Hertfordshire Zoo swoops into local community to support native species conservation

A Hertfordshire zoo has taken the initiative to bring education about native species and the need for conservation to the doorsteps of the local communities around the county. 

Paradise Wildlife Park is delivering to local schools in the community a donation of a sustainably made swift box, including a pack of educational resources, as part of a project they are calling the Big Bird Box Build. Swifts are a migratory bird native to the UK that have seen a dramatic decline in recent years. The RSPB states that the UK has seen numbers plummeting, with a 53% decrease between 1995 and 2016. As the UK’s sole representative for the SSC and IUCN ‘Centre for Species Survival’, Paradise Wildlife Park is taking action by sustainably saving swifts with the aid of the local community. A spokesperson for the zoo stated: ‘as we begin our transition to Hertfordshire Zoo in April 2024, we want to bring our community on this journey with us, we are proud to be in the heart of the county and to share our knowledge and together we can achieve great action in animal conservation.’ 

As Paradise Wildlife Park sees one of their largest habitat builds, Sun Bear Heights and Jaguar Jungle, set to open this Easter. The zoo saw this as an opportunity to minimise waste products whilst creating additional habitats for native species. With a large number of schools across the county, there’s no better partnership to start protecting native wildlife.

The spokesperson for the zoo stated: "it is vitally important to educate young people across Hertfordshire about how they can protect native wildlife, including swifts on their school site in addition to creating opportunities outside the classroom." 

The Big Bird Box Build packs include a swift box made from offcuts of wood from the habitat construction sites, educational activities and initiative ways to attract swifts onto school sites. These packs have been hand-made and created by the team at Paradise Wildlife Park, with the help from Hertfordshire businesses Stylo, Nook and Niche and Herts Coffee Lab, the charity is taking the initiative to first-hand give back to the county.

With the aim to reach over 350 Hertfordshire schools, the Hertfordshire-based zoo has already started to deliver the packs to schools, receiving a lot of excitement from the children and teachers, just in time as Swifts return from their migratory patterns. Together the community is joining forces to proactively support native species conservation. You can keep following the story and the project via the zoo's website and social media channels.