Blog: 100 years of Paignton Zoo

Dennis Flynn, CEO of Wild Planet Trust reflects on the centenary of Paignton Zoo and what the future might hold…

On July 1^st 2023, Paignton Zoo will be celebrating its 100^th birthday. It is customary at such milestones to ponder on the meaning of this achievement, but the events of recent years, and challenges that we face both as an industry and as an organisation, make reflective thinking of this kind more pressing than ever.

It is easy to view a centenary as an occasion on which we look back, and Paignton Zoos rich history provides many examples of things to be proud of. Our founder, Herbert Whitley, created a zoo that did things differently. We were the first zoo in the country to open with education as its primary aim. We can lay claim to many firsts in terms of breeding success, and have a phenomenal track record for zoo based research, and for supporting field programmes, both here in the UK and further afield.

Photo: Shiralee Martin

But when we try and contextualize past success in the modern day, we see the extent to which things have changed. Nature has never needed our help more. Brexit, Covid-19, avian influenza, and the cost of living crisis have brought unprecedented complication to our daily operations. The speed of technological advancement provides a dizzying array of both opportunity and challenge. The need to plan ahead, for a volatile and uncertain future is laid stark before us. How do we take the benefit of 100 years’ experience and use it to safeguard our future for the century to come?

We need to be bold. We need to aim high, lean into the dip, and move forward with determination and vision. We all have a picture in our head of what the zoo of the future might look like, and here at Wild Planet Trust we are using our centenary as the opportunity to transform. To take a fresh perspective and change our approach to one that recognises and responds to the world as it now is. To gear up, take that future image, and turn it into concrete reality.

Our zoos are full of incredible animals and plants but it is people that make a zoo a zoo. It is people, and the value they place on the world around them, that will determine nature’s future. And it is people that we set our sights on as we prepare to embark on the next stage of Paignton Zoos journey.

Our plans for the zoo we need to become are now well advanced. As an organisation, we have a very singular purpose; we exist to help halt species decline. This narrative forms a silver thread that runs through our work. It explains who we are, what we do, and why that work matters. It guides our strategic development over the coming years, defining our brand, focussing our efforts, and giving clarity to our actions. And above all it speaks to the original ethos of a place that opened a century ago so its founder could share his wonder for nature with his visitors.

By Dennis Flynn,

CEO, Wild Planet Trust

All blogs reflect the views of their author and are not a reflection of BIAZA's positions.