, these programs take a large amount of zoo staff time and bring no income into the zoo (one wonders if they even increase visitation)
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Seriously???:rolleyes: Sorry to say mate, but you have no idea! This is the absolute golden ticket. The filming doesn't cost the zoo anything, and visitor numbers go through the roof!
 
mrcriss said:
Seriously???:rolleyes: Sorry to say mate, but you have no idea! This is the absolute golden ticket. The filming doesn't cost the zoo anything, and visitor numbers go through the roof!
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Yes, as long as there are only a few such series. And the visitor bump is short-lived.
This is not a business plan
 
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