Chester took out a range of awards at the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA) awards night, which is affectionately known as the zoo Oscars, recently. These awards recognise the outstanding contributions and advances which zoos have made to wildlife conservation, animal welfare and husbandry, marketing, PR, education, research and enclosure design over the past year.
Director general of Chester Zoo, Mark Pilgrim said, “The BIAZA Awards recognise the amazing work zoos do both in the UK and around the world to support and conserve endangered animals.”
BIAZA CEO, Dr Kirsten Pullen explained, “The BIAZA awards highlight the vital work carried out in zoos and aquariums. All of this year’s award-winning projects show the exceptional contributions our members are making to wildlife conservation, animal husbandry and welfare, and public understanding for species both in the UK and overseas. We congratulate all the winners.”
In the research category Chester was successful in taking out top prize for their work it mountain chicken frogs. This award was won in conjunction with the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and ZSL London Zoo who were also part of the project.
“We are absolutely thrilled to be recognised for our contribution towards research projects, conservation projects and our breeding programmes. The team are immensely proud of this national recognition and it’s a fantastic achievement to be acknowledged for leading the way in field research.”
“These awards are very well deserved and are a credit to our teams that work tirelessly to ensure that our standards of animal welfare and contributions to conservation projects out in the wild are second-to-none,” added Pilgrim.
Chester Zoo was also recognised for their work in breeding, care and the welfare of their waterfowl, the conservation aspect of the Maasai Olympics in Africa, the education of on-site rangers. Their PR, marketing and digital campaigns which surrounded the zoo’s smart phone app and their social media use around the BBC series, Our Zoo were also recognised.
Photo Credit: Chester Zoo
