Paradise Wildlife Park: Public donates more than £52k to zoo

Paradise Wildlife Park said it had "meant everything that our communities care about animal welfare and the zoo industry as a whole"

A family-run zoo has thanked the public for donating more than £52,000 in 2020 to help keep it afloat.

Paradise Wildlife Park in Hertfordshire said an Animal Support Fund launched at the start of the first coronavirus lockdown had raised £52,415.

One of three brothers who help run it said the funds had "helped with day to day care of the animals".

Aaron Whitnall said the zoo was "trying to bounce back as quickly as possible" after a "hard year".

The wildlife park, near Broxbourne, has 800 animals and featured in a new CBBC show One, Zoo, Three in September, which revealed the lives of the brothers - Aaron, Tyler and Cameron - as they helped run the zoo, which sits on land bought by their grandfather in the early 1980s.

Aaron Whitnall (right) said a new CBBC show One, Zoo, Three in September had brought people to the zoo wanting to see him and his brothers

The park has predicted that because it had to close just before Easter and could only reopen at 50% capacity in August, its income will be £1.5m less than in 2019.

It costs more than £3,000 each day to take care of the animals.

The zoo said during the pandemic it had "managed to touch many hearts across the nation" and it was "so grateful for the public standing by us".

"It has meant everything to us that our communities care about animal welfare and the zoo industry as a whole," a spokeswoman said.

Aaron Whitnall said that if the zoo can be open at February half term and the Easter holidays, "things will be OK"

Eldest brother Aaron said: "It's been a hard year, [and] we won't have as much to put back into the park but we're trying to bounce back as quickly as possible.

"We've only ever spent the money we've had and have done everything on a shoestring compared to other bigger zoos."

September and October were better months for the zoo with people attracted to a new Land of the Tigers habitat and half term events, he said.

Plans for next year include opening a rebuilt jaguar area at Easter and a new project where three species, threatened Sun bears, binturong and Asian short clawed otters, will share a habitat.

But the government's decision to move Hertfordshire into tier four restrictions meant it had to close again.

The zoo said it would "keep positive and hope for good news soon".

Since October, visitors have been attracted to the new Land of the Tigers habitat