David Attenborough steps in to help save London Zoo by fronting campaign to raise £12million

David Attenborough has stepped in to help save London Zoo from ‘extinction’ by fronting a campaign to raise £12million after strains during the coronavirus lockdown.

Sir David Attenborough, 94, has agreed to be the face of a fundraising campaign to raise £12million for London Zoo, as part of a £25million rescue package. 

As the zoo warns it is ‘at risk of extinction’, more than 18,000 animals are under threat, the Sunday Times reported.

Sir David Attenborough, 94, has agreed to be the face of a fundraising campaign to raise £12million for London Zoo, as part of a £25million rescue package

London Zoo (pictured) was forced to close in March for 12 weeks amid the coronavirus pandemic - the first time since it closed for less than two weeks during the Second World War

London Zoo (pictured) was forced to close in March for 12 weeks amid the coronavirus pandemic – the first time since it closed for less than two weeks during the Second World War

The television broadcaster said: ‘What happens if you can’t raise the money to keep the animals? What happens if you can’t afford the food? Are we supposed to put them down?’ 

‘The immediate prospect of the zoo going financially bust is too awful to think of. Are we, or are we not, a civilised community that it can’t support a zoo?’

The fundraising appeal allows him to acknowledge a personal debt to London Zoo, as his career began in 1954 when he directed the BBC series Zoo Quest.

He got what he says was a ‘storybook break’ after the zoo curator who was presenting the series fell ill.

This comes after London Zoo was forced to close in March for 12 weeks amid the coronavirus pandemic – the first time since it closed for less than two weeks during the Second World War. 

It faces the worst crisis since opening its doors to the public in 1847 and needs a £25million cash injection to stay afloat.

The zoo spent around £43,500 a month feeding the animals during lockdown with no visitor income.  

The seven lions at London Zoo and its sister site in Whipsnade, Bedfordshire, eat about 170kg of meat in a week. 

The zoo spent around £43,500 a month feeding the animals during lockdown with no visitor income for 12 weeks

The zoo spent around £43,500 a month feeding the animals during lockdown with no visitor income for 12 weeks

The zoo faces the worst crisis since opening its doors to the public in 1847 and needs a £25million cash injection to stay afloat

The zoo faces the worst crisis since opening its doors to the public in 1847 and needs a £25million cash injection to stay afloat

The Whipsnade site is also owned by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and has more than 2,000 animals.

The tigers consume around 163kg of meat and a Komodo dragon eats just over 1kg of fish, eggs and meat a week.   

Eight zookeepers lived in a lodge inside London Zoo during lockdown and when some had to self-isolate, cleaners and maintenance staff helped to feed the animals. 

The daily diet of four western lowland gorillas consists of  1.4kg of radicchio, 2kg of lettuce, 5kg of spinach, and 3.5kg of leeks and chicory.  

Lion keeper Glynn Hennessy, 38, moved into a ‘safari lodge’ to look after the gorillas and, despite having a girlfriend, has not moved out since.

His father Matt began working at London Zoo in August 1961 and is the longest-serving keeper ever. 

Director-general of ZS Dominic Jermey said even though both London Zoo and Whipsnade reopened to the public on June 15, they remain in ‘dire peril’. 

The fundraising appeal allowed Sir David Attenborough to acknowledge a personal debt to London Zoo, as his career began in 1954 when he directed the BBC series Zoo Quest

The fundraising appeal allowed Sir David Attenborough to acknowledge a personal debt to London Zoo, as his career began in 1954 when he directed the BBC series Zoo Quest

The zoo has to cap its visitor numbers at 2,000 in London, just a fifth of its maximum capacity. 

At Whipsnade, only 3,000 visitors are allowed on the site, compared with its normal capacity of 12,000 people. 

ZSL, which is a charity, lost out on £8.5m income over the busy Easter and the May holiday periods.

It is not eligible for a government bailout nor is it capable of repaying interest on a business interruption scheme loan.

ZSL’s conservation research into protecting endangered species could be jeopardised if it closes. 

London was the first scientific zoo in the world and has been at the forefront of advances since then.

Sir Attenborough said it would be ‘a scandal’ if ‘this country can’t support’ London Zoo. 

ZSL, which is a charity, lost out on £8.5m income over the busy Easter and the May holiday periods and is not eligible for a government bailout (pictured, London Zoo)

 ZSL, which is a charity, lost out on £8.5m income over the busy Easter and the May holiday periods and is not eligible for a government bailout (pictured, London Zoo)

The seven lions at London Zoo and its sister site in Whipsnade, Bedfordshire, eat a massive 170kg of meat in a week

The seven lions at London Zoo and its sister site in Whipsnade, Bedfordshire, eat a massive 170kg of meat in a week

He said: ‘There are three times as many people living on Earth as when I was collecting those animals. So the natural world has been overtaken by humanity and in the course of that we have denied space for a lot of animals.’

ZSL’s two zoos nurture 16 species that are extinct in the wild and 42 critically endangered ones.

The zoos reintroduce them into their natural habitats when it is safe to do so, rather than keeping them in captivity.   

They have built up a population of 182 scimitar-horned oryx in Chad, where they were extinct in the wild.

Sir Attenborough, who has been shielding from coronavirus at home, near Richmond Park in southwest London, is looking forward to the time when ZSL can welcome 1.8million visitors each year.

‘We should do our best to maintain our relationships with the natural world of which we are a part,’ he said.

‘You can be aware not just of what’s on your own doorstep but what is in the wider world and zoos can do that better than almost anything.’

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