Colchester Zoo plans to become charitable trust and expand habitats

Colchester Zoo is home to more than 160 species

A commercial zoo has announced plans to become a charitable trust and rebuild much of its site.

Managers at Colchester Zoo in Essex said it would be known as Colchester Zoological Society as of January 2025.

The zoo struggled financially during the Covid-19 pandemic, but it posted a £1.13m increase in operating profits in its most recent full accounts.

A spokesman said it would "have better and bigger facilities, with many habitats tripling in size".

"We would like to thank all our dedicated staff, visitors and supporters who have, for so many years, given us the strength to survive and helped bring us through the darkest of days," said the zoo spokesman.

"We strongly believe that this vision will secure a future which will allow us to achieve our mission and revolutionise the zoo as we know it today."

Colchester Zoo has published a map of how the site could look in the future

The zoo has thanked its visitors and benefactors who gave "us the strength to survive"

The zoo, which opened in 1963, is home to more than 160 species across 60 acres of parkland and lakes.

It said it continued to pay £25,000 in bills every day during the Covid lockdowns and posted a £667,128 drop in profit for the year ending 30 June 2020.

The zoo, however, revealed an operating profit of £7.65m for the year ending 30 June 2022 - in accounts published on Saturday - compared with £6.52m in 2021.

Directors said generous donations during the pandemic - as well as VAT relief from central government - helped the company stay afloat.

Charities generally do not have to pay corporation and capital gains tax.

The zoo owns the Umphafa nature reserve in South Africa that it said was home to "hundreds of wild animals" and employed 50 local people.

The rebuilding plans for the Colchester site, on Maldon Road, would be subject to surveys and planning permission.

The spokesman said it planned to "bring new species such as gorilla, bonobo and okapi" and was "thinking of ways" to reduce "our carbon footprint such as further use of solar power".