Wild Planet Trust is the Devon-based charity that runs Paignton Zoo, Living Coasts in Torquay and Newquay Zoo in Cornwall, plus several nature reserves in Devon. While 2019 was not a great year for the charity, there are, says Trust boss Simon Tonge, some reasons for optimism:
“Last year was not the best for visitor numbers, though we still saw 700,000 people come to our three zoo...
Paignton Zoo is sad to announce that senior male lion Lucifer has had to be put to sleep.
Zoo spokesperson Phil Knowling: “Lucifer was 17 years old, so he was a good age for an Asiatic lion. He was, like a lot of us, showing signs of wear and tear on his body. He had some weakness and ataxia – that’s wobbliness in his hind limbs – he would stagger occasionally, especially when going up...
This is an Nguru spiny pygmy chameleon. It’s just a few centimetres long. What could it possibly have in common with a black rhino? The answer is – Wild Planet Trust. The charity behind Paignton Zoo, Living Coasts and Newquay Zoo carries out conservation work in Tanzania, home to both species.
This minute chameleon - a species new to Paignton Zoo and sadly not yet on show to guests –...
Animals at Paignton Zoo will be getting their own festive dinners this Christmas – but you may not find them quite as appetising as your own…
So what’s on the menu? Well, the big cats could get a whole turkey, complete with feathers and entrails. Curator of Mammals Lisa Britton said: “It’s all good roughage, the bones, everything. It’s the sort of carcass they’d be eating in the wild...
If animal training makes you think of tricks and shows, think again. Top zoos use training to improve animal welfare, reduce the need for risky general anaesthetics and to keep both animals and people safe.
For example, bird keeper Sam Gray has trained Alfie Junior the Southern cassowary – as tall as a person and part bird, part dinosaur – to follow a target, which means she can get...
Staff at a top regional conservation charity have shared their successes and frustrations as they try to reduce, reuse and recycle consumables in their cafes and restaurants.
Wild Planet Trust is the charity that runs Paignton Zoo, Living Coasts in Torquay and Newquay Zoo in Cornwall. Staff and volunteers work to reduce the zoos’ impact on the planet in as many ways as they can – but...
Paignton Zoo has welcomed a new species – the wonderfully-named gentle lemur. There’s more than a little of the teddy bear about them, with their thick, grey-brown fur and beady amber eyes. The babies are said to be especially cute – and the zoo certainly hopes to see babies in due course.
The gentle lemur – more correctly, the Alaotran gentle lemur - is the only primate that lives...
A Devon charity is inspiring young people to change the world – and they’re doing it for free.
Wild Planet Trust is launching new sustainability workshops for schools. The six free workshops – called All Our Futures – aim to empower children and young people to make good choices for the future. Group Education Manager Steve Nash explained:
We often reach for a heat pack to ease aches and pains, with maybe a bit of a massage if we’re lucky. This is exactly the treatment 35-year-old Sophie is getting right now. The only difference is – she’s a giant tortoise. Paignton Zoo’s Aldabra giant tortoise Sophie weighs 106 kilos, 233 pounds or 16 stones. She’s one of six confiscated by Customs from an illegal importation and handed to...
It sounds like the latest police drama – the Zoo Evidence Officer is on the case, searching for clues, combing through paperwork and tracking down the truth. In fact, the new post, based at Paignton Zoo in Devon, is about detecting science-based evidence for the best ways to care for, manage and breed animals in zoological collections for conservation purposes. Wild Planet Trust, the charity...
