Zoo Animals Fund

(asked on 29th September 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether remaining funds in the Zoo Animals Fund can be ringfenced to support zoos and aquariums that have more than 12 weeks operating costs remaining and who are therefore ineligible for support from the Zoo Animals Fund.


Answered by
Victoria Prentis Portrait
Victoria Prentis
Attorney General
This question was answered on 7th October 2020

A £14 million funding envelope was made available for the initial Zoos Support Fund (ZSF), which closed at the end of July, and this envelope was then rolled forward and expanded to £100 million and made available for the subsequent Zoo Animals Fund (ZAF). It is therefore not the case that there are unspent funds from the ZSF which are available to be allocated to zoos separately from the ZAF. ZAF grant payments to zoos begin when they reach their final 12 weeks of financial reserves. Zoos can though, apply at any time before reaching this 12 week point to help with their business planning. The objective of the ZAF is to provide for operators who, due to a coronavirus-related drop in income, are experiencing severe financial difficulties and need support in caring for their animal collections between now and the start of the next season. It is not a guarantee to ensure that individual zoo operators themselves stay in business. If zoos are downsizing or rehoming their collection the fund can also provide support for this to ensure the animals’ welfare. We are monitoring uptake of the ZAF and remain in discussion with zoos about how the scheme is working.

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