ZSL London Zoo ZSL London Zoo News 2025

polarbear said:
I think they demolished the Insect House before it had chance to be listed, i.e. got rid of it before anyone proposed a listing.
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I wonder if London Zoo will take this strategy with the Tiny Giants building, or if it will get listed before they decide. I personally do think it will get listed, and rightly so seen as it has a very modern sustainable design, but if they ever decide to stop using it as an invertebrate house, there isn't really much they can put in it.
 
DCzootripper said:
I wonder if London Zoo will take this strategy with the Tiny Giants building, or if it will get listed before they decide. I personally do think it will get listed, and rightly so seen as it has a very modern sustainable design, but if they ever decide to stop using it as an invertebrate house, there isn't really much they can put in it.
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I don't see that ever being the case given how important it is for their research and conservation, honestly - and rightly so! Of all the buildings/areas at Regent's Park, Tiny Giants is one of the last that should be scheduled for demolition at any point...now the Mappins, on the other hand...:D
 
DCzootripper said:
I wonder if London Zoo will take this strategy with the Tiny Giants building, or if it will get listed before they decide. I personally do think it will get listed, and rightly so seen as it has a very modern sustainable design, but if they ever decide to stop using it as an invertebrate house, there isn't really much they can put in it.
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I personally think that none of the newer buildings should be listed (especially Grade 1 listed), as we’ve seen from prior examples that it can be more of a curse than a blessing.

It locks down valuable (and limited) space in perpetuity, preventing any future developments. This is true of all listed buildings, but in regards to animal care, it can cause an enclosure to become permanently uninhabitable.

The worst case is with the Mappins, which are listed despite the crumbling aquarium below being unlisted. This means they can’t do any meaningful work on the aquarium that would affect the Mappins, which is an inevitability given it’s holding them up :/

As much as I love the old Victorian buildings the zoo had, I think it’s good that many didn’t survive past the 70s. The Carnivore Terrace with the Bear Pits would be effectively unusable today, as would the old Lion House.

I think listing is commendable in almost any other context, and if anything more buildings and structures ought to receive protection. But if ZSL need to alter or demolish B.U.G.S someday, as much as I love that building, I think they should retain that right.
 
Mugcake said:
I personally think that none of the newer buildings should be listed (especially Grade 1 listed), as we’ve seen from prior examples that it can be more of a curse than a blessing.

It locks down valuable (and limited) space in perpetuity, preventing any future developments. This is true of all listed buildings, but in regards to animal care, it can cause an enclosure to become permanently uninhabitable.

The worst case is with the Mappins, which are listed despite the crumbling aquarium below being unlisted. This means they can’t do any meaningful work on the aquarium that would affect the Mappins, which is an inevitability given it’s holding them up :/

As much as I love the old Victorian buildings the zoo had, I think it’s good that many didn’t survive past the 70s. The Carnivore Terrace with the Bear Pits would be effectively unusable today, as would the old Lion House.

I think listing is commendable in almost any other context, and if anything more buildings and structures ought to receive protection. But if ZSL need to alter or demolish B.U.G.S someday, as much as I love that building, I think they should retain that right.
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I absolutely agree, I was saying that if they did decide to list it, that it would be good for showcasing their sustainable ethos, but bad if they need to alter it's design if say they turned it into a full aquarium, and relocated the insects to another spot onsite.
 
DCzootripper said:
I absolutely agree, I was saying that if they did decide to list it, that it would be good for showcasing their sustainable ethos, but bad if they need to alter it's design if say they turned it into a full aquarium, and relocated the insects to another spot onsite.
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Well in terms of sustainable building, the zoo’s most recent structures (the new Reptile and Tortoise House) are extremely versatile. The structural elements are not as aesthetic as their older equivalents, but they’re otherwise very enjoyable spaces that could be easily dismantled and rebuilt (with the same materials) if needed.

This is quite groundbreaking overall, and the zoo’s slightly older builds (such as the Dragon House and B.U.G.S) don’t retain that same flexibility. In terms of B.U.G.S specifically, it takes up a lot of space that the zoo may want back in future (or, as you suggested, to make it the new aquarium), so I would completely understand if they overhauled or demolished it in the coming decades.

In terms of where else the invertebrates could go, their smaller size makes constructing a new building for them a lot easier than something like a gorilla or an elephant. I think, with the right amount of investment, a good chunk of the North Bank could be transformed into a large Insect House, which it’s certainly wide enough for on the currently disused section.
 
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Kalaw said:
Very interesting! I'd been led to believe that koalas were non-existent outside of Australia until London and a few others imported them in the eighties and nineties. Do you know where in the zoo the 1880 animals were kept?
It was kept somewhere offshow in the Clore, but I'm not sure where. I know that until recently the Whipsnade squirrel monkeys were kept in an offshow cage just about visible from the right angle, behind the gentle lemurs. Perhaps this is where they were kept before?

I fully agree that it would be great to see tree kangaroos return. They would be a good use of the empty Tecton Roundhouse, in my opinion.

EDIT: just searched the gallery and found this photo by @Crowthorne which seems to suggest that, while onshow, they were free-roaming in the walkthrough portion of 'Rainforest Life.' If true that's quite brilliant as I don't know of many tree kangaroo walkthroughs, but it does make me disappointed that I have no memory of them there whatsoever. The only photo I could find of her in Rainforest Life is this one, supposedly taken the day she went onshow.
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Koalas have been frequent at facilities outside Australia since 1800:s. San Diego Zoo who has the largest collection of koalas outside Australia imported their first pair in 1925.
 
Panthera1981 said:
The Chair of trustees has announced that Matthew Gould, ZSL’s Chief Executive, has resigned with immediate effect and is no longer serving as CEO
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Oh wow, that’s quite a shock to hear. It’s probably best not to speculate on why until ZSL themselves make a statement, but it is quite unusual for something like this to happen so abruptly. Normally a CEO announces their retirement ahead of time in order to give their organisation time to prepare for the change, so I can only assume this wasn’t planned :/

Who is the interim CEO now? Or will ZSL be run by a board of directors/other group of executives until a new Chief Executive can be voted in?
 
Utterly unexpected, even with the recent board meeting. The AGM this evening will certainly be an interesting one, he undoubtedly was a positive appointment. Agreed that it's best not to speculate

Mugcake said:
Who is the interim CEO now? Or will ZSL be run by a board of directors/other group of executives until a new Chief Executive can be voted in?
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Kathryn England is the interim CEO. I think she will do a rather good job and potentially stay on but we will see
 
DCzootripper said:
I wonder if London Zoo will take this strategy with the Tiny Giants building, or if it will get listed before they decide. I personally do think it will get listed, and rightly so seen as it has a very modern sustainable design, but if they ever decide to stop using it as an invertebrate house, there isn't really much they can put in it.
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I'm not sure the old Insect House would ever have been listed though? Listing doesn't happen just because a building is old? Given the issues that London Zoo have with listed buildings (largely of their own making though they are), I wouldn't be surprised if bulldozers appear as soon as there's even a sniff of it.
 
cerperal said:
Kathryn England is the interim CEO. I think she will do a rather good job and potentially stay on but we will see
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Checking the website, it seems she’s moving up from Chief Operating Officer, which is a position that heads both the zoos. Does this mean that the head of London Zoo will/has changed too, or will she maintain that role and possibly return to it if she doesn’t become the next Chief Executive Officer?

Sorry for all the questions, just have no idea how any of it works. It’s worth noting as well that the ZSL website still currently lists Matthew as CEO, so this seems to be just as unexpected to the web team as it is for us :T
 
Update: ZSL have amended their website now, removing Matthew Gould from their director’s page and naming Kathryn England as Interim Chief Executive Officer: Meet ZSL's Directors | ZSL

It also still says she’s managing the zoos, so it seems for the meantime that nothing will change in that respect (although they’re using the same description she had when she was Chief Operating Officer, so it’s possible this is a placeholder until something more concrete is sorted out).
 
cerperal said:
Utterly unexpected, even with the recent board meeting. The AGM this evening will certainly be an interesting one, he undoubtedly was a positive appointment. Agreed that it's best not to speculate
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True, though difficult not to when the correspondence made a particular point of mentioning the state of ZSL’s finances.
 
I was sadly unable to make the AGM this evening, would anyone be able to share any interim updates?
 
Panthera1981 said:
The Chair of trustees has announced that Matthew Gould, ZSL’s Chief Executive, has resigned with immediate effect and is no longer serving as CEO. No further comment has been made.
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I suspect the release of this announcement on the same day as the AGM is no coincidence!
 
Mugcake said:
Update: ZSL have amended their website now, removing Matthew Gould from their director’s page and naming Kathryn England as Interim Chief Executive Officer: Meet ZSL's Directors | ZSL

It also still says she’s managing the zoos, so it seems for the meantime that nothing will change in that respect (although they’re using the same description she had when she was Chief Operating Officer, so it’s possible this is a placeholder until something more concrete is sorted out).
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Have a further update on this: Kathryn England has had her title and responsibilities on the page edited. Her title now has “(Interim)” at the end, potentially to clarify that her tenure as CEO remains temporary. Additionally, the text about managing the zoos has been removed completely, and her entire description now reads: “Leading ZSL's mission to inspire, inform and empower people to protect wildlife and their habitats worldwide.”

If this means she is not currently involved in running the zoos themselves, then I believe the highest manager of London and Whipsnade Zoo is now Owen Craft, Director of Zoo Operations. And as far as I can tell, ZSL does not currently have a Chief Operating Officer.
 
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