Help Tom Jones Save Our Zoo Gardens
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BRISTOL ZOO HAS NOT BEEN SOLD - THERE ARE STILL ANIMALS ON SITE - IT’S NOT TOO LATE - PLEASE DONATE NOW TO SAVE OUR ZOO GARDENS FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS!
“No one will protect what they don’t care about, and no one will care about what they have never experienced”. Sir David Attenborough.
- Taking the Zoo out of the heart of Bristol can only mean that in the future, far fewer people from Bristol will have the chance to experience amazing exotic and endangered wildlife and consequently, will not want to protect it.
Who?
My name is Tom Jones, I am from Bristol and I have spent the past year of my life, voluntarily working to try to save Bristol Zoological Gardens for the community and people of Bristol.
Me & my little boy Wilf at Bristol Zoo last summer
What?
I am trying to raise (up to) £50,000 to develop an alternative plan to Save Bristol Zoological Gardens from being sold off to become luxury housing and to ensure a reimagined Bristol Zoo remains on its original, historic site, in conjunction with the Wild Place Project in South Gloucestershire.
The famous grand terrace of Bristol Zoo Gardens
How?
- With the help of a team of industry experts, create an exciting new dual-site vision both digitally and in print, allied to a detailed and credible business plan, outlining how a reinvented and reimagined Bristol Zoo can be part of an alternative vision and better future for Bristol Zoological Society and Bristol.
- This plan will then be presented to Zoo trustees, shareholders, members, the public and the media as well as to local government and other interested parties.
- Trustees and shareholders will be receptive to hearing alternatives (see towards bottom of page for more info).
Why?
• Bristol Zoo is the world’s 5th oldest Zoo, comparable to Clifton Suspension Bridge and the SS Great Britain in terms of its cultural, heritage and historical value to Bristol. We cannot just let it become a luxury housing estate.
Would we just let the Suspension Bridge go?
• The walled botanical gardens are a unique slice of paradise, 187 years of historic fabric and hallowed ground, woven into the heart of the city.
Laura Robertson's picture perfectly illustrates how Bristol Zoo is literally, part of the city
• Once the gardens are sold for private housing, they are gone forever and are never coming back.
The plan is for these gardens to become private housing with towering 4-6 storey flats on three sides of the perimeter
Why Now?
- Bristol Zoological Society want to sell their historic site to a private developer to be turned into a luxury housing estate.
- Bristol Zoological Society are facing lengthy legal delays to their planning application for their luxury housing scheme. Until sold to a housing developer, it is not too late to keep Bristol Zoological Gardens, in Bristol.
Donate today to help stop these gardens being sold for housing
What Is The Money For?
- Funding a team of industry experts – some whom have already agreed to work on this - to develop the comprehensive dual-site alternative vision and credible business plan.
- Having worked voluntarily for over a year, funding me to continue to fight to save Bristol Zoo Gardens for the people of Bristol, by project managing the alternative plan and continuing my work of meeting with and lobbying Zoo shareholders, trustees and other relevant parties.
Donate today to save Bristol Zoo for future generations
Key Points – Why You Should Donate And Why This Is Important
- Bristol Zoo Gardens have not been sold.
- If Bristol Zoological Gardens are sold off for luxury housing, we all lose something irreplaceable.
- It is not too late to save Bristol Zoo Gardens!
- There are still many animals on site, including the gorillas which will have to live on a building site for years whilst their new home is built in South Gloucestershire.
- Bristol Zoo Gardens were viable before they closed, attracting well over half a million visitors annually, making them Bristol’s no.1 paid for visitor attraction.
- Bristol Zoo was a highly respected Zoo with excellent animal welfare standards.
- We were all misled over the reasons we were given for closure by the Zoo’s management. Over 99% of Bristol Zoo’s animals have gone to other Zoos , NOT the Wild Place.
The reasons BZS gave for closing Bristol Zoo were misleading - almost all of their animals have gone to other Zoos.
- Bristol Zoological Society – a conservation charity - want to chop down 156 trees on their historic garden site to make way for their luxury housing plan.
Bristol Zoo management want to chop down 156 of their own trees
This is the Zoo's own tree removal plan - everything in pink will be chopped down
- Bristol Zoological Society want to bulldoze their amazing herbaceous border (pictured below) where generations of their own shareholders have scattered ashes over the years.
The Zoo's management want to bulldoze this
- Under the Zoo’s plans, there will be some public access to the gardens but there are no long-term legal protections and in time, it is all but inevitable that it will become a fully private and gated estate.
- According to a report by respected climate change scientist Dr. Dominic Hogg, the carbon emission impacts of developing the Zoo into housing are extremely high and may alone be responsible for 20-25 times the current estimated carbon emissions from BZS activities.
- If all companies – let alone a conservation charity - managed their assets in the same way as BSZ intends, we would collectively vastly exceed net zero and be looking at around 2.3% of global warming - catastrophic for the planet and species conservation. This would render all BZS’s conservation efforts elsewhere meaningless and completely irrelevant.
Bristol Zoological Society - a conservation charity - want to knock this building down - some of which is less than 10 years old
- The Wild Place (new ‘Bristol’ Zoo) is a mirage and once again we have been misled; of the 136-acre site, approximately only 15 acres of useable space remains to build animal exhibits on, only a little larger than Bristol Zoo Gardens.
This is what the new 'Bristol' Zoo actually looks like
- The intended new ‘Bristol Zoo’ – the Wild Place Project – is not in Bristol, it is in South Gloucestershire.
- The money Bristol Zoological Society hope to raise from the sale of Bristol Zoo Gardens (est. £43m) will barely touch the sides of what they hope to achieve at the Wild Place (est. cost, £150-250m – see below for more detail).
- The gains (if any) of selling Bristol Zoological Gardens to fund the development of a fraction of the Wild Place, do not and can never outweigh the immense loss of Bristol Zoological Society asset stripping its own, historic and irreplaceable asset.
Asset stripping its own crown jewels
- Please donate today to give the best chance of stopping this madness by developing a better alternative future.
Please scroll down for more detailed information about my story and this Go Fund Me Proposal…
Bristol Zoo has been a special place for Bristolians for 187 years
- Photos from Bristol Zoo's final week, showing the love the people of Bristol have for their Zoo.
Queueing round the block to get in
So much love for the site
One of the final gorilla talks
Standing room only!
One of the final seal talks
Links
- To learn about Bristol Zoo’s closure in much more detail, read my 80-page report:
- The petition I started last summer, which to date, has attracted well over 11,000 signatures:
- Here is some previous press coverage:
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/mar/12/its-an-act-of-greed-hundreds-protest-over-bristol-zoo-closure
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/bristol-zoo-accused-of-misleading-public-over-garden-site-closure-22gx6kqsp
My Story
Bristol Zoo - in the DNA
History, heritage, tradition and experiences matter - they give our lives meaning
Having lived in Bristol for almost all my life, Bristol Zoo is part of my DNA. I began visiting with my parents before I can remember and up until September 2022 when the Zoo closed, I was still visiting with my 4-year-old son and my parents, now grandparents. I have heard stories like mine again and again in the past year.
Bristol Zoo means something to different generations
In May 2022, as myself and my 4-year-old son walked around the Zoo on one especially luminous day, I found myself appreciating how truly beautiful and precious the gardens are, what a unique and historic site it is and reflecting on the unique significance of its place in Bristol’s heritage and culture, in the same bracket as Clifton Suspension Bridge and the SS Great Britain.
Would we want to lose these valuable Bristol institutions?
I then thought about the imminent closure and could not believe that where I was standing was destined to become someone’s multi-million-pound home.
Behind me was the stunning herbaceous border (pictured below) where for generations, families have scattered loved one’s ashes. Under the Zoo’s plans, this will also be bulldozed to become luxury homes and private gardens.
Would families have scattered loved one's ashes here if they had thought one day it would be bulldozed?
Who on earth had signed off on these plans? Who was making these decisions to bulldoze herbaceous borders, chop down 156 magnificent trees and pour concrete on these stunning botanical gardens that belong to all of us?
Bristol Zoological Society - a conservation charity - wants to chop down 156 of its own trees
Up until that point, I like many others, had accepted the Zoo’s version of events, but having attended several residents’ consultations and spoken to a number of Zoo staff, I realised that a lot of things didn’t add up and I started to question the whole enterprise.
It is now over a year later and I have calculated that I have spent at least 2500 hours, voluntarily working to try to save Bristol Zoo for the community and people of Bristol. In that time, I have extensively researched the Zoo’s annual reports, accounts and strategic documents to try to understand the decision to close. I have had countless conversations with many staff from Bristol Zoological Society, directors from other zoos, conservationists, zoologists, trustees and shareholders. In the process I have extensively educated myself about the story behind the Zoo’s closure.
I have discovered there is a very different story to be told which I have detailed in an 80-page report that I wrote and published at the end of last year. A version of events that the Zoo’s management would never want anyone to find out, a story that undermines and fundamentally challenges the Zoo's decision to close in the first place.
A tiny minority of people with extraordinarily limited Zoological experience, took a highly subjective decision during a global pandemic at a time when it felt like the world had changed.
Bristol Zoological Society's CEO - an archaeologist - had never worked at a Zoo before he took over in 2018. He arrived from London and just over two years later, he was closing our Zoo.
It is this sense of deep injustice and the loss for so many of us and to the city more widely, that sustains my drive.
Anyone who has visited Bristol Zoological Gardens knows that it is a very special place for the people of Bristol – hallowed ground.
A safe space for young children
A friend of mine recently described to me how every time she would visit with her family, once she had shown her memberships card and passed through the sliding doors out into the gardens, her shoulders would drop, she would exhale deeply and relax as she let her young children run ahead and free, knowing they were safe in this walled garden. This sanctuary, this haven in the middle of the city, has been lost to all of us.
A safe haven for all ages in the middle of a city
A special place through the seasons
Now, to continue to fight to Save Bristol Zoo Gardens, I need to raise some funds.
Objective
Raise (up to) £50,000 to ensure a reimagined Bristol Zoological Gardens remains on its original site, in conjunction with the Wild Place Project.
Firstly, because having worked voluntarily on this issue for over a year, working pro bono is no longer sustainable for me. A monthly retainer for the next 6-9 months will allow me to keep working on this issue. Both to develop an alternative plan with a team of experts and to keep lobbying shareholders, trustees and other relevant parties.
Secondly, to pay reasonable fees and expenses for appropriate professionals to achieve a detailed plan, outlining an alternative vision and future for Bristol Zoological Society.
Outline Of Alternative Vision For Bristol Zoological Society Allowing Mutually Complimentary Sites of Bristol Zoo Gardens & Wild Place
- Massively invest in and market the botanical garden aspect of the attraction - ‘A Safe Space In The Heart Of Our City.”
- Fewer animals in larger enclosures - less is more.
- Improve animal welfare with mixed species enclosures and experts academic input to improve animal enrichment.
- More immersive and interactive experience for visitors.
- Indoor soft play in Forest Of Birds building.
- An exhibition space in Bug World building, similar concept to We The Curious.
- Technology - video link to gorillas in the wild.
- Technology - a VR great white shark experience, for example.
- Lots of extra and special events to increase revenue and increase profile - Christmas Lights Festival - Summer Movie Nights - Overnight Safari Lodge Stays - Animal VIP Experiences - explore the possibility of a potential partnership with Aardman.
- Build on the excellent conservation and education work that was already taking place at BZG.
- Better information for visitors making the conservation work BZS do more tangible.
- Upon reopening, reduce staffing numbers for BZG (had become significantly over-staffed in recent years).
- Bring catering back in-house and making a profit once more - high quality, locally sourced, good range of choices, similar to Gloucester Services model.
- No vending machines - a ‘purer’ environment.
- Significantly increase quality of merchandise sold in gift shop.
- Increase membership subscriptions.
- Launch the reopening of BZG with a 2nd iteration of the Wow! Gorillas event held in 2011 - painted colourful models of BZG animals all over the city - we’re back!
- Look for alternative funding model, eg. HNW individuals, levelling up funding (£19.9m Twycross Zoo precedent), corporate grants (Kew Gardens precedent, £100m).
- Explore London Zoo model - anyone on benefits - £3 ticket.
- Explore the idea of one day a week before midday being free entry - work with a bus company to encourage people from disadvantaged areas to visit. Promote the mental health benefits of the gardens and interacting with animals - Bristol doctors could prescribe ‘a trip to the Zoo once a week for a year”, for example.
Is This Realistic?
Although this plan will not guarantee success, it is the best and only chance of persuading Bristol Zoological Society’s trustees and shareholders to vote for a new future by keeping Bristol Zoo, in Bristol. Bristol Zoo and Wild Place Project can and should be mutually complimentary, not mutually exclusive.
Zoo Trustees And Shareholders Will Be Receptive To Hearing Alternatives Because…
- Bristol Zoological Society are currently haemorrhaging members, under fire from paying visitors and are in a lot of financial trouble, having gambled everything by closing their successful and nationally respected Zoo to try to build something that is neither guaranteed nor even fully designed.
- The money Bristol Zoological Society hope to raise from the sale of Bristol Zoo Gardens (est. £43m) will barely touch the sides of what they hope to achieve at the Wild Place (est. cost, £150-250m).
- A new entrance, cafe and a couple of new exhibits will not generate more visitors, income or do anything meaningful for conservation.
- Selling Bristol Zoo to invest in the soulless Wild Place is a net loss.
- Hollowing out an internationally recognised and respected institution means there is a great danger that a tiny group of trustees risk sleepwalking into ruining this historic Society, which counts Brunel as one of its founders.
The Project
Aim:
• To create an exciting new vision both digitally and in print, allied to a detailed and credible business plan, outlining how a reinvented and reimagined Bristol Zoo can be part of an alternative vision and better future for Bristol Zoological Society and Bristol.
Outputs:
• The design of a reimagined Bristol Zoological Gardens.
• Finances – conduct a detailed analysis of the Zoo’s current finances which will inform and help formulate a prospective business plan that is both credible and realistic for Bristol Zoological Society.
• Market Research - researching how the public would respond to a reimagined Bristol Zoo reopening, what species would they like to see at Bristol Zoo and the Wild Place, viability of different business models – would BZS members be prepared to pay a higher annual subscription?
• Explore different possibilities for external funding to be brought in.
• Expert academic report on how to provide the best possible enclosures and enrichment for the animals at the Zoo.
• Administrative support to help develop the proposal.
• PR – constructing the best possible messaging around the proposal.
• Legal support to explore following issues - 1. Parking in North Car Park 2. Enshrine in BZS constitution the gardens to be held in trust 3. Explore possibility of changing BZS’s charitable objects.
Outcomes:
• Producing a credible dual site plan in contrast to BZS’s current one site plan and proposal to sell BZG.
• This plan will then be presented to BZS Trustees and Shareholders, BZS members, the public and the media as well as to local government and other interested parties.
Vision For The Future
A future where Bristol Zoological Gardens stays where it belongs, in Bristol. Reimagining what a Zoological Garden in the 21st Century can be. The opportunities are exciting, the possibilities endless. With financial support, rewriting the future is eminently possible.
Tom Jones - Who Am I And What Are My Skills?
I am a parent of two young children, professional musician, campaigner, lifelong Bristolian and until recently, member of Bristol Zoo. I have dedicated over a year of my life – approximately 2500 hours - voluntarily working to Save Bristol Zoo. To continue the fight to Save Bristol Zoo, I now need to raise money to continue.
On this specific issue I have:
• Unprecedented insight and significant learned knowledge.
• A vast and unrivalled contact book.
I also have:
• Excellent creativity and imagination.
• First-rate people skills and a proven track record of building constructive relationships with others.
• 14 years of directing and bringing large groups of people together to achieve one collective purpose.
• 16 years of successfully running my own business.
• Excellent organisational and leadership skills, delivering successful musical projects throughout my career.
Recommendations
Doug Allan says…
“Tom’s capability, credibility, tenacity and leadership all came to the fore in his investigation and report about the closing of the Zoo in 2022. This next step of the campaign is going to need all those qualities again, as well as significant funding to make the case professionally. Tom’s appeal is our best chance to turn the tide. It’s worthy of all our support.”
Doug Allan, award-winning natural history photographer and documentary filmmaker who has worked on some of the BBC’s and Sir David Attenborough’s biggest shows including The Blue Planet, Planet Earth and Frozen Planet.
Alastair Sawday says…
“Tom is a Bristolian who takes the loss of Bristol Zoo very seriously. He has researched the history of the closure and believes it to have been gravely misguided. His report on the subject has impressed many key people in Bristol and led directly to the creation of the Save Bristol Zoo Gardens Campaign If Tom’s efforts to persuade the Bristol Zoological Society to remain in Bristol were to succeed, Bristol would breathe a sigh of relief. For BZS itself should be the first defender of those beautiful gardens, such a precious piece of Bristol‘s heritage.”
Alastair Sawday is a publisher and founder of Sawday’s, an environmentalist and campaigner.
Why Should You Contribute?
• Your contribution to this funding proposal – however large or small - can help bend the arc of history back in a more meaningful direction for Bristol, Zoos and green spaces more widely. A trajectory which recognises a wider view of human existence than purely economics. Helping to fund this proposal, if successful, will contribute to your legacy, be something you can be proud of and which future generations will thank you for.
What You Need To Know Before Contributing
• This is a donation/contribution towards the formation of a plan to keep Bristol Zoo, in Bristol.
• There is no guarantee of success.
• This is not an investment and there will be no financial return.
• Any money donated does not carry with it a tax advantage.
• The full amount of £50,000 does not need to be raised before work on this project begins.
• I am a registered sole trader acting as an independent project-management consultant.
• Money raised will go towards paying me a monthly wage to continue working and fighting to save Bristol Zoo as well as employing and project-managing a range of expert sub-contracted professionals to contribute towards this proposal.
• A breakdown of estimated costs can be provided on request.
Organizer
Tom Jones
Organizer
England