June 2020

Chester Zoo is in need of £1.6 Million (per month) to prevent it from going under and closing its doors for good.

97% of Chester Zoo’s income comes from visitors; but it is currently closed due to lockdown to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus.

Currently it doesn’t know what support it will get from the Government. Zoo Keepers fear that the financial support won’t be enough until they are able to re-open again. They have taken the dramatic step of stating their financial state and are asking for donations.

Chester Zoo is one of my favourite zoos and one that I have many happy memories from. I will of course be making a donation. And you can here. But I don’t think they’ll be able to raise £1.6 million every month.

Chester Zoo needs to look at diversifying their income streams. Here are some ideas:

• Get your merchandise online – You have a huge range of products in your shop that would sell well online.
• Do pay-per-view/pay-to-download animal talks and feeding times on online.
• Do virtual tours with a tour guide. This would be an exciting way to see the zoo and it might mean that we get to see all the animal talks and feedings in one day.
• More corporate sponsorship of exhibits and consider a sponsorship page on your website.
• Independently publish a series of Chester Zoo Insight books on Amazon Kindle Direct. Independently publishing will cost you the time to create the content (the photos and text) but won’t cost you anything to print and you won’t have to deal with shipping (Amazon will take care of that).
• Publish back copies of your Z magazine online. Sell them at a low cost and you’ll sell more.
• Consider setting up a lottery. Cats Protection do this well here.

It will be really sad if Chester Zoo closes. There are some aspects of life that shouldn’t involve money and caring for animals is one of them.

Write soon,

Antony