World Wildlife Conservation Day at the Sister Sites - Battersea Park Children’s Zoo and New Forest Wildlife Park

December 4th marks World Wildlife Conservation Day, a time to remember the importance of protecting Earth's incredible biodiversity and raise awareness about endangered species and their habitats.

As sister parks, Battersea Park Children’s Zoo and New Forest Wildlife Park, would like to take the opportunity to thank our visitors for their support to our wildlife conservation. Visiting the zoo and park not only helps our conservation efforts financially, but it also allows us to spread the message of the importance of preserving biodiversity both here in the U.K. and overseas. 

We also want to say a big thank you also to our wish list contributors who help to support the enrichment and health of our residents.

We are so lucky to have remarkable animals at both the zoo and the park, many of which are endangered. Our keepers strive to provide the best possible care to our animals and to educate the community about wildlife conservation.

We collaborate with the community and other wildlife organisations on numerous breeding and conservation programmes, proudly working together to make a difference.

Here’s some of our 2024 highlights:

Battersea Park Children’s Zoo

• A breeding pair of Mount Omei Babblers joined us as part of the European Breeding Programme (EEP) for this threatened species.
• We've celebrated two successful litters of our rare breed, Oxford Sandy and Black Pigs.
• …And three successful sets of Bagot Goats kiddings twins.
• Our critically endangered pancake tortoise hatchling is growing strong and healthy.
• We've had meerkat births.
• In partnership with Ealing Wildlife Group, we’ve successfully released over 150 harvest mice back into the wild. 
• London school children continue to enjoy free visits to our zoo apiary, where they learn about the crucial role of pollinating insects.
• We hosted the first BIAZA  harvest mouse workshop. 
• We’ve witnessed the hatching of two critically endangered Bali starlings after introducing a new male to the flock.
• Our blue spiny Lizards gave birth to 5 babies.
• We welcomed Rico, a prehensile-tailed porcupine to the Battersea Park Children’s Zoo family.
• We won the Education Category for our sustainable honey bee apiary project and were runner-up in the Field Conservation Category for our harvest mouse work.
• We launched our #ShareSavvy campaign, working to raise awareness of the importance of responsible social media usage regarding wildlife imagery, and how irresponsible media of wild animals can impact their conservation. 

New Forest Wildlife Park

• We’ve celebrated the birth of another critically endangered giant otter cub who lives with her mum, dad and 3 older siblings. We have an incredible 8 critically endangered giant otters living at the park.
• We welcomed a trio of critically endangered Scottish Wildcats, making our wildcat total 5!
• We celebrated the birth of five rare European mouflon lambs.
• New enclosures have been designed and built, enabling even more space and enrichment for our residents.
• Five fallow fawns were born at the park.
• Two red deer calves were born at the park.
• We hosted the ABWAK Otter Keepers' Workshop.
• Two boarlets were born at the park in the autumn.
• We have successfully rehomed a bee colony in one of our brand new bee hives.

Battersea Park Children's Zoo and New Forest Wildlife Park are both members of Species360 and provide data on the animals in its care, contributing to worldwide conservation efforts.

We love chatting to our visitors. Next time you're at Battersea Park Children's Zoo or New Forest Wildlife Park, come say hello and learn about our conservation work.