Zoo Covid fund closes after just 12% awarded

A £100m government fund intended to help zoos through the pandemic has closed even though nearly 90% of it has not been spent.

Chester Zoo's Jamie Christon said it was "frustrating" to get no funding.

The Zoo Animals Fund was too difficult to apply for and it was "stopping us prevent extinction," he said.

The government said the fund was a "safety net" meant for zoos and aquariums in "severe financial difficulties".

The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said £12m had been awarded or earmarked through the £100m fund, which was launched last August.

It has now closed to new applications but will continue to award money already earmarked until the end of June.

The department did not say how many recipients had benefitted from the fund but in February, 34 of the UK's 300 licensed zoos had been awarded money, and 23 applications were being processed.

Chester Zoo said larger zoos found it difficult to successfully apply because the government would not allow them to use it to help fund conservation or educations programmes, which have suffered because of the financial losses that zoos have incurred during lockdown closures.

Mr Christon, the zoo's managing director, said: "It's actually slowing down the fantastic work we do as an organisation."

"It's extremely frustrating that we've not been able to get hold of any of that money to continue that vital work, while at that same time the government's saying how important it is to sustain the environment," he said.

Chester Zoo, which is the UK's largest zoo, runs 80 conservation projects in 30 countries but costs more than £1.6m a month to run, with 97% of its income coming from visitors.

A Defra spokesperson said: "We understand the challenges zoos and aquariums have been facing due to the coronavirus pandemic, which is why we set up the Zoo Animals Fund."

"The fund is a safety net, in addition to the other government support available, to ensure that animals can continue to be cared for in the event that a zoo enters severe financial difficulties," they added.

The city's Labour MP Chris Matheson said the government had "promised one thing but delivered another," which he said would "put Chester Zoo's work back years".

Conservative Warrington South MP Andy Carter said the government should spend the £88m left over from the fund on "species conservation" and urged ministers to involve zoos in deciding exactly what is funded.

The British and Irish Association for Zoos and Aquariums (Biaza) said it was "disappointed" more zoos weren't able to access the fund, but hoped to have "productive and engaging conversations" with the government to get more conservation funding.

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