Posted November 24, 2020 in News
Colchester Zoo and Friends – Bringing the Zoo to you
On Saturday 28th November 2020, Colchester Zoo and Deadline Communications shared a fantastic program as we were joined by some special guests!
With the help of some familiar faces, some amazing animals and some musical and comedy acts we put together a live fundraiser with something for everyone. We aimed to get your feet tapping and bring smiles to your faces, as we told you more about how Colchester Zoo has weathered the pandemic and, ultimately and most importantly, we raised some much needed funds to help towards the zoos future!
There is still plenty of time to watch the program via our YouTube channel and donate:
Watch as hosts, including actor and singer Lee Mead, will be feeding some of the animals and meeting a few of the new arrivals, as well as finding out about how the conservation work that’s making a difference around the world has been impacted by the zoo’s closure.
We’ve got games and chit-chat with radio hosts Ross McGrane and John Oakes and amazing entertainment from the likes of the X Factor’s Matt Linnen, Britains Got Talent’s Graeme Mathews and online sensation ‘Red’, as well as messages from an array of friends of the Zoo.
The survival of Colchester Zoo
Like all other UK zoos, Colchester Zoo is currently closed for a second extended period this year. Colchester Zoo is set in over 60 acres, cares for over 200 species and needs about £20,000 per day (that’s over half a million pounds a month) to keep operating. With most of this income coming from ticket sales and visitor spending, the closure represents a very real threat. The zoo has done its utmost to cut costs wherever possible, and many difficult decisions have been made, but without visitors, these savings are being swallowed by the day-to-day running costs of the zoo. Most of the zoo’s overseas conservation support (via its charity Action for the Wild) has had to cease while the zoo’s future lies in the balance.
Bringing the Zoo to You
Keen to help in any way, Deadline Communications teamed up with us here at the zoo to host this 2-hour online event combining chat, music, comedy, fascinating facts, magic, and of course plenty of animal news. The Deadline team, along with all the presenters, music and variety acts are providing their creativity completely free of charge, so that all money raised goes directly to the zoo to help care for their animals. A GoFundMe page has been set up so you can watch and donate! Click here to donate.
When Deadline Communications reached out to us here at Colchester Zoo to offer help in raising awareness and funds for Colchester Zoo we were overwhelmed with the proposal to produce an online programme which involved a number of special guests! We hope that this programme will bring smiles to people’s faces! We would like to thank everyone involved in producing the programme, everyone who has donated their time and talent to help Colchester Zoo to which we are truly grateful!
The event’s director and producer, Simon J Frith of Essex-based Deadline Communications said: “We made a couple of films pro-bono for Colchester Zoo back in June to help them bounce back after the first lockdown, so when we heard they would be closing again we just had to do something to help. We felt that an event like this is very different and therefore might grab some vitally important national attention. The team we’ve assembled (both in front of and behind the cameras) have all experienced varying degrees of loss this year, and we’re all united in our belief that the 1,500+ innocent animals need our help. It would be terrible if it closed – all other zoos in the UK are in a similar position, and they need our help now more than ever before so that they can continue to provide the highest level of welfare to the animals they care for.”
