The visitor numbers are interesting, and I'm especially intrigued by London Zoo aiming for probably about 1.2 million visitors this year. That is a massive increase and a boost for a once flagging institution...but there is another perspective to take with that number. For example: the Oregon Zoo in Portland had 1.5 million visitors last year and the metropolitan population of that city is just over 2 million. Many other North American zoos have zoo attendance that is half of or close to the population of the city, as in the Calgary Zoo with 1 million visitors in a city of 1.1 million, and countless other zoos with high profile attendance numbers.
My point is this: if the London Zoo reaches 1.2 million visitors for the year, is that supposed to be impressive in a city with a metropolitan population of 13 million? Perhaps the many other sites and sounds of London (historical places, museums, castles, football stadiums, etc) already drain the wallets of Brits? It seems to me that the zoo should be doing much better than it is.
That's exactly the point, for example like Dublin Zoo. The booming Dublin attraction plans new features, with its gorillas set to have their own rainforest.
That approach has driven a major turnaround in the zoo’s fortunes over the past decade, with the zoo doubling in size, a surge in visitor numbers and a boom in the animal population.
The zoo hopes to attract a million visitors this year, up from 905,000 last year, and there are further expansion plans.
It was all very different eight years ago, the press were very negative about the zoo. They wanted to close it down. There were conditions that were unacceptable, and the zoo managed to turn it around.
Currently, work starts on a €4 million development, called Project African Savannah, which will be located in the African Plains area of the zoo gardens.
The zoo will be further expanded next year, when a €4million Gorilla Rainforest will be built to provide a better home for the gorillas.
Both projects are being funded by the Irish Government and by the zoo’s trading surplus.
The zoo was founded in 1830 with animals supplied by London Zoo. During an open day in 1838 to mark the coronation of Queen Victoria, the zoo attracted 20,000 visitors - an attendance record that still stands today.
Almost 180 years on, the zoo has 632 animals from 120 species, 48 of which are mammals. It employs 101 people, about 70 of whom are fulltime employees. This includes 35 keepers, who form the core animal care team, and the horticultural staff.
The zoo also receives government funding, which has totalled about €50 million in the last 15 years.
In 2000, the zoo attracted about 450,000 visitors a year, but the improvements have doubled that. Up to last month, the poor weather had not affected visitor numbers, and the zoo is on target to hit the one million visitor mark for the first time.
For a country with a population of about four million, it is remarkable that they have such high visitor numbers.
When the zoo opened, it covered 30 acres, but today it occupies almost 100 acres. In 2000, President McAleese donated 30 acres of Aras an Uachtaráin demesne in the Phoenix Park to the zoo. It facilitated the major expansion called the African Plains, which is home to giraffes, zebras, white rhinos, ostriches and lions. This was among the reforms set in train by the zoo’s previous director Peter Wilson.
A new elephant habitat, the Kaziranga Forest Trail, opened last year with pools and dense vegetation. That area spreads over 8,000 square metres and houses four female Asian elephants and a baby male elephant, which was born last February.
It took a year to build, at a cost of €8.8 million. The forest trail has been designed as a ‘‘journey of discovery’’ for visitors, especially children, as they find their way through tunnels of foliage and winding paths into the elephant habitat.
