Blog: Partnerships with Zoos, Beavering away on both sides of the Dam

In our latest blog, Kieran Holliday from Flamingo Land outlines the value of partnerships for projects like the park's groundbreaking new beaver facility: 

If we’re serious about restoring species at scale, then partnerships aren’t just helpful, they’re essential. The return of the Eurasian beaver to Britain is often described as a conservation success story. And it is. But it’s also a story about something less visible, and arguably just as important: partnership. From my perspective, assisting beaver projects in the North of England, it’s clear that no single organisation could deliver this kind of recovery alone.

Zoos bring something very specific to the table. We have the facilities, the expertise, and the experience of managing animals under human care. In the case of beavers, that becomes particularly important with health screening and quarantining, critical steps that need to be done properly. That’s where zoos can quietly play a huge role. Over the last seven years Flamingo Land has done just this, acting as a holding facility for Eurasian beavers as they are moved and released across Britain.

But beaver conservation doesn’t stop at the fence line. Once animals are ready for release, the work shifts into landscapes, communities, and policy. That’s where charitable partners come in. Beaver Trust, Forestry England and Yorkshire Wildlife Trust all have much larger parts to play in this story. They are the ones managing the project, building relationships with landowners, restoring habitats, and having often difficult conversations about flooding, land use, and coexistence. And this is where the real strength of partnership becomes obvious.

Beavers are not a “simple” conservation win. They are ecosystem engineers, changing the environment in very visible ways. They create wetlands, improve biodiversity, and slow water flow. Beaver Trust does an incredible job at explaining this positively but does not shy away from the harder conversations, and this is where partnerships are important again. We have a direct line to the public here at Flamingo Land. Every day, we have the opportunity to connect people with species like the beaver and explain why they matter. We can challenge misconceptions early, before they become barriers to reintroduction. We can take a species that might be controversial in the landscape and make it understandable, even valued.

For me, that’s one of the most important parts of this partnership. It creates a bridge between people and projects.There’s also a practical reality here. Conservation at scale is expensive, long-term, and often uncertain. By working together, zoos and charities can share that burden. Zoos can offer consistent support and infrastructure, while charities can unlock additional funding, mobilise volunteers, and influence policy. The result is something much bigger than either could achieve alone.

Partnerships also push us to be better. When you work with other organisations, you have to explain your decisions, justify your approaches, and listen to other perspectives. That leads to better outcomes. That could be reimagining the build of your new beaver quarantine facility,do you go with more elaborate pools or stick with the tried and tested water troughs, what will work best for longevity and biosecurity. In that sense, collaboration is about quality.

Organisations like BIAZA have an important role to play here too. By bringing the sector together, they help create the conditions for these partnerships to happen and to succeed. They also help demonstrate that modern zoos are not isolated attractions, but active contributors to conservation at a national scale.

The return of the beaver shows what’s possible. But it also raises a bigger question: how do we apply this model to other species, other landscapes, and other challenges? Flamingo Land has had success in just offering help to organisations. For some it's just promoting the work, for others it's more hands on, but my message isn’t for just big zoos, it's for everyone. The first step is a conversation, establishing what can be done, to what scale, and just building a relationship. Through this we now work with charities to help white-clawed crayfish, we survey for harvest mice, educate the public on pine martens in Yorkshire and we are continuing to expand our horizons and our work, all done successfully through Partnerships.

- Kieran Holliday, Conservation and Science Officer, Flamingo Land 

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

For BIAZA members interested in creating conservation-driven partnerships, we have new guidance in due diligence for partner selection, available here.