Memories to preserve, animals to conserve

There are as many possible reasons for visiting a zoo as there are animals within: a day out with the family, a way to satisfy curiosity, an opportunity to laugh at the monkeys. The list is inexhaustible.

But for Perth Zoo’s Wendy Attenborough, her organisation’s core mission is so much more than mere entertainment.

Ms Attenborough told Business News the zoo’s major focus was conservation, which goes beyond protecting only native species.

Perth Zoo has initiatives in place for some of the world’s most critically endangered animals.

Among its notable programs are those for Malaysian sun bears and Sumatran orangutans, with both species inhabiting the zoo’s Asian rainforest precinct.

Ms Attenborough said Perth Zoo wanted to involve the public as much as possible in its conservation journey.

She said the zoo’s recently announced 20-year masterplan was developed with that goal in mind, as well as to provide the best possible environment for the 1,500 animals in its care.

Earlier this year, the state government committed $43.5 million to kickstart the work under the masterplan, which includes additions and a series of upgrades to the South Perth site’s infrastructure.

Priorities include a new cafe and function area to replace ageing facilities, as well as a new post-mortem lab, expected to be built in the first half of next year.

“We conduct wildlife post-mortem investigations on behalf of the state for endangered native species, for example, with cockatoos and marine animals,” Ms Attenborough said.

“That then feeds through to the Wildlife Health Australia database, which is a national wildlife health network [that] informs wildlife health intelligence and decision-making nationally.

“It sounds like an unusual priority, but [it is] one that we’re very excited about … given it’s an important part of wildlife health surveillance work.”

She said the zoo would also gain a new veterinary hospital as part of a new conservation precinct, which would be partially open to public viewing.

“One of the key principles of the masterplan work is, to the greatest extent possible, bring what is currently back-of-house [to] front-of-house,” Ms Attenborough said.

“We want people to understand we are a transparent organisation, which values the work that we do, and we want to share that work.”

The masterplan also includes a new plaza-style zoo entry, a treehouse, and a nature-play area, all to be delivered within the first decade.

The plan was unveiled by the state government in May, alongside a new online donations portal that’s expected to fund some of the work.

Perth Zoo is controlled and managed by the Zoological Parks Authority, which forms part of the Department of Biodiversity Conservations and Attractions (formerly the Department of Parks and Wildlife).

The DBCA was created in mid-2017 to bring together ZPA, the Botanic Gardens and Parks Authority, and the Rottnest Island Authority. It is led by director general Mark Webb, also the chief executive officer of ZPA.

The ZPA board includes former journalist and City of Perth councillor Di Bain. Until May, it also included chartered accountant Grant Robinson, who chaired the organisation.

Ms Attenborough, who has been an executive director of ZPA since 2018, said the zoo’s core purpose was to save wildlife, and that the 20-year masterplan would assist it in that mission.

“About 60 per cent of our revenue is self-earned and the remainder is from government,” she said.

“We are a commercial conservation organisation. To meet those conservation objectives and deliver on our mission, which is to save wildlife, we have to be financially sustainable.

“We don’t see those as competing elements; we’ve taken an integrated approach.”

Ms Attenborough said all Perth Zoo’s commercial activities were designed to align with its conservation mission, even the new revenue sources introduced during COVID-19.

Prior to the pandemic, earnings from admissions and memberships accounted for 42 per cent of Perth Zoo’s total revenue, while state government funding accounted for 41 per cent.

Commercial activities, as well as retail shop sales, grants, sponsorships, and fundraising made up the remaining 17 per cent.

It was a different story in 2019-20 after an unprecedented closure between March and June put a $2.2 million dent in revenue from admissions, as revealed in Perth Zoo’s annual report.

The loss, however, was covered by an increased contribution from the state government, leading to total revenue of $26.3 million for that period, down only 2.6 per cent on 2018-19.

“We closed for the first time in our 123-year history,” Ms Attenborough said.

“That was very confronting, and it was very difficult, but we knew that it was the right thing to do.”

Perth Zoo’s priority during the lockdown, she said, was to ensure there was continued care for all animals housed in the 17-hectare site.

To limit physical contact between staff, Ms Attenborough said Perth Zoo separated its workforce into two interchangeable teams.

“Fortunately, here in WA, we haven’t had widespread community transmission, but we know exactly what we need to do should we have to take that action,” she said.

A second approach taken during COVID-19 has made lasting changes on the business.

Ms Attenborough said, as with many organisations affected by the pandemic, Perth Zoo was forced to innovate to stay viable.

In May last year, about a month after Western Australia entered its first lockdown, Perth Zoo launched its Home Safari platform for virtual visitors, through which it shared behind-the-scenes footage of animals in the zoo’s Savannah precinct.

Ms Attenborough said livestream cameras installed in the giraffe enclosure had attracted local, national, and international audiences.

Later that year, Perth Zoo partnered with American video-sharing platform Cameo to allow people to send personalised messages, or shout outs, to friends and family members featuring an animal of their choice and a zookeeper.

The organisation also moved its educational content online during that period and increased the number of live videos uploaded to its Facebook and Instagram pages.

The latter contributed to a 46 per cent annual organic growth across all of Perth Zoo’s social media platforms, with its Facebook and Instagram pages gathering more than 155,000 and 70,000 new followers, respectively, in 2019-20.

“Through that period, I like to think that we demonstrated our worth to the community,” Ms Attenborough said.

“We reminded Perth what a fantastic experience it is to be immersed in our wonderful botanic estate and connect with wildlife in a safe, outdoor space.”

Perth Zoo reopened its doors on June 6 and counted more than 46,000 visitors for the remainder of that month, which was an 88 per cent increase on the same time in 2019.

Unsurprisingly, however, its total visitor count in 2019-20 was down 23 per cent to 552,839.

Attendances have since lifted, with WA having moved to light-touch virus restrictions.

“Extraordinarily, our visitor numbers over the last financial year were the strongest they’ve ever been,” Ms Attenborough said.

“We had almost 745,000 people come through the gates. That is a record for us.”

Take-up of Zoo Friends memberships, which give visitors unlimited general day admissions and free entry to associated zoos around Australia, has also been growing.

This past year, Perth Zoo revealed it had more than 28,000 members, marking another record for the business.

Ms Attenborough said the zoo was aiming to increase repeat attendances, but accepted families were more likely to take out memberships and visit several times a year compared with other demographics.

She explained Perth Zoo, however, was seeking to diversify its visitor base beyond the core family market.

Last summer, the organisation introduced its Zoo Up Late event, which specifically targeted young adults and attracted 10,500 visitors during that period.

That well exceeded targets set by the organisation, Ms Attenborough said.

“We accept there are some demographics who we’ve had to remind that we are here,” she said.

“We hope they visit us more than once a year, but we understand that [it’s more likely] they’ll remember to [do so] earlier in their parenting journey than they might have otherwise.”

Ms Attenborough acknowledged it was common for people to visit Perth Zoo as children and as parents themselves, but rarely in the time between.

“We’re trying to reshape that curve … and we’ve started to see the results of that,” she said.

“Our admissions revenue is a very important part of our annual revenue base.

“We know that if we can grow the number of visitors, we grow our revenue.”

Conservation

Ms Attenborough repeated that, without financial viability, the zoo would not be able to deliver on its conservation mission.

It has several initiatives in place for endangered species, as well as local and global partnerships with conservation organisations.

The zoo also encourages members of the community to donate or take part in its fundraisers and adoption programs.

One of Perth Zoo’s most notable partnerships is with the Frankfurt Zoological Society to protect the Bukit Tigapuluh ecosystem, which includes Sumatran elephants, orangutans, and tigers.

Its other conservation partners include the Australian Wildlife Conservancy, Painted Dog Conservation Inc, and Fauna & Flora International.

Locally, Perth Zoo breeds and releases native animals into the wild through its Native Species Conservation Breeding Program.

The organisation claims to have released more than 4,000 animals bred at the zoo into protected wild habitats since 1992.

Today, it has breeding programs in place for numbats, dibblers, frogs, and western ground parrots.

The zoo also breeds rare western swamp tortoises, which were thought to be extinct until one was discovered by a 10-year-old about 40 years ago.

“That one individual boy’s efforts to get that tortoise identified led to a breeding program here at Perth Zoo that’s been running since the 1980s,” Ms Attenborough said.

“The [new] conservation precinct will showcase the breeding work that we do with WA species, providing a real window into efforts that all of us in the state can be proud of.”

Challenges

Ms Attenborough explained travel restrictions had limited the zoo’s ability to transfer animals to other states, but said the challenges presented by COVID-19 were only short term.

She said a key test for Perth Zoo – and for the world, more broadly – was doing everything it could to preserve biodiversity, the loss of which had significant direct impacts on both animals and humans.

A recent report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) cited the main causes of biodiversity loss were land-use change, over-exploitation of natural resources, pollution, invasive alien species, and climate change.

It said natural forests and wetlands had declined dramatically in mass in recent years, and more than 30 per cent of the world’s coral was at risk of bleaching, with Australia’s own Great Barrier Reef a prime example.

More than 60 per cent of vertebrate populations have disappeared since 1970 and more than a quarter of all animal and plant species are threatened by extinction, according to the OECD.

“Foreign estimates are that, in just the last half century we’ve lost more than half of the planet’s biodiversity,” Ms Attenborough said.

“We are now in the planet’s sixth mass extinction event; it’s significant.

“Providing safe havens for some refugee species … alongside the work that we do to protect their wild cousins is really important.

“We want to really lead and shape community perceptions of what a good zoo looks like.”