The last of my blogs for 2013, discusses the presentation of Dr Mark Pilgrim Director General of the Chester Zoo. Mark discussed the objectives that Chester Zoo tries to meet in its everyday operations and the reasons behind those objectives.
The six objectives are:
1) To ensure education and conservation achieve the greatest impact.
2) To be a world class visitor attraction.
3) Be a centre of excellence for plant and animal care.
4) Ensure the long term financial viability of the Zoo.
5) Recognise staff input and involvement.
6) Build its excellent reputation.
Objective one is surely the most important of the zoo’s aims when looking at it from a scientific stand. People still question the relevance of zoos, but if a zoo can help preserve a species then it should be praised for its input. Chester aims to carry out work that has the greatest impact, which could mean prioritising flagship species like pandas which bring publicity and visitors. While it is true that they fund in-situ black rhino projects they also work in the UK reintroducing plants such as the limestone liverwort, definitely not a high profile species.
The zoo makes its money out of visitors, so it’s unsurprising that it wants to maximise its potential to attract more (Objective 2). It was interesting to hear Mark say the majority of visitors are locals providing an interesting challenge to keep the zoo exciting. So they hold a new event each year, last year was insect themed. And with the addition of restaurants, shops and toilets; a lot of emphasis seemed to be put on toilets I guess we British like to judge our zoos on their toilets, a desirable attraction is created.
Mark was proud to tell us all about the 3 full time vets that work at the zoo. However I would think that it would be obvious to have full time vets especially when dealing with over 11,000 specimens. It’s not as if you could phone the local vet who would come over after having given Mr Tibbles the cat has latest vaccination to treat an elephant!
A return to the business sector for Obj. 4+5, any business needs to ensure that its operations can be continued into the future. And I think it’s good for the animals in their care that Chester are, if it closes tomorrow you can’t leave a giraffe on the RSPCAs doorstep!
Objective 6 again comes down to attracting visitors; no-one is going to go to a zoo that has been condemned as an awful place. So of course they are going to seek endorsements from celebrities and organisations to boost their brand. I suspect Longleat saw a huge boost in visitors after it regularly appeared on BBC.
I think the objectives Chester lives by reflects the current need for conservation and business to work hand in hand to ensure future funding. Without paying visitors Chester would not be able to fund all the projects it does.
Ed Jones 
I found this blog an interesting read, the language was chatty and informal which keeps the reader interested.The blog is also informative covering the aims of the zoo in a lot of detail. I really liked how the writers opinion was included for each aim. The only criticism I have for this blog is it may be slightly negative/ sarcastic and more information could have been included on some of the specific work that Chester does which was mentioned in the talk.
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I think that this blog was a good read. You had a good mix of description, opinion and review. I can understand that vets should be full time at zoo’s and it brilliant that Chester zoo have 3 full time vets, however to my knowledge this is not the norm. Many zoo’s have visiting vets or they need to take there animals to the vets (size of the animal permitting obviously). All together I enjoyed this blog entry.
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