Wellington Zoo connects record numbers of people with nature

With just a few weeks left in 2012, Wellington Zoo is celebrating another fantastic year, filled with milestones and achievements.

“2012 has been a great year for Wellington Zoo” said James Araci, Wellington Zoo Group Manager Commercial Development.

“In September we opened our new Asia Precinct, which provides homes for our Malayan Sun Bears, Sean and Sasa, and our Sumatran Tigers, Cantik and Rokan. Since then we’ve loved seeing our community get closer than ever to these beautiful endangered animals”

“We have also been proud to announce our partnership with 21st Century Tiger, a global wild tiger conservation fund. 21st Century Tiger put 100% of their donations towards supporting field projects which give wild tigers a future. Combined with our ongoing support for Sun Bear conservation with Free the Bears, we’re connecting our visitors with conservation projects around the world. ”

“Before that we also opened Green Zoo Green You, which is a fun and interactive space to learn about how simple choices can benefit our environment and the animals we share it with.” said Karen Fifield, Wellington Zoo Chief Executive.

“But perhaps most importantly, we have just welcomed our 200,000th visitor this year- which makes it the second year in a row that we have broken all previous attendance records. This year we have hit that mark several weeks earlier than 2011 thanks to the support we receive from Wellington’s community.”

The lucky 200,000th visitor Kylie Carter was presented with a special prize of a Meerkat Close Encounter for four people by Wellington Mayor her Worship Celia Wade-Brown this afternoon.

We are so grateful to our community of visitors and fans – who have been there with us throughout this very special year. We hope that our community will continue to support our vision for Wellington Zoo to be part of making Wellington a leading eco-city.

We hope to welcome many more visitors to Wellington Zoo in 2013, and want to thank Wellington City Council for helping us to connect more people with nature than ever before.

Wellington Zoo is a charitable trust principally funded by the Wellington City Council

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Scoop Business: Bathurst Gets Nod For DoC Access To Denniston Mine

Conservation Minister Nick Smith has approved access over conservation estate land for Bathurst Resources to develop an open cast coal mine on the Denniston Plateau, above Westport, to the dismay of environmental opponents.

The timing for Smith’s move avoids Bathurst having to resubmit applications for access agreements under the revised Crown Minerals Act, which comes into force tomorrow and would have required public consultation.

The announcement lands in the middle of delicate negotiations between the company, environmental groups and other interested parties that could pave the way to a broader agreement on the Escarpment proposal, whose resource consents are still subject to court appeals. More>>