ANNUAL REVIEW

2014 www.twycrosszoo.org

3 Births

Highlights of 2014 Changes around the Zoo 1

Lorikeet Landing

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Butterfly Forest

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African Plains

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Outdoor play area

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Giant Tortoise Haven

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Asian elephant

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Red-ruffed lemurs

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Humboldt penguin

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Tufted deer

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Leicester longwool sheep

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Vicuna

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Cattle egrets

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Emperor tamarins

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Dusky langur

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White-cheeked gibbons

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Hundreds of butterflies!!

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Amur leopard cubs

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160

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12

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15

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6 5

67

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Conservation Successes 6

CEO, Sharon Redrobe and Head of Veterinary Services, Sarah Chapman, go to Ape Action Africa in Cameroon to provide vital veterinary expertise.

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In January 2014 Twycross Zoo became a Conservation Organisation member of GRASP, the UN Great Ape Survival Partnership.

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Contents Highlights of 2014 (cont)

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Conferences by Twycross Zoo 19

The 2nd International Animal Training Conference was held at Twycross Zoo. 107 delegates from 65 different institutions and companies took part.

Events and Highlights in 2014 20

Lady Gretton visited the zoo to launch our 50th anniversary celebrations

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Professor Alice Roberts joined us as our patron

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To celebrate our 50th birthday in May, we were joined by local musicians, Maasai warriors, performance artists, King Kong, The Daleks, classic cars and vintage market stalls

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We offered free entry to red heads on World Orang Utan Day attracting around 6,000 people

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Twycross Zoos redevelopment has been included in the Strategic Economic Plan for Leicestershire

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Chairman’s Report

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Chief Executive’s Report

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Conservation Report

10 - 13

Discovery (Education)

14 - 15

Research and Papers Published

16 - 17

Animal Welfare

18 - 19

Animal Health

20 - 21

Animal Collection

22

Visitor Highlights of 2014

24 - 25

Financial Report

27

Our People

28 - 29

A Taste of 2015

30 - 31

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Founder Member S N Evans

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Humbolt penguin Spheniscus humboldti

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The Board of Trustees: Dr. ML Hughes BSc PhD MBA (Chairman) S Bell OBE FRAgS FICF MSc DiplPlanning M Brewer Dr. D J Chivers MA, PhD, ScD U Dholakia OBE A G Greenwood MA VetMB DipECZM CBiol FSB FRCVS J Helas BEng CEng MIMechE M Hesketh ACA D Keep Executive Board Members: Chief Executive Sharon Redrobe BSc (Hons), BVetMed CertLAS

DZooMed MRCVS

Head of Life Sciences Dr. Charlotte Macdonald BSc (Hons), PhD Head of Finance Liam Wall ACA (from summer 2014) Head of Discovery and Site Development Claire Oldham

Registered Office Norton Grange Norton Juxta Twycross, Near Atherstone Warwickshire, CV9 3PX Auditors Baker Tilly UK Audit LLP St Phillip’s Point, Temple Row, Birmingham, B2 5AF Bankers HSBC Bank PLC, Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, B72 1PU

BSc, PgDip, AlfL

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MIX

Head of Marketing Darren Wood PGDipM, MCIM, Chartered Marketer (until October 2014) Head of Internal Operations Karen Clarke

The paper used for this report is 100% recycled.

All queries welcomed; [email protected]

Photographs kindly supplied by Lucy Ray, Simon Childs, Amy Haycock, Nicola Williscroft, Chris Simpson, Phillipa Dobbs, Sarah Chapman, Lu Dodd, Hannah Van de Loo, Fiona Watkins

TM CBPPC0001691706110421

Paper FSC C022127

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Chairman’s Report Dr Mary-Lorraine Hughes

Two themes have dominated 2014: (a) continuing the “turnaround” that commenced in 2013, and (b) planning for future development. Executive and non-executive management have worked effectively together on both these objectives, but could not have progressed to the extent they did without the continuing dedication and sheer hard work of all the staff. I thank everyone very much indeed for their commitment to Twycross Zoo. Under the new Chief Executive, the challenges continued to be tackled during 2014. Costs remained under control, a small capital budget was used to very good effect and, whilst visitor numbers stood still, a modest profit was achieved once again. Twycross has an excellent and very well-deserved reputation for the breeding of endangered species of animals and, during 2014, even more “zoo babies” were born. Our long awaited female elephant was born in the spring and not long after, two Amur leopard cubs also joined us. These leopards are particularly precious as there are now thought to be fewer than 40 of their species in the wild. During the first half year, the Executive Management Team worked very hard to produce a masterplan for the entire 88 acre site that encompasses a five year plan, proposals for a further five years and aspirational objectives for a full 20 years. The new vision was developed taking into consideration; market research, the current zoo infrastructure, species selection, modern husbandry standards, cost and planning issues and will provide vastly improved facilities for both animals and the visiting public. The Board as a whole debated the proposals: the initial plan is approved and further endorsed by both an independent feasibility study and an economic impact assessment. Considerable work, which started in 2013, has been undertaken to explore the potential for funding for the future, longer term development of Twycross Zoo. In late 2014 a new funding partnership was established with National Westminster Bank, which will support two major masterplan projects in 2015 and commence preparation for a third in 2016, as well as allowing for some muchneeded infrastructure improvements. I was pleased to welcome two new Trustees to the Board: Martin Brewer (a solicitor and tribunal judge) and Uday

Dholakia (a local businessman). Susan Bell OBE (our Deputy Chairman) chose to retire at the end of 2014. We are indebted to her for her invaluable contribution over a number of years, and whilst we will miss her sound judgment and advice, our best wishes go with her. We have been extremely fortunate in securing Professor Alice Roberts as our Patron. Alice is very well respected by the scientific community as a clinical anatomist but is best known by the public for her television work on various scientific programmes and the popular series “Coast”. The support she is already giving to Twycross is greatly appreciated. Whilst 2014 has been a very busy year for the zoo internally, so much could not have been achieved without the involvement of a number of external parties. My thanks go to our corporate partners, building contractors, planning authorities and the local community, which is keen to see Twycross Zoo prosper and encourages us daily. Dr Mary-Lorraine Hughes, Chairman Chimpanzee Pan troglodytes

Chief Executive’s Report Looking back on my first full year as CEO of Twycross Zoo it is pleasing to note that during 2014 we have achieved a number of important milestones in our journey to becoming one of the best zoos in Europe. 2014 was a year of both building and planning; a number of new areas were developed during the year whilst in parallel we developed a longer term site masterplan and vision and secured new funding. We opened our first ‘Butterfly Forest’ at Easter as an immersive, tropical habitat followed by ‘Lorikeet Landing’ in August, where visitors can walk into the aviary to feed these colourful birds. The giant tortoises and bonobos benefited from a refit of their shared home with extra heating, a new roof and softer theming. We created an ‘African savannah’-themed area in the centre of the zoo as home to a new group of zebra and nyala antelope. The Asian elephants’ grass paddock was considerably extended for our expanding herd as the much-anticipated baby Esha was born in March 2014. For our younger visitors, a new outdoor playground was built which complements the very successful indoor “softplay” facility which opened in 2013. Several viewing gazebos and an under-cover canopy were added across the park for more interesting viewing opportunities of the new zebra, elephant and gorilla areas, and to provide extra shelter from the British weather. Twycross Zoo has long had a focus on primate species (apes, monkeys and lemurs), many of which are critically endangered in the wild. In fact, Twycross Zoo is the only UK zoo to care for all four types of great ape: the chimpanzee, bonobo, gorilla and orang utan. We have a real opportunity to build on over 50 years of expertise caring for so many families of primates and other animals.

Western lowland gorilla Gorilla gorilla gorilla

To that end, it was recognised that Twycross Zoo must modernise to engage and enthuse more visiting public about the great work we do in caring for over 1000 threatened animals in the UK and supporting the wild populations, which in many cases are facing imminent extinction. I am very proud of the immense amount of work that the Executive Team and the whole of ‘Team Twycross’ put into developing our physical masterplan for the whole 88 acre site with a 5-year initial plan. The developments were prioritised after a number of staff workshops using the criteria of optimising animal

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Sharon Redrobe

welfare, promoting conservation and science, and educating and engaging with the public in larger numbers. The 5-year plan and 20-year vision were debated and agreed during the July 2014 Board meeting. We now have a framework to develop into a world class zoo as a European Centre of Excellence. The potential of Twycross Zoo was recognised by our inclusion in the Leicestershire Local Enterprise Partnership Strategic Economic Plan for the region. Furthermore, we were admitted into the United Nations initiative, the Great Ape Survival Partnership (GRASP-UN) during 2014 in recognition of our contribution to the global efforts to save apes from extinction. We were delighted to appoint Professor Alice Roberts as our first Patron; her profile as a Professor of Public Engagement in Science and well-known TV presenter links well with our new ambitions. Towards the close of 2014 we had secured funding through NatWest Bank to launch the first phase of our masterplan. What a great way to finish the year, and a wonderful reward for all the hard work by staff and Trustees – we can look forward to an even more exciting 2015 - onward and upwards for Team Twycross! Sharon Redrobe, Chief Executive

11 RUSSIA

UK

Conservation Report 1

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO

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3

75

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Acreage of Lola ya Bonobo, the world’s only bonobo sanctuary

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Flora and Fauna International (FFI), Cao Vit Gibbon Conservation Project, Vietnam The focus in this research and conservation work is on the Cao Vit gibbon, the 2nd rarest ape species in the world. The community patrol continued with successful sightings of gibbons throughout 2014, including a family of six in March. FFI presented at the International Primatalogical Society Congress in Hanoi, Vietnam in September on the increase seen in the population as a result of their conservation initiatives supported by Twycross Zoo.

Awely Greencaps, Democratic Republic of the Congo Awely’s focus is conservation through development, improving the livelihoods of people whilst reducing their reliance on natural environments and resources. Their new bonobo project in conjunction with local NGO, Mbou Mon Tour has started very well with the community patrol team getting to grips with surveying the local bonobo population. Twycross Zoo also partnered with Awely in a successful grant application to the EAZA Ape Conservation Fund to further support their work.

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Based south west of Kinshasa, Lola ya Bonobo is the world’s only sanctuary for bonobos. Most of the individuals are victims of the bushmeat and illegal pet trades. The project also runs a 50,000acre reserve, which is home to the first bonobos to be reintroduced into the wild.

Wildlife Vets International, Russian Far East

35 Estimated number of Amur leopards left in the wild making it one of the most endangered species in the world.

130 the number of Cao Vit gibbons left in the wild. This is up from the original estimate of 35 made back in 2005

projects received support

Welfare Fund in

Ape Action Africa, Cameroon

Lola ya Bonobo, Democratic Republic of the Congo

6

different conservation

through the Twycross Zoo Conservation

MADAGASCAR

Based in Mefou National Park, the Ape Action Africa sanctuary houses 21 gorillas, 110 chimpanzees and many other small primates. In addition to providing a donation to support the running costs of the sanctuary Twycross Zoo CEO, Sharon Redrobe and our Head of Veterinary Services, Sarah Chapman went out to Cameroon to provide vital veterinary expertise.

2

VIETNAM

CAMEROON

The Amur leopard is one of the rarest cat species in the world due to threats posed by poaching, habitat destruction and lack of prey. Wildlife Vets International are currently working in the Russian Far East to assess the feasibility of a reintroduction programme to safeguard this critically endangered species. They have made significant advances in translating the disease surveillance protocols and data into Russian, which will allow increased future collaboration with Russian vets and researchers.

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2014

13 11

Conservation Report (cont)

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L’ Association Européenne pour l’Etude et la Conservation des Lémuriens AEECL is a consortium of European zoos and universities that have joined forces to carry out conservation and research projects for Madagascar’s endangered lemurs. They are responsible for the creation of a reserve for the critically endangered blue-eyed black lemur, captive breeding programmes for a number of lemur species within European zoos and community activities such as reforestation programmes.

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6000 The number of trees AEECL helped to plant on the border of the reserve in January alone

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Great Ape Survival Partnership (GRASP) In January 2014 Twycross Zoo became a Conservation Organisation member of GRASP. Launched in 2001 by the United Nations Environment Programme, GRASP aims to help lift the threat of imminent extinction faced by gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos and orangutans in Africa and Asia. We are extremely proud to be part of GRASP, whose activities put us at the forefront of great ape conservation.

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Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation Twycross Zoo partnered with the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation for a successful EAZA Ape Conservation Fund application. BOS were awarded €30,000, which is being used for orangutan reintroduction and monitoring projects in Borneo.

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Twycross Zoo Nature Reserve Surveys in 2014 have seen the number of species recorded grow to 472 from 179 in 2012, showing that the nature reserve is increasing in diversity year on year. The number of species that are locally or nationally important in the Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) has now reached 18, with recent sightings of the grey partridge and the garden dark moth.

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Bonobo Pan pansicus

15 In

Discovery: (Education) 1

Out-of-school and holiday activities Zoo Club and Zooniversity really took off in 2014 with 10 weeks running through the year. During their school holidays, participants took part in daily zoo life including: mucking out, building enrichment and doing all sorts of crafts and trails. Zooniversity, which centres around zoological-based careers, delivered many activities around the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) agenda to encourage participants to carry on studying these subjects at higher levels.

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the Discovery Team

taught 25,000

children

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5

Awareness raising events continued throughout 2014 with increased levels of participation compared to 2013. Thousands of people were engaged during ‘Penguin Celebrations’, ‘Monkey March’, ‘Great Ape-ril’ and ‘Elephant Celebrations’. These events not only got people involved in making enrichment for the animals at the zoo, but also engaged with them over the threats these animals face in the wild and what they can do to help.

Roots and Shoots at Twycross Zoo In 2014 Twycross Zoo was very lucky to receive funding from the Country Land and Business Association to enable us to run our Roots and Shoots Afterschool Club . This club enables around 100 children to travel to and from the zoo to take part in animal-themed activities that promote sustainable lifestyles. Run in collaboration with the Jane Goodall Institute, this programme aims to increase connections between children and the natural world.

25,000 children taught

Events in 2014

New classrooms 2014 saw the development of three new, interactive teaching spaces. These new spaces are designed to immerse children in an environment to enhance their learning experience. Feedback from teachers has been great and the students certainly seem to love the new spaces, as they are surrounded by rainforests and animals.

2014 was another year with high attendance for the formal teaching programmes, with around 25,000 children moving through the curriculumlinked classes at the zoo. The Discovery Team are now looking forward to the new curriculum with sessions being developed around evolution and classification for younger age groups.

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2014

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Rainbows Takeover in 2014 Building on the success of the relationship with Girlguiding UK, 2014 saw the first Rainbow Takeover Day. 1,300 Rainbows landed at the zoo earlier in the year to take part in crafts and trails that enhanced their understanding of endangered species and the plight of animals in the wild.

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Research & Papers Published Twycross Zoo worked with 69 researchers from 29 different institutions in 2014. They studied a wide range of topics including anticipatory behaviour in elephants, coat colour as a signal of quality in male black howler monkeys, impact on welfare of tool-use enrichment in orangutans and the effect of nectar provision on behaviour in rainbow lorikeets. Further examples are listed below: University or research institution (including collaborative partners)

Level

Project Title

Animal and Plant Health Agency

PD

Deciphering epidemiology and pathogenesis of Elephant Endotheliotropic Herpes Viruses (EEHVs)

University of Cambridge

PD

Coat colour in black howler monkeys (Alouatta caraya): an honest signal of male quality?

University of Leicester

PD

Evolutionary genomics of gibbons

University of Leicester

PD

Developing next generation DNA sequencing approaches for the whole mitochondrial genome – forensic and conservation applications

Key Research Collaborations Ape Heart Project 2013 saw the start of a 4 year PhD study into heart disease in captive great apes. It is a collaborative project directed by Twycross Zoo CEO Sharon Redrobe on behalf of University of Nottingham and the Great Ape Taxon Advisory Group of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria. Standardised protocols have been developed to send out to zoos across Europe to take part in the study and at Twycross Zoo our chimpanzees are being trained for conscious ECG using specially design sensors.

University of Birmingham

PhD

Is there cumulative culture in great apes?

University of Birmingham

PhD

Influence of habitat structure on siamang locomotion and support usage

University of Derby

PhD

The impact on welfare of utilising food-based and tool-use enrichment on a group of captive Bornean orang utans (Pongo pygmaeus)

University of Liverpool

PhD

Joint angles of western lowland gorillas during vertical climbing

Elephant Herpes Virus

University of Nottingham

PhD

Assessment of the zoonotic and epi-zoonotic risk of virus reservoirs present in wild rodents

Nottingham Trent University

MSc

Meta-analysis of elephant enrichment

Nottingham Trent University

MSc

Activity budget and interactions of Aldabra tortoises (Geochelone gigantea) in captivity

Nottingham Trent University

MSc

Interactions and behaviour in neighbouring gibbon groups housed in close proximity

University of Birmingham

MSc

Personality in the context of social networks: A study of captive bonobo (Pan paniscus) social structure and investigation of personality assessment.

University of Birmingham

MSc

Biomechanics of chimpanzee locomotion

Elephant Endotheliotropic Herpes virus, EEHV, is a major health issue facing elephants in both captivity and the wild. It can kill young elephants and has been observed in America, Europe and Asia. The University of Nottingham, in collaboration with Twycross Zoo, is studying how the virus is transmitted and why it causes disease in some infected individuals.

University of Edinburgh

MSc

Links between anticipatory behaviour and stereotypies in UK zoo elephants

Zoological Society of London

MSc

An investigation into melanism in the captive Amur leopard, Panthera pardus orientalis, population

Moulton College

BSc

Investigation of rainbow lorikeet behaviour in a walkthrough aviary during different methods of nectar provision.

Reaseheath College

BSc

An investigation of activity levels of bat-eared foxes (Otocyon megalotis); observing space utilisation in relation to public viewing

Staffordshire University

BSc

Does captivity have an effect on Suricata suricatta’s (common meerkat) natural hierarchy and problem solving ability?

University of Derby

BSc

A comparison of the impacts of food and tool-use enrichment treatments on the welfare of captive Bornean orang utans.

University of Lincoln

BSc

A project to assess context-related vocalisations as a potential indicator of welfare in elephants

University of Manchester

BSc

A preliminary investigation into the relationship between helminthic infection and microfloral communities in captive primates.

University of Nottingham

BSc

The effect of visitor density on snow leopard behaviour in the Himalaya enclosure at Twycross Zoo

University of Reading

BSc

Informal education in zoos: perception and conservation

University of Sunderland

BSc

Are mating systems and intersexual dominance in primates intrinsically linked?

University of Wolverhampton

BSc

Enclosure use of Humboldt penguins at Twycross Zoo

University of Worcester

BSc

The influence of different enclosure designs on agonistic behaviour in Varecia veriegata (Black and White Ruffed Lemur)

PD: Post-Doctorate Level, PhD: Doctorate Level, MSc: Masters Level, BSc: Bachelor Level

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Dr Dunn from University of Cambridge is investigating if the coat colour of black and gold howler monkeys, Alouatta caraya, is a honest signal of fitness. By taking photos during routine health procedures, as well as hair samples, he is attempting to find out if testosterone, an indicator of male fitness, is linked to how black a males coat is.

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Twycross Zoo is currently collaborating with the University of Leicester study on the evolutionary genomics of gibbons.

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Our orang utans exhibiting tool use on their termite mound, which was funded through a PhD project from the University of Derby

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Animal Welfare

Animal Welfare Audit

Chimpanzees

The animal welfare audit, which was developed at Twycross Zoo, is a system to assess and monitor welfare across all our species and was completed in 2014. The audit enabled us to consider all aspects of animal biology, behaviour and management for over 120 species and involved many members of the Life Sciences team, including keepers, managers, vets and registrars, who assessed over 12,000 separate points! The outcome is a series of actions which will help us to ensure continued high standards of care for our animals and over time the audit will be repeated as the assessment of welfare is a continuous process. The system is in the process of being disseminated to other zoos.

The integration of our chimpanzees into larger groups continued in 2014, with slow, gradual introductions of a number of individuals, including some of our older female chimpanzees. One chimpanzee in particular, Choppers, has received much press attention and Twycross Zoo was featured on national TV, radio and print media in the discussion of the natural behaviour of chimps and the care of our own chimps here at Twycross Zoo. This was a great opportunity to raise the issues surrounding the use of chimpanzees in current movies and to raise awareness of the natural needs of these complex, intelligent animals. This was further enhanced when we issued a position statement regarding primates as pets, which was also the subject of a political debate.

Animal training Positive reinforcement training is used to manage many of our species and allows the animals the opportunity to cooperate in aspects of their care which can enhance their wellbeing. Further advances were made with a variety of species in this area during 2014. Many of our gibbons were successfully crate-trained to enable ease of management for health checks and future transfers and some more of our chimpanzees were trained to accept injections, which makes administering anaesthetics and medication easy for them.

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Elephants Our elephants saw further development of their enclosure this year, including new fencing around the grass paddock, which enables them to use the area throughout the year, rather than just in the dry summer months; and enhanced fencing in their sand paddock which allows then to have continuous access throughout the night. This gives them more choice about where they want to spend their time. We also installed an elephant chute on the outside of the house and using positive reinforcement training the elephants can go into the chute to allow the vets to have good, safe access to them if they require veterinary attention. The chute also includes specialist weighing scales, so in 2014 we were able to obtain accurate body weights from our elephants. Our calf, Esha, also had a small, calf-sized training area installed especially for her and this is where she comes when she wants to take part in training sessions, with which she is very engaged and eager to participate.

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Ape Heart Project in action. One of our chimpanzees receiving an ECG while conscious.

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Red-handed tamarin being scale trained

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Asian elephants on their improved grass paddock

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Chimpanzee during a health check

Diet and health Our vets and keepers continually review animal nutrition and diets. Animal training has helped significantly with this, with many of our animals now trained to stand on scales so that accurate weights can be obtained, which helps us to monitor general animal health and also health at specific life stages, such as during a pregnancy. To complement this we have also initiated a system of body condition scoring. This allows keepers to score an animal’s body condition based on a visual assessment. This can be tricky with our hairier species, whose bodies can be difficult to see under their thick coats, so the keepers and vets are doing research to validate the scoring system with the actual weights we get through the weighing scales.

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Animal Health Preventative health

Clinical and pathology work

Prevention of disease is key to ensuring that our animals remain healthy and includes many different techniques, including vaccination, worming and contraception. It also involves health checks for young animals, including sexing and micro-chipping. With 83 births in 2014 we were busy with this last aspect of health management throughout the year. It also includes checking our animals in their later years and to this end our Elderly Health Care Plan continued with 67 elderly patients being monitored to ensure continued good wellbeing.

Clinical cases reported to the Veterinary Team by the Animal Department are assessed immediately and action is taken accordingly, but can include simply administering medication or carrying out a general anaesthetic and taking samples for further investigation. In 2014 we administered 256 anaesthetics and tested over 1,000 samples from our animals.

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Import and export health assessments Most animals at Twycross Zoo are part of European and International breeding programmes and, based on the breeding recommendations of these programmes, animals may be transferred to other zoos and new animals may be received from other zoos. The Veterinary Team are involved in this process to ensure that the animals are fit to travel elsewhere and to screen new animals coming into the zoo. In 2014 we conducted 169 imports and 128 exports, with one of the more challenging exports of 2014 being a young female vicuna transferring to Helsinki zoo in Finland. Due to the remoteness of Helsinki Zoo it took a lot of work to find a route to transport her in the shortest time possible, but finally it was achieved by flying her there overnight.

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Amur leopard cub vaccination

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Vicuna pre-export health check

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Great grey owl health check

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Variegated spider monkey health check

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of our species are classed as “vulnerable”, “endangered” or “critically endangered”

The Animal Collection Total number of species held, by animal group

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Nº of species “least threatened”

14 Animal collection as at 31st December 2014

46

145

NB - not included butterflies

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37

100

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7

6

IUCN Status: “vulnerable”

IUCN Status: “endangered”

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20

7

13

IUCN Status: “critically endangered”

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17

14 2

19

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Key: Carnivores

Primates

Other Mammals

Birds

Invertebrates

Reptiles

Orang utan Pongo pygmaeus

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Visitor Highlights of 2014

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Author Kevin Price visited the zoo in February to promote and sign his new book “Curious Creatures”.

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Tipsy the Chimp and Percy the Penguin took part in the annual Hinckley Pancake race in March.

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The development of the Explorer Zone included the new Explorer Shop and Farfalla Pizza food outlet, which opened in April.

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To raise awareness of all the great conservation work a ‘conservation wall’ has been installed in the plaza next to Guest Services.

Summer Sundown was popular again with live music in July and August.

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From 1st July we said goodbye to plastic bags in all our shops. The Twycross Zoo bags for life are now one of our most fashionable items and are much more environmentally friendly.

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Halloween was celebrated with a spooky shop, pumpkin carving competition, a ghost train and some very spooky staff.

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There was much summer fun including a beach, complete with sand, deckchairs, buckets, spades and water.

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ROSS Z O YC

In April, our new look quarterly Members’ News was launched. This is an 8-page digital newsletter full of articles and information for members. It also incorporates the Twycross Explorers’ Newsletter for our junior members.

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Lorikeet Landing opened in August giving our visitors their first chance to get up close and personal with birds and have the opportunity to feed them. New branded product ranges have been introduced throughout the year, including clothing, confectionery, toys and stationery.

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The Twycross Express was fully refurbished and back in action in time for Halloween In 2014 the zoo hosted 23 very happy weddings. We held our very first Twycross Zoo Photographic Competition. There were some great entries with 18 prize-winners across six categories.

Chimpanzee Pan troglodytes

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Finance Report Although the zoo is first and foremost a conservation organisation, it is self-financing and, therefore, is run along sound commercial principles. These principles require that the zoo provides a visitor experience that is attractive and competitive within the region. Only by ensuring that the zoo not only maintains but grows market share can the ongoing viability of the organisation be guaranteed. Following a poor result for 2012, action was taken in 2013 to put the zoo back onto the right financial path. This was achieved by a combination of improvement of visitor experience and reduction of overheads, whilst maintaining high standards of animal welfare and a good visitor experience. For 2014, this formula was continued with the following improvements to the visitor experience • New Butterfly House • New Lorikeet Exhibit including hand feeding • New African Plains exhibit • New outdoor play area These changes, coupled with continued tight budgetary control, have seen a satisfactory set of results for 2014.

Critically endangered Amur leopard Panthera pardus orientalis

Visitor Numbers In the past visitor numbers have been used as a key performance indicator, given that the main source of income to the organisation remains gate revenue. With information of improved accuracy becoming available and a more dynamic approach to ticket pricing during the year, however, visitor numbers are now only one key performance indicator used to measure success within the business. During 2014 as part of an overall marketing strategy, ticket prices ranged from £16 for an adult paying on the day to £5 per adult for admission after 5pm in the summer. Dynamic ticket pricing alongside an increased focus on the sale of annual memberships means the link between visitor numbers and revenue is not as direct as in previous years. When initiatives like these are successful, and bring increased income, additional key performance indicators become useful rather than concentrating on visitor numbers alone. In 2014 the total number of visitors was around 450,000 compared to 480,000 in 2013. This reduction was expected after the large increase seen in 2013 due to the Dinosaur Valley exhibit, which was in situ from March to September 2013. Although visitor numbers were lower in 2014 than 2013, they remain higher than 2012, indicating an encouraging growth despite the departure of the dinosaurs. 2014 financial results were also encouraging as the new business model was consolidated leading to the creation of a larger surplus than in previous years.

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Our People

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Achievements

Staff

Sharing knowledge

The following Animal Keepers all achieved L3 Diploma in the Management of Zoo & Aquarium Animals (DMZAA): Amber Cocks, Sophie Cooper, Rachel Marson and Clare Redfern.

At the year end, Twycross Zoo employed 102 permanent, 7 temporary and 44 seasonal staff.

Kris Hern, Animal Training Manager, organised the 2nd International Animal Training Conference, which was held at Twycross Zoo: 107 delegates from 65 different institutions and companies took part.

Sophie Cooper received a special award for achieving the highest marks in the country. Sarah Chapman gained RCVS Diploma in Zoological Medicine (Mammalian) Mary-Lorraine Hughes, Executive Chairman of our Board of Trustees, was nominated – and shortlisted - for ‘NonExecutive Director of the Year’ at the Leicester Mercury Business Executive of the Year Awards.

During 2014, multi-week work-experience placements were organised for 21 further- and higher-education students following animal-related courses. Over 100 final-year veterinary students from the University of Nottingham attended their compulsory placement with our veterinary team and an additional 15 veterinary students from other universities attended placements to observe veterinary practice

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Employees recieving their long-service awards

Sarah Chapman, Head of Veterinary Services, presented on elephant health at the UK BIAZA Elephant Focus Group school. Phillipa Dobbs, Veterinary Associate, presented a session at the International Training Conference about the care of our elderly animals Anna Westbury, Zak Showell and Greg Clifton from our Life Sciences team attended the EAZA mid-year meeting in their roles as breeding programme managers for Humboldt penguins, siamangs and red-handed tamarins respectively. Zak Showell, Research and Conservation Registrar presented ZIMS workshops at the BIAZA Recrods meeting.

Amy Moore, Senior Education Officer, attended the International Zoo Educators conference 2014 at Ocean Park, Hong Kong where she presented on different methods to evaluate zoo education programmes.

Twycross Zoo achieved the highest possible Food Hygiene Rating of 5.

Sharon Redrobe, Chief Executive, with Sophie Cooper who recieved a special award for gaining the highest marks in the country for the DMZAA

Sarah Chapman, attended the American Association of Zoo Veterinarians (AAZV) Annual Conference in Florida, USA. Sharon Redrobe, CEO, went to Cameroon to perform health checks on gorillas and chimps with Ape Action Africa on two separate occasions this year. On her second trip she was also joined by Sarah Chapman, Head of Veterinary Services.

Long-service awards were presented to 14 employees with 5, 10 and 15 years’ service.

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Charlotte Macdonald, Head of Life Sciences, attended the EAZA Annual Conference in Budapest, Hungary, where she chaired the Gibbon Taxon Advisory Group meeting.

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Logo for the 2nd International Animal Training Conference

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Sharon Redrobe, Chief Executive, with Sarah Chapman, Head of Veterinary Services with Rachel Hogan, Director of Ape Action Africa in Cameroon

Orang utan Pongo pygmaeus

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Amy Moore, Senior Education Officer, presenting at the IZE conference at Ocean Park, Hong Kong

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Zak Showell, Research and Conservation Registar presenting a ZIMS workshop at the BIAZA Records meeting

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Corporate Partners

A Taste of 2015 Giraffes

New logo

New giraffe savannah opens Easter 2015

A new logo for the zoo designed by marketing company OWB

Twycross Zoo is proud to have a number of companies working with us as our Corporate Partners. As a charity the in-kind support provided by these companies is extremely helpful to us and we would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to some key supporters from 2014. •W  eedon Architects for their support through our planning process

• Plantplan for their plant donations throughout the year

•F  isher German for providing building surveying assistance

Gibbon Forest

Orang utan extension

Wet play area

New Gibbon Forest opens Summer 2015

Extending the existing orang utan enclosure

Installation of a new wet play area for children in the summer • Ocado for their donations throughout the year

TWYCROSS ZOO East Midland Zoological Society. Burton Road, Atherstone, Warwickshire, CV9 3PX Tel: 0844 474 1777 Fax: 0844 474 1888 E: [email protected] Registered charity number 501841

www.twycrosszoo.org