ZSL ANNUAL REPOR ANDACCOUNTS 2021-22 zsl.org
CONTENTS
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The Trustees present their Annual Report and
Accounts of the charity for the year to 30 April 2022.
The financial statements have been prepared in
accordance with the accounting policies set out in
note 1 of the accounts and comply with the charity’s
Charter and Byelaws, the Charities Act 2011 and
Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to
charities preparing their accounts in accordance with
the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the
UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (second edition
effective 1 January 2019) – (Charities SORP (FRS 102)).
Our Royal Charter
ZSL’s core aims, as set out in its Charter, are:
The advancement of zoology by, among other
things, the conducting of scientific research, the
promoting of conservation of biological diversity
and the welfare of animals, the care for and
breeding of endangered and other species, the
fostering of public interest, the improvement
and dissemination of zoological knowledge, and
participation in conservation worldwide. In shaping
our aims for the year and planning our activities,
ZSL’s Trustees have considered the Charity
Commission’s guidance on public benefit and fee
charging. Initiatives include educational visits at
heavily discounted prices, free visits as part of
the junior citizen initiative and community access
scheme, and our Sense-ational Festival, aimed at
people with neurodiversities, at discounted prices.
We also fund and run a world-renowned zoological
library, with open access at no charge.
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WELCOME
Our newly appointed Director General introduces our review of 1 May 2021 to 30 April 2022.
This year has been about recovery for ZSL. Our Zoos spent almost half of last year closed to visitors. We are now recovering financially and building for the future. We have launched new and innovative exhibits – from Tiny Giants and the Giants of the Galápagos to the reimagining of the Snowdon Aviary as the UK’s first walkthrough colobus exhibit, Monkey Valley. In the coming year, we will be launching masterplans for both Zoos that will transform the experience for visitors and help us bring wildlife and people closer together.
Our strong recovery is a tribute to the work of our staff and the efforts of our supporters. We have also seen the importance of our Zoos to the wider community. Despite a decline in international tourists visiting the UK, the Zoos have performed well above targets this financial year; the number of domestic visitors has grown and our membership is at a record high.
We are making our Zoos more accessible and inclusive, and working to increase opportunities for careers in conservation. We are also working closely with policymakers to develop the UK’s Zoo Standards, which embody the high standards of animal care that we set ourselves.
We have also been making the case globally for biodiversity, in the context of a deep and worsening crisis both in terms of extinction and climate. This year we took that message to the
United Nations’ (UN) Climate Change Conference (COP26). We championed nature-based solutions at an event chaired by one of our leading scientists and the UN recognised the importance of these nature-based solutions in its framework for tackling climate change. We will now be working hard to make sure that the commitments of COP26 are upheld in the policies and actions of governments.
We had a successful year in our work on the recovery of British wildlife. We have restored native oysters and wider British wetlands; supported the reintroduction of beavers to the wild; and vaccinated badgers to help drive the reversal of the badger-culling policy.
Our science has had an excellent year. Research England now rate over half of our scientific research to be world leading. At our Zoos, our veterinary team took part in extraordinary research that offers insight into how different species mitigate cancers and other cell mutations. And our work underpinned the IUCN’s Green Status of Species, a new standard of measuring species recovery.
This year we said goodbye to Director General Dominic Jermey. Dominic steered ZSL through some of its toughest years, launched a new strategy and delivered a series of big successes for our science and conservation work. Our President, Prof Sir John Beddington, has also stood down after eight years, having helped the organisation navigate numerous challenges and get itself on a much stronger footing. We are grateful to Jo Keaney, Acting Director General during the transition, and to the ZSL Executive Committee – between them, they have done an extraordinary job in keeping the show on the road. As newly appointed Director General, I join ZSL with a laser-like focus on saving species – through our Zoos, advocacy, science and conservation projects around the world.
Finally, it is with great sadness that we acknowledge the loss of Queen Elizabeth II, ZSL’s Royal Patron. Queen Elizabeth II loved animals and wildlife, and it was an honour for us to share in that love through her visits to our Zoos. She leaves an important legacy at ZSL, and we will miss her.
6 October 2022
Matthew Gould CMG MBE Director General, ZSL
WELCOME
Vision and purpose
Shaping global policy
Our global impact
Wildlife and people
Wildlife back from the brink
Wildlife health
Making our work possible
Governance and risk
Financial statements
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OUR VISION AND PURPOSE
Welcome
VISION AND PURPOSE
VISION
Our ambition for the world we want to create
A world where wildlife thrives; a more balanced, connected and vibrant world where people and wildlife live better together
Shaping global policy
Our global impact
Wildlife and people
Wildlife back from the brink
PURPOSE
The role we play in the world
PRIORITIES
We prioritise impact in these areas to help us fulfil our purpose
SOLUTIONS
We focus on these to help us deliver our priorities
Driving forward a journey of recovery
by inspiring, informing and empowering people to restore the wonder and diversity of life everywhere
Wildlife and People | Wildlife Back from the Brink | Wildlife Health
Living with wildlife
Inspiring change
Protecting species
Restoring ecosystems
From lab to field, hands on and behind the scenes, we’re working at the cutting edge of conservation to help identify species most at risk and create routes to recovery
Collaborating with communities big and small, on the ground and around the world, to work with our living world and help people and wildlife live better together
Bringing people closer to nature, inspiring them to love and care about wildlife and growing a movement of conservationists for the living world
Deepening understanding and knowledge of the living world, acting now to reduce disease and decline, while empowering a healthier future for wildlife, people and the planet
Wildlife health
Making our work possible
Governance and risk
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SHAPING GLOBAL POLICY
Conservation acts to address and reverse this loss of biodiversity and support the rebalancing of our relationship with nature. This takes place at various levels, from working within individual farmers or fishers to protect key sites and species, to informing and shaping nature-positive global economic and political processes.
PUTTING NATURE AT THE HEART OF DECISION MAKING
The single greatest challenge facing humanity is its damaged relationship with nature. The roots of the climate, biodiversity and public health crises lie in our treatment of nature as a free and unlimited resource with the ability to sustain us indefinitely. At ZSL, we seek to inspire change by bringing people closer to nature and working with governments to put nature at the heart of decision making.
Across the policy landscape, our call to action remains the same: to achieve our goal we must see the full integration of nature into decision making at all levels across the public and private sectors.
At ZSL, we aim to inspire individuals, whether in our Zoos or in the communities we engage, to take individual actions that support wildlife. We work directly with corporate partners in the private sector to support the integration of biodiversity into their businesses or investments and we advise on global governmental processes to set specific and ambitious targets for wildlife recovery.
This year, ZSL supported over 27 policy calls to action, using our scientific and technical experience as our foundation. This also saw us join coalitions of organisations coming together to define and share common messages and guidance, most often to governments. For example, ZSL directly engaged in government consultations on UK biodiversity biodiversity targets and metrics, sustainable timber and deforestation.
Our world has limits; beyond a certain level of impact, ecosystems can tip into completely different states and processes can be disrupted upon which we rely. Currently, the biodiversity that makes up these ecosystems is being lost at an alarming rate due to habitat loss, over-exploitation and pollution – all driven by our over-consumption of natural resources. In the coming years, climate change will drive and further exacerbate these pressures, with developing countries particularly negatively affected.
Globally, ZSL used its wildlife health expertise to engage and support the development of the One Health agenda, with Professor Andrew Cunningham joining a newly formed, high-level expert panel on One Health as well as advising G7 and UK parliamentary events.
At the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow, ZSL focussed on the integration of efforts to address the climate and biodiversity crises together. We prepared a special report and side event on the importance of ensuring that biodiversity remains a key target within nature-based solutions to climate change. While the negotiations around the phasing out of fossil fuels and meeting the 1.5°C global temperature target remained very challenging, COP26 did see successes in galvanising global political attention and it was positive to see strong language in the Glasgow Climate Pact on combining nature and climate initiatives; as well as commitments to halting deforestation and protecting biodiversity. We will continue to push for the full implementation of these commitments in our ongoing engagement with the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and other UN forums.
LOOKING AHEAD
While ZSL remains engaged in key global events, from the UN Ocean Conference in May 2022 to the UNFCCC’s COP27 conference in Egypt later in 2022, our key focus will be on the much-delayed COP15 for the Convention on Biological Diversity, taking place in Canada in December 2022. COP15 represents a vital opportunity for the global community to agree a more ambitious and equitable commitment to the recovery of nature. We will continue to push for country parties to agree robust and measurable targets, with commitments made to resourcing and implementation and, most importantly, cross-governmental accountability. ZSL will continue to build support for the key indicators we helped develop, such as the Living Planet Index and the Red List Index, and we will support countries to implement and track these targets by providing help with the development of national monitoring tools and capacity.
Andrew Terry Director of Conservation and Policy, ZSL
Welcome
Vision and purpose
SHAPING GLOBAL POLICY
Our global impact
Wildlife and people
Wildlife back from the brink
Wildlife health
Making our work possible
Governance and risk
Financial statements
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OUR GLOBAL IMPACT
We work in biodiverse regions of the world to restore wildlife and rebuild healthy ecosystems.
We work closely with many local, national and international partners to deliver conservation on the ground, and we build networks to share results, knowledge and capacity, in order to scale up our impact to a global level.
This map highlights the countries we work in and some of the key regions we are focussed on.
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INDIAN OCEAN
We lead a conservation science programme across the Indian Ocean, involving over 40 research organisations, that seeks to improve our understanding of how marine protected areas support the preservation of marine species, and to identify ways of conserving coral reef ecosystems. Understanding the effects of human activity, such as plastic pollution, overfishing and climate change, are key to our work.
UK
SOUTH ASIA
In the UK, our two Zoos help us to educate and inspire millions of visitors about wildlife and the importance of their protection. The Zoos are also home to our scientific research, veterinary work and national conservation. They act as a hub for projects like the study of amphibians affected by chytrid fungus, the reintroduction of dormice or the vaccination of badgers to the monitoring of life in the Thames and restoration of coastal marine ecosystems around the UK.
In India and Nepal, we are working with both governments to conserve the Terai Arc, a transboundary landscape of temperate forest and rich grasslands that supports Asian elephants, greater one-horned rhinos, Bengal tigers and pangolins. We work closely with local communities in surrounding protected areas to develop sustainable, nature-based livelihoods and mitigate the impacts of conflict with wildlife.
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EAST AFRICA
CENTRAL AFRICA
We work in Cameroon, Gabon and Republic of Congo to support the management of protected areas and transboundary forests, and the sustainable practices of palm oil, timber, pulp and rubber companies operating in the area. A specific focus of our work is the protection of the TRIDOM transboundary landscape, home to African forest elephants, western lowland gorillas and chimpanzees, and a vital part of the Congo Basin – the world’s second largest rainforest.
We support local partners in the conservation of key ecosystem engineer species, such as the black rhino, African wild dog and cheetah, across major savannah ecosystems. Our goal is to improve connectivity and coordinated action between countries, and Kenya and Tanzania are two of 18 countries across Africa where we support local conservation and capacity building. In Mozambique, our focus is on helping coastal communities improve livelihoods through locally led marine protection combined with sustainable fishing practices.
Welcome
Vision and purpose
Shaping global policy
OUR GLOBAL IMPACT
Wildlife and people
Wildlife back from the brink
Wildlife health
Making our work possible
Governance and risk
Financial statements
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1.8 MILLION
visitors to our Zoos this year
254
research papers authored/co-authored by ZSL staff and students published in peer-reviewed journals
Welcome
Vision and purpose
Shaping global policy
Our global impact
WILDLIFE AND PEOPLE
Living with wildlife
Inspiring change
What’s next?
WILDLIFE AND PEOPLE
229
community banks supported in eight countries, helping almost 5,859 members
4,912
people received training from ZSL in key areas including human-wildlife conflict mitigation techniques and alternative livelihoods
Wildlife back from the brink
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As we all emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic, and progress on our road to recovery as both an institution and a planet, our focus on rebuilding positive and sustainable relationships with wildlife has never been stronger.
We connect millions of visitors to the wonders of wildlife, from the Asian elephant ( Elephas maximus ) at Whipsnade Zoo (above) to the red titi monkey ( Callicebus cupreus ) at London Zoo (right).
For communities living in rural
areas, particularly those facing challenges caused by climate change and disease, protecting your family’s food sources and livelihoods is paramount. When further combined with fears for safety and conflict with wildlife, discussions on sustainable coexistence with wildlife become all the more challenging. For those living in urban settings, there remains a disconnect between people and the natural world. While a better understanding of the importance of green space and nature has been a silver lining outcome from the pandemic, much work is now needed to reconnect people and wildlife in a meaningful way.
Creating solutions to tackle the challenges associated with humanity’s relationship with, and use of, nature is key to unlocking a healthier future for us all. However, we continue to face political, economic and social challenges around the world, and developing and prioritising these solutions remains as complex as ever. To enable the coexistence between people and wildlife, we need to understand what coexistence means to different communities. Only then can we foster wildlife recovery and enable both wildlife and people to thrive.
To tackle these challenges, we bring together experts from our research institute, field conservation programmes and two Zoos. We use science to build an understanding of the complex issues underpinning societal relationships with wildlife and to identify and implement solutions. In the field, we focus our work on communities living alongside protected land and aquascapes, helping to improve the management of these areas and identifying community-based solutions in order to reduce conflict with wildlife, increase economic resilience and build sustainable livelihoods.
Through our two Zoos, we continue to connect millions of people to the wonder of wildlife, creating real-life experiences that enrich our visitors’ understanding of the challenges different species face and embed a lifelong appreciation of nature’s importance. Our Zoos, with the collaboration of conservation colleagues around the world, also play a vital role in the safeguarding of many threatened and extinct in the wild species through the management of specific international breeding programmes, reintroduction projects and the sharing of knowledge and best practice.
But across our science, field conservation and Zoos, we don’t just focus on mitigating the challenges of today; from pre-school through to professors, we also focus heavily on nurturing the conservationists of tomorrow. We deliver innovative education programmes to young people and teachers on the challenges faced by wildlife, developing their understanding of the natural world and empowering them with the tools and knowledge to take informed and positive action now. With the support of partner institutions, we build capacity within communities around the world, developing new cohorts of field conservationists, zoologists and wildlife health experts. All to ensure we create a world where together, both people and wildlife can thrive.
Welcome
Vision and purpose
Shaping global policy
Our global impact
WILDLIFE AND PEOPLE
Living with wildlife
Inspiring change
What’s next?
Wildlife back from the brink
Wildlife health
Making our work possible
Governance and risk
Financial statements
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LIVING WITH WILDLIFE
Collaborating with communities big and small, on the ground and around the world, to work with our living world and help people and wildlife live better together.
This year, we published research calling for a system-change approach to the conservation of Africa’s carnivores. Our research sets out three pathways urgently required for the conservation of carnivores: the harmonisation of
WORKING WITH COMMUNITIES TO IMPROVE LIVELIHOODS AND COEXISTENCE
national government with local communities, and the empowerment of local communities to manage their own natural resources; the building and strengthening of local institutions designed to manage landscapes; and the raising of the economic and cultural value of living alongside carnivores.
The future of large mammals, like elephants, rhinos and tigers, cannot rest solely on the shoulders of conservationists. Protecting megafauna is a complex issue that requires the involvement and support of all elements of society, from central and local government to businesses and local communities. We work in a number of areas across Africa and Asia to strengthen inclusion and integration between conservation authorities and communities living alongside wildlife.
One of the ways we work with communities who share the landscape with wildlife is by improving their access to essential financial services and encouraging conservation-friendly livelihoods; this can improve
Above: We work with communities around the world to mitigate conflict with large carnivores, such as Bengal tigers ( Panthera tigris tigris ).
Left: A meeting with community members in Nepal.
economic resilience to climatic shocks and loss of income from conflict with wildlife, while encouraging the sustainable use of resources and reducing wildlife crime. We work in some of the world’s most critical biodiversity hotspots to establish community banks that enable members to save and access loans, as well as offering training and mentoring, and we support members to develop environmentally sound livelihoods and invest in local conservation activities. Community savings groups, linked to positive conservation outcomes, underpin our work in Kenya, Mozambique, Mongolia, Nepal, the Philippines, Thailand, Cameroon, Niger and Benin.
This year we continued to support communities in Nepal and Kenya through our project funded by UK Aid Match. We are supporting four remote rural communities living in close proximity to rhinos, elephants and (in the case of Nepal) tigers, where conflict over space and resources presents a daily challenge for people and lack of opportunities often leads to over-reliance on natural resources to make a living. In the first full year of the project, the focus has been on building relationships between communities and local conservation authorities through regular meetings and community events. In Kenya we were able to hold four bus tours into Tsavo West National Park for over 200 community members – for most on the tour, this was the first time inside the national park – while in Nepal, 70 community members joined National Park staff for regular joint patrols in the buffer zone community forest bordering Chitwan National Park.
A network of community savings groups was established in Kenya and Nepal to support 443 members – 80% of whom are women, who traditionally have less access to finance than men – offering the ability to save and provide loans to support sustainable livelihood activities. A notable success in Kenya has been working with a village on the border of Tsavo that the conservation community has previously failed to reach; we were able to set up the first savings group here and have opened a dialogue about conservation and human-wildlife conflict issues.
Welcome
Vision and purpose
Shaping global policy
Our global impact
WILDLIFE AND PEOPLE
Living with wildlife
Inspiring change
What’s next?
Wildlife back from the brink
Wildlife health
Making our work possible
Governance and risk
Financial statements
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INTEGRATING NATURE WITH DECISION MAKING
Our Sustainable Business & Finance (SBF) programme works with commercial organisations, financial intermediaries, communities, NGOs and governments to address the major global challenges of habitat and biodiversity loss. We work with all stakeholders in agricultural sectors to achieve supply chain transparency, integrate biodiversity impacts into decision making and support practices which protect and enhance biodiversity and support local and indigenous communities.
This year, the SBF advisory team worked with four clients: Aviva Investors, to deliver biodiversity assessments and engagement for companies selected for their Natural Capital Transition Fund;
OVER 9 MILLION 832
single-use plastic items, including 6 million single-use plastic bottles were eliminated from sale and supply chains, through our #OneLess campaign
volunteers collected 137,000 discarded bottles from the banks of the Thames through our #OneLess programme
the Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber, in drafting global reporting standards for natural rubber supply chain stakeholders; the Forest Conservation Fund, to provide wildlife monitoring training to community forest managers in eastern Borneo; and we have begun work with the palm oil producer SIPEF to support tiger and other wildlife monitoring in an ecosystem restoration area in Sumatra.
991,381
bottle refills dispensed from 29 water fountains across London, as part of our #OneLess campaign
Our SPOTT (Sustainability Policy Transparency Toolkit) platform assessed 230 tropical forestry, palm oil and natural rubber companies on the transparency of their reporting related to environmental, social and governance issues. This year, we increased our natural rubber assessments to cover 30 companies,
Stewardship Council (FSC) and the Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber (GPSNR), and engaged with PRI and UKSIF – two finance sector groups that champion sustainable investment.
including key tyre and glove manufacturers. We have also expanded our engagement efforts across the Congo Basin, China and Indonesia – important producing and importing countries. We are part of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), the Forest
This year also saw the final phase of our #OneLess campaign, designed to promote a behaviour change in Londoners, from using throwaway plastic bottles towards refilling reusable bottles at sites across the city. Over the course of the six-year campaign, #OneLess has installed 29 water fountains across London which have dispensed almost one million bottle refills, worked with over 90 businesses and venues to improve drinking water availability, and influenced policy to reduce single-use plastic through its partnership with the Mayor of London. This year we have focussed on making sure those changes are embedded for the long term: 40 London-based organisations signed up to a joint statement on single-use plastic reduction action in London, and the Mayor of London partnered with Thames Water to install a further 100 fountains across the city.
Above: Volunteers with our #OneLess programme collected over 100,000 plastic bottles from the Thames.
Left: Our SPOTT platform incentivises transparency in the forestry sector.
Welcome
Vision and purpose
Shaping global policy
Our global impact
WILDLIFE AND PEOPLE
Living with wildlife
Inspiring change
What’s next?
Wildlife back from the brink
Wildlife health
Making our work possible
Governance and risk
Financial statements
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Annual Report and Accounts 2021–22
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MORE THAN
300
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rangers, police officers and customs officials trained in IWT mitigation methods
MORE THAN 1,600
IWT products seized by authorities, with our support
Welcome
Vision and purpose
Shaping global policy
Our global impact
WILDLIFE AND PEOPLE
Living with wildlife
Inspiring change
What’s next?
Wildlife back from the brink
DISRUPTING ILLEGAL WILDLIFE TRADE
Combatting professional, globalised wildlife crime presents an enormous challenge to developing countries, and we support government agencies working in wildlife crime hotspots around the world. Our projects aim to disrupt all aspects of the illegal wildlife trade chain, from training rangers to protect wildlife animal populations to increasing the detection of illegal shipments and building successful cases against traffickers. We work closely with UK law enforcement on several projects designed to improve the law enforcement capabilities of wildlife rangers. In March, the then UK Environment Minister Zac Goldsmith visited Kenya’s Tsavo National Park to witness first-hand our work alongside the Kenya Wildlife Service to protect black rhinos.
This year, we delivered training on subjects including basic law enforcement, first aid, human rights, crime scene techniques and surveillance camera deployment to rangers in Cameroon, Niger, Benin, Mongolia, Thailand and Nepal. In Mongolia and Thailand specifically, we are also working to support and train detector dog units, used for identifying shipments of illegal wildlife trade (IWT) products. Following our training, significant successes for law enforcement agencies this year include the arrest of offenders in possession of over 1,000 python skins and the arrest of an elephant poacher in possession of tusks in Niger, the arrest of 16 poachers in Nepal, and the arrest of several poachers in Thailand following our monitoring of the online wildlife trade. Our overall goal is to identify trafficking networks, so that the perpetrators who capitalise on international illegal wildlife trade can be caught and the supply chains disrupted.
In Mongolia, we’re working alongside the government to tackle the illegal trade of important Mongolian species, including the snow leopard, steppe eagle, saker falcon, Siberian musk deer, Siberian marmot and grey wolf. Mongolia’s location means it is often used as a corridor by illegal wildlife traffickers, and we’re supporting Mongolia’s new Ecological Police Department by providing much-needed resources and training, and helping to improve engagement with communities and public awareness of illegal wildlife crime. This year we focussed on providing equipment and SMART patrol training to police officers. SMART (Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool) is a mobile appbased system that allows rangers on patrol to record wildlife incident data in real time, helping landscape managers identify incident hot spots for increased patrols. The project has also successfully piloted the use of detector dogs trained to intercept illegal wildlife trade items at the entry points to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia’s capital.
Wildlife health
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Above: We are working alongside the Kenya Wildlife Service to protect the Critically Endangered black rhino ( Diceros bicornis ).
INSPIRING CHANGE
Bringing people closer to nature, inspiring them to love and care about wildlife and growing a movement of conservationists for the living world.
INSPIRING A LASTING CONNECTION BETWEEN PEOPLE AND WILDLIFE
Our two Zoos, London and Whipsnade, are the ideal settings to build lasting connections between wildlife and people, and to engage people with our work around the world. Having spent almost 50% of the previous year closed due to Covid-19 restrictions, this year has been a period of recovery for our two Zoos. As part of that recovery, we are working on several new animal exhibits, and this year at London Zoo we opened the revamped Tiny Giants, as well as a new home for our Galápagos giant tortoises. Giants of the Galápagos offers our three females a much greater space to explore while visitors are able to get closer than before, and the enclosure recreates the physical and environmental conditions of the Galápagos Archipelago.
Opened in May 2021, Tiny Giants celebrates
invertebrate diversity and the essential role these animals play in maintaining a healthy planet for wildlife and humans alike. Invertebrates are facing increasingly severe population declines and Tiny Giants raises
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54%
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63%
said “The Zoo has inspired a greater appreciation of wildlife”
said “I feel closer to nature” after visiting the Zoo
awareness of their importance and increases our ability to undertake species conservation work. The exhibit’s centrepiece is a new coral reef zone, home to over 100 species of coral, reef fish and crypto-fauna (shrimps, urchins, molluscs and sea cucumbers), and the exhibit’s off-show breeding tanks have been developed to enable us to contribute to conservation efforts for corals and reef fish species. Our focal activities include advancing coral reproduction and increasing the number of coral species in cryopreservation, as a safety net against predicted species declines. We have also been closely involved in the IUCN’s coral Red List reassessments over the past year with a special focus on climate change impact threats.
Above and top left: We celebrated the opening of our new Giants of the Galápagos at London Zoo, home to three Galápagos giant tortoises ( Chelonoidis niger ).
44%
said “I will do something
Bottom left: Our coral reef zone is the centrepiece of London Zoo’s new Tiny Giants exhibit.
to help animals” after visiting the Zoo
Welcome
Vision and purpose
Shaping global policy
Our global impact
WILDLIFE AND PEOPLE
Living with wildlife
Inspiring change
What’s next?
Wildlife back from the brink
Wildlife health
Making our work possible
Governance and risk
Financial statements
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Left: Dominic Jermey, ZSL’s former Director General, led a symposium at Expo2020.
Right: Mayor of London Sadiq Khan speaking to press at London Zoo as part of the ‘Let’s Do London’ campaign.
Below right: The restoration of mangrove forests is an important nature-based solution to climate change.
Welcome
Vision and purpose
Shaping global policy
Our global impact
WILDLIFE AND PEOPLE
Living with wildlife
Inspiring change
What’s next?
Wildlife back from the brink
INFLUENCING THE POLICY LANDSCAPE
At ZSL, we have long been calling for nature to be placed at the heart of decision making by governments and businesses. This year, ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26), Senior Research Fellow Nathalie Pettorelli published research that demanded nature be placed at the heart of discussions about climate change, and for responses to the climate crisis and biodiversity crisis to be better integrated. The paper highlighted the importance of nature-based solutions to climate change – such as the replanting of mangrove forests or the restoration of grasslands – as important ways to tackle both rises together. At COP26 Nathalie Pettorelli went on to convene a panel event on nature-based solutions, involving speakers from across the conservation spectrum, and following this work, nature-based solutions were successfully included in the Glasgow Climate Pact.
Another way we aim to influence decision making in policy, business and by the public is through high-profile partnerships. This year we partnered with DP World and the organisers of Expo2020. Sustainability, climate change and biodiversity were major themes at this year’s World Expo (held a year late because of Covid-19) and we were able to provide technical expertise and content for their vast event schedule. Over 24 million people from 178 countries visited Expo2020, making it an excellent platform for us to engage the public with biodiversity issues, and our then Director General Dominic Jermey led a symposium in the first week alongside the likes of eminent primatologist Jane Goodall.
Wildlife health
Making our work possible
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plastic pollution, to the role we all play in protecting endangered species and their habitats. Timed to coincide with the UN’s Climate Change Conference (COP26), we also launched training for both primary and secondary school teachers aimed at embedding climate change in the curriculum. During Biology Week in October and British Science Week in March, we delivered free online ‘ZSL in Your Classroom’ sessions, giving over 2,200 students the opportunity to speak directly to our scientists.
INFORMING THE NEXT GENERATION
Our dedicated education teams deliver engaging lessons that support the national curriculum and provide real-life conservation links to learning for thousands of visiting school groups every year. This year, as our two Zoos and schools began to return to pre-pandemic activity, we welcomed 25,610 school students, along with 7,794 teachers and other supporting adults, and we taught 1,006 educational workshops. Our workshops cover a range of topics, from the impact of threats like climate change and
We have also launched education access schemes at both Zoos, to help us build stronger relationships with local schools in London and around Whipsnade. Our research has shown that regular engagement with Zoos positively impacts students’ learning, confidence and attitudes towards animals. Through the scheme, for an affordable annual fee, participating schools enjoy unlimited visits and exclusive educational experiences, including discounted educational workshops and access to career fairs and work experience. A total of 70 schools and educational facilities have joined the scheme, booking 5,259 tickets this year.
The EAS [Education Access Scheme] “ has been invaluable to us this year. The workshops are particularly brilliant for explaining concepts including deforestation, extinction and the effects of climate change in a hands-on way. The scheme has removed the financial barriers and has encouraged us to bring all students to enjoy the Zoo, to learn about applications of science in the real world and to explore careers in science too. ”
Head of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Westminster Secondary School
25,610
school students visited our Zoos and took part in 1,006 workshops on subjects that include climate change and plastic pollution
145
PhD and MSc students trained at ZSL’s Institute of Zoology this year
Welcome
Vision and purpose
Shaping global policy
Our global impact
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Our Zoos’ dedicated education teams delivered lessons and workshops for over 25,000 school students this year.
EXCELLENCE IN OUR IMPROVING ACCESSIBILITY SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH TO OUR ZOOS
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Through our Institute of Zoology, we provided structured learning programmes in wildlife health and conservation to 72 PhD and 73 MSc students this year. Periodically, the UK carries out a national assessment of the quality of research being conducted across the higher-education sector and uses the results to guide how future research funding is allocated. The Research Excellence Framework assessed our work, alongside partners University College London and Birkbeck University, and found an outstanding 55% of it to be ‘World Leading’ – well above the average of 48% for biological sciences across the UK. Times Higher Education now ranks us as 11th nationally for biological sciences, based upon the results.
We are committed to improving accessibility for visitors with additional needs so that everyone can experience our Zoos to the full. In September 2021 we held Sense-ational Festival at London Zoo, designed for children and young people with disabilities and their families and friends. Activities included a trail co-created with young people from Lambeth College, a Wildlife Garden trail, Sensory Story time and a performance from sign language interpreters, Singing Hands. We sold 1,000 tickets across the two days, with 97% of surveyed visitors saying they had an excellent or good day. Moving forward, we held a Sense-sational Festival at Whipsnade in September 2022 and integrated elements of Sense-ational Days into our wider events programmes, with early and late openings and story times designed for those with additional needs. This year we also launched several new tours at London Zoo aimed at those with additional needs: audio-described tours for blind and partially sighted people; British sign language tours for those who are deaf or hard of hearing; and early openings for people with autism and other neurodiversities, offering a chance to visit the Zoo in a calm environment. In the summer, these early morning tours will be replaced by evening tours, offering people who cannot visit us during our busy days an opportunity for an evening visit after the Zoo has closed. We also produced a video in partnership with a community group with additional needs, explaining how to best enjoy a visit to London Zoo.
people attended London Zoo’s new audio-described tours, sign language tours and early opening mornings aimed at autistic and neurodiverse people
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managers, visitor-facing staff and volunteers undertook disability awareness training
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Living with wildlife
Inspiring change
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Making our work possible
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Financial statements
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Above: Visitors to our Sense-ational Festival at London Zoo enjoyed our Wildlife Garden trail. Right: Sign language interpreters Singing Hands joined our Sense-ational Festival.
ENGAGING OUR AUDIENCES WITH WILDLIFE
Through events and commercial activities we engage existing and new audiences with the importance of wildlife and raise funds that support our Zoos and wider conservation activities. This year, during a period of recovery in which international visitor numbers remained low following the pandemic, commercial activities have been more important than ever, and our priority has been to engage with UK visitors. During the summer period our main events were Travel the World at London Zoo, highlighting the diversity of species from around the world at a time when travel has been difficult, and Zoorassic Park at Whipsnade Zoo, a trail of giant, animatronic dinosaurs. Despite
Left: We launched a new experience, Sensory Stories, for young children.
Right: Whipsnade’s elephant herd play a vital role in conservation and in educating our visitors.
Below right: An example of our online marketing.
Below left: Our summer event encouraged visitors to Travel the World at London Zoo.
fears that uncertainty around Covid-19 and anxiety about travelling to public spaces would dampen the number of visitors, we ended the year with visitor numbers 28% over our expectations. At London, where overseas visitors make up almost half of our total number of visitors, our visitors remained just 13% below pre-pandemic numbers. However, at Whipsnade, the number of visitors was an impressive 27% above the prepandemic average. Another notable success was the London Zoo shop, which had its most profitable year to date despite the challenges of Covid-19 and Brexit. In 2022, to improve awareness of ZSL and to help our messages reach more people than ever, we will be launching a new brand and taking a storytelling approach to our communications with our audiences.
WORKING WITH DOMESTIC ANIMAL POLICY MAKERS
We have been working with Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) and our sector body BIAZA (British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums), on a number of issues such as the Kept Animals Bill. This is a wide-ranging piece of legislation that seeks to improve welfare standards and enshrine a commitment to conservation and education as part of zoo licensing. As champions and leaders in these areas, we are positive about this legislation, and our experts have been working closely in refining the technical Zoo Standards which will form the mainstay of the new zoo licensing regime. We are also playing an important role in advising the Zoo Expert Committee, a body formed by the UK Government, which is consulting on elephant keeping in the UK. This vital work will shape the future of the nationwide herd, and our zookeepers and scientists are working hard to feed into this the important role that Whipsnade’s elephants play in trialling solutions to the conservation and animal health challenges which are badly affecting wild elephant populations.
Welcome
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Shaping global policy
Our global impact
WILDLIFE AND PEOPLE
Living with wildlife
Inspiring change
What’s next?
Wildlife back from the brink
Wildlife health
Making our work possible
Governance and risk
Financial statements
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Left: London Zoo’s new Monkey Valley opened to visitors in summer 2022.
Above: London Zoo will open a new home for our reptiles and amphibians in 2023.
Right: We mourned the loss of Queen Elizabeth II, ZSL’s Royal Patron, (shown here opening London Zoo’s Land of the Lions in 2016), who passed away in September 2022.
A NEW HOME FOR OUR REPTILES AND AMPHIBIANS
as through loans from the community banks. The project will work to strengthen the surrounding market systems to ensure the success and sustainability of the ventures. Alongside this, we will be supporting communities with the implementation of locally appropriate human-wildlife conflict mitigation strategies. The findings will be shared with our humanwildlife conflict knowledge exchange – a committee involving experts from across our field programmes, science and Zoos – so that other projects can benefit from the knowledge gained.
In 2023 we will open our new exhibit The Secret Life of Reptiles and Amphibians at London Zoo. The new building will be home to 30 species of reptile and amphibian, many of them highly threatened and several of them species that we are working in the field to conserve, such as the mountain chicken frog. The emphasis of our exhibits will be on helping our visitors to experience the life of reptiles and amphibians like never before, and the building will also feature new technology, including advanced environmental control, allowing us to care for and learn about new species, with the goal of benefitting their conservation in the wild.
OPENING MONKEY VALLEY
MOURNING OUR ROYAL PATRON
Summer 2022 saw the launch of Monkey Valley at London Zoo, a reimagining of the iconic Snowdon Aviary as a home for our troop of colobus monkeys. Repurposing the Grade II* listed structure was made possible by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, as well as thousands of individual donors, and Monkey Valley will be the first and only colobus walkthrough enclosure in the UK – a unique opportunity to bring people and wildlife closer together. As part of the new exhibit we are also opening a new community hub and wildlife garden, which will allow us to engage with new audiences and connect more people with wildlife.
We were devastated to learn of the loss of our Royal Patron, Queen Elizabeth II, in September 2022. The support she gave to ZSL throughout her reign was a privilege – including the opening of a number of new exhibits and numerous official visits – and we are grateful that we had the opportunity to celebrate her patronage in our own week-long events at both Zoos during The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in May 2022. ZSL has always enjoyed the patronage of the reigning monarch, and we look forward to continuing that tradition with His Majesty King Charles III.
SUPPORTING COMMUNITIES IN NEPAL AND KENYA
Our UK Aid Match funded project will build on the foundations of the community banks by helping members to identify economically viable livelihood opportunities that have low environmental impact. Members will be supported through training and mentorship to establish these enterprises, as well
Welcome
Vision and purpose
Shaping global policy
Our global impact
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Living with wildlife
Inspiring change
What’s next?
Wildlife back from the brink
Wildlife health
Making our work possible
Governance and risk
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Welcome
WILDLIFE BACK FROM THE BRINK
We are working around the world – whether hands-on in the field or behind the scenes with policymakers – to help identify species most at risk and create routes to their recovery.
Vision and purpose
Shaping global policy
Our global impact
Wildlife and people
WILDLIFE BACK FROM THE BRINK
Protecting species
What’s next?
Wildlife health
Making our work possible
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Financial statements
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Left: We continue to fund Amur leopard ( Panthera pardus orientalis ) conservation through the WildCats Conservation Alliance.
Below: Our researchers are studying the effects of climate change on coral reefs in the Indian Ocean. Image © Marleen Stuhr.
In the wake of the pandemic, this year continued to be a highly disrupted one as countries either slowly opened up or remained in the grip of the health crisis.
The pandemic has had an ongoing effect on global policy processes, delaying the development of a new global biodiversity framework under the auspices of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Globally, all species and biodiversity targets and commitments have been consistently missed and there is an urgent need to set meaningful, measurable and costed targets for recovery.
and thank our dedicated colleagues who worked tirelessly through these difficulties to support both communities and species protection on the ground.
Many of our focal countries suffered from a lack of Covid-19 vaccinations, and the continuing impacts of the disease significantly affected the communities that we work with. During the height of the pandemic we had to cease or reduce our work in many places, but this year we were able to cautiously increase our engagement in the field again. This often meant colleagues had to isolate or work away from home for long periods of time. We want to celebrate
Our commitment to species conservation is set out within ZSL’s newly launched conservation plan, which aims to support a step-change increase in species recovery worldwide. We believe that not only does there need to be a massive global push to save and restore some of the most threatened species, but we must build a global knowledge base to expand and scale up approaches that work, as well as train the
next generation of conservationists restoring these species on the ground.
Our two Zoos play a vital role within this approach. There are at least 38 animal species that either only exist in zoos, aquariums and botanical gardens, or whose survival is completely reliant on populations held in managed collections. There is also a wealth of knowledge and skills within zoos that can be, and is being, applied to field conservation settings. At ZSL, we work with 19 of those species, and we are in a unique position of being able to drive forward the science of species recovery while also targeting species that most benefit from zoo-based management and delivering recovery efforts on the ground. To aid this work, this year we co-developed the IUCN Green Status of Species, which helps to track the recovery trajectory for wildlife worldwide. We will use this approach to inform recovery targets for priority species within our own conservation plan.
In 2021 we concluded our project to conserve wild Amur leopards and Amur tigers and celebrated the achievements of that programme since it began in 1994. We continue our commitment to tiger conservation through work in the Terai Arc transboundary region between India and Nepal, and support Amur tigers and Amur leopards through WildCats Conservation Alliance. Elsewhere, we are committed to the recovery of species big and small, from oysters to angel sharks and wild camels to black rhino.
For the year ahead, we will focus on the development of a global initiative to restore extinct in the wild species. In the case of species that are only found within zoos, aquariums and botanical gardens, we hold their future in our hands. We will apply our expertise and dedication to the recovery of these most threatened species, and then extend that experience to the many thousands that remain on the brink.
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PROTECTING SPECIES
Welcome
SUPPORTING LARGE CARNIVORE RECOVERIES AROUND THE WORLD
Iconic, far-ranging and highly threatened, large carnivores roam vast distances to hunt or find mates, and they present challenges to the communities living alongside them. However, they are integral to the ecology of many of the landscapes we work in, and their conservation can benefit other species in the food chain below them.
We lead a programme, begun in 2001, aimed at conserving the African wild dog. This year we launched a new project alongside Kenya’s Mpala Research Centre to recover the wild dog population in the country’s southern Ewaso ecosystem. The project
We are working around the world to support the recovery of large carnivores, from Endangered African wild dogs ( Lycaon pictus ) (above right) to Endangered Bengal tigers ( Panthera tigris tigris ) (below).
has involved the rabies vaccination of domestic dogs, as well as outreach projects with local communities designed to improve attitudes to large carnivores. Elsewhere in Africa, we fitted collars to 45 wild dogs at seven locations as part of a project tracking the impacts of climate change on African wild dog behaviour. We also launched a new project to develop safe and effective ways to protect wild dogs from distemper disease; the project has begun by evaluating distemper vaccines. Finally, in Senegal, we began a new partnership working to conserve African wild dogs in and around Niokolo-Koba National Park, beginning with a camera-trap study to estimate population status and threats to the species.
We have a long history of working alongside the Nepalese Government to protect the country’s threatened wildlife, including the Endangered Bengal tiger. Since 2018 we extended that work into India, with the goal of conserving a transboundary population of tigers throughout the Terai Arc – an area of subtropical forest and grasslands that stretches across Nepal’s southern border and India’s north-western border. This year we began a new phase of work with six new communities in Nepal and two villages in India, all of which live on the edges of national parks or wildlife sanctuaries. Our focus has been on workshopping with communities to understand their needs, mapping hotspots of human-wildlife conflict, monitoring tigers in the protected areas and helping local authorities manage their wild habitats. With those foundations laid, we can begin to promote alternative and sustainable livelihoods for the communities, thereby reducing pressure on the environment, and put in place measures to reduce human-wildlife conflict.
This year, we also brought a 27-year project aimed at conserving wild Amur tigers and Amur leopards to a conclusion – a decision made well before the political events which unfolded in Russia and Ukraine. Our work in Russia began in 1994 when we took charge of the European Endangered Species Programme (EEP) for
Amur tigers, and in 2006 we created a team in Russia to support conservation of Amur leopards and tigers, the population of the former having dropped to an estimated 35 left in the wild. We helped set up the first and only wildlife health monitoring unit in the region, established a wildlife veterinary course which trained over 4,000 students over 10 years and were part of the research team that identified small, wild carnivores as carriers of canine distemper.
Having helped to build capacity in the region, our Russia programme leaves behind a legacy of improved infrastructure and wildlife veterinary care that will support the conservation of a now stable population of Amur tigers and a growing population of Amur leopards, with plans in place for future leopard reintroductions. We will also continue to support tigers and Amur leopards around the world through our WildCats Conservation Alliance, a funding programme between ZSL and Dreamworld Wildlife Foundation that channels public and zoo contributions to carefully chosen tiger and Amur leopard conservation projects. This year, Wildcats funded nine tiger and Amur leopard projects in five countries. It supported activities that include camera-trap monitoring, ranger patrols to deter wildlife crime and the restoration of grasslands to support prey species across an area of more than 40,000km[2] , which holds around 15% of the remaining wild tigers and all Amur leopards.
Vision and purpose
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Our global impact
Wildlife and people
WILDLIFE BACK FROM THE BRINK
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What’s next?
Wildlife health
Making our work possible
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papers published this year as a result of ZSL-led research in the Indian Ocean
PROTECTING SPECIES ON THE BRINK
Gathering evidence to understand how animals like black-tipped reef sharks and blue-footed boobys benefit from marine protected areas is crucial. We lead a collaborative programme of around 70 scientists from 40 global institutions working in the Chagos Archipelago and wider Indian Ocean region to improve our understanding of how marine protected areas and habitat restoration can benefit threatened marine animal groups and improve the resilience of coral reefs. This year we began a new phase of the project, with ZSL involved in research on Indian Ocean seabirds, cetaceans and illegal fishing, as well as managing the overall programme. The new phase includes mobilising uptake of open access science and improving regional career pathways for marine scientists. Despite the logistical complexities of working during a pandemic, we managed eight scientific expeditions to the Chagos Archipelago and Seychelles and published 30 papers this year. The programme was endorsed as one of the first official Actions of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, and models of Indian Ocean coral reef futures under different climate scenarios were presented at the UN’s COP26 meeting in Glasgow.
Left: Our work yielded the first underwater film evidence of angel sharks ( Squatina squatina ) in Wales.
Right: EDGE Fellow Michael Akrasi, specialist in the conservation of the Togo slippery frog ( Conraua derooi ), undertook an internship with London Zoo’s herpetology team.
We work with partners in Europe and North Africa to protect several species of Critically Endangered angel sharks, and this year saw particular milestones for Angel Shark Project: Wales (ASP:W), a collaboration between ZSL and Natural Resources Wales. Our Project Coordinator became the first person to film an angel shark underwater in the UK. As a juvenile its presence is additional evidence that Wales holds a breeding population of angel sharks. In addition, monthly environmental DNA samples confirmed that angel sharks are present in Welsh waters year-round. In November 2021 we launched Project SIARC (Sharks Inspiring Action and Research with Communities), a project aimed at facilitating collaboration between fishers, researchers, communities and government to safeguard sharks, skates and rays in Wales. The project will scale up approaches developed in ASP:W to benefit a wider range of marine life, with a focus on four key species: the angel shark, spurdog, common stingray and tope.
We have been working in Mongolia for 16 years and, this year, we began a new project focussed on supporting Critically Endangered wild camels and the nomadic herder communities living alongside them in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert. There are thought to be less than 1,500 wild camels left, with 600 of them in Mongolia’s Great Gobi ‘A’ Strictly Protected Area (GGASPA) – a 44,630km[2] area of desert steppe. We are working with the local communities, as well as government and other stakeholders, to establish an integrated landscape management plan that will help to ease conflict between wildlife and people for natural resources, such as water and grazing for livestock – problems that have been exacerbated by climate change. The focus this year has been building and strengthening relationships with stakeholders, with the long-term aim of helping to create a collaborative and inclusive governance institution that can coordinate landscape management between all parties.
DEVELOPING IN-COUNTRY CONSERVATION CAPACITY
Our EDGE of Existence programme is the only initiative in the world focussed on increasing conservation capacity for the most evolutionarily important threatened species. Using a unique scientific framework to identify EDGE (Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered) species, we provide support to in-country conservationists working with these oftenunderrepresented animals through funding, training and logistical support. We currently support 32 EDGE Fellows and a wider network of 97 EDGE Alumni, and this year we recruited and trained our first ever EDGE freshwater fish and EDGE tree Fellows. Other key achievements this year include: the rediscovery of the Perret’s egg frog by Fellow Arnaud Fokoua in Cameroon; the identification of eight EDGE shark and ray species in landing surveys conducted by Fellow Issah Seidu in Ghana; and the first ever mapping of turquoise dwarf gecko habitat by Fellow John Valentine Lyakurwa in Tanzania.
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in-country conservationists supported through the EDGE Fellowship programme and alumni network
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RESTORING LOST AND THREATENED SPECIES
For some species, numbers have dropped so low that direct intervention in their survival is the only option. We are experts in both the breeding of threatened species within our Zoos and the science of effective reintroduction.
We are working to develop a recovery strategy for the rare sihek, also known as the Guam kingfisher - last seen in the wild in 1988 and now solely cared for in zoos. With invasive brown snakes – the reason for the sihek’s disappearance – still an issue on Guam, the team have identified the remote Palmyra Atoll as a new and suitable wild home for the sihek, with reintroductions planned for 2023.
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Extinct in the Wild species supported by ZSL through our Zoos and conservation science
OVER 300
big-headed turtles released in Vietnam to date
Left: We are involved in the reintroduction of the Extinct in the Wild sihek ( Todiramphus cinnamominus ).
Right: We celebrated the hatching of three Critically Endangered big-headed turtles ( Platysternon megacephalum ) at London Zoo.
In Mauritius, we provide science-based decision support for the Mauritius kestrel recovery programme. In recent years one of the four reintroduced kestrel populations has been confirmed as locally extinct, while the largest remaining population shows evidence of decline. Our research has identified limited nesting success as an important driver behind the decline, leading to a number of solutions being proposed, including reintroductions and artificial nest boxes.
Since 2018, the reptile and amphibian team at London Zoo have been collaborating with the Asian Turtle Program of Indo-Myanmar Conservation in the development of a process to safely release and monitor big-headed turtles that have been seized from the illegal wildlife trade in Vietnam. The unsustainable harvesting of Asian freshwater turtles for food and traditional medicine has put the species at risk, and seized individuals offer an important opportunity to restore declining populations. To date, the project has supported the health and genetic screening, and subsequent release, of over 300 big-headed turtles in Vietnam. We also support an EDGE Fellow with the continued monitoring of the released turtles and engagement with local communities.
MONITORING GLOBAL SPECIES TRENDS
This year, following almost a decade of development, the IUCN launched the Green Status of Species – a new tool for assessing species recovery, which we played a key role in creating. The IUCN Red List – which ZSL had a critical role in establishing in the 1990s – is the most widely established method for understanding which species are at most risk of extinction and where, but this new tool will help conservationists identify the opposite: which species are recovering and where. It reports how far a species is from full recovery, how conservation actions have affected the current status of the species, and how a species’ situation might change if conservation actions were either halted or increased in the future.
Alongside the new Green Status, we continue to support the Red List. This year our activities have included a reassessment of all swallowtail butterflies; contributing to a reassessment of reef-building corals; an assessment of the American eel and regional reassessments of the European eel; and a national assessment of all 656 British seaweed species.
Around the world, we provide scientific and technical support to organisations monitoring wildlife. This year we supported Rewilding Europe with the monitoring of wildlife at key rewilding sites in Croatia and Bulgaria. The camera traps helped to monitor the health of reintroduced species like red and fallow deer, as well as brown bears, wolves and bison also in the area. In the UK, we initiated a pilot project to help Network Rail monitor and improve the impact of their rail infrastructure on local wildlife, and explored how acoustic sensors, networked cameras and artificial intelligence could help them monitor wildlife and manage the habitats they work in.
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Left: We safeguard over 180 threatened species in our two Zoos. Below left: We welcomed the birth of an Endangered red panda ( Ailurus fulgens ) at Whipsnade Zoo.
This year we celebrated some significant births and arrivals of threatened species under the breeding programmes. Arrivals included a male Sulawesi crested macaque, a female golden lion tamarin, a female red panda, a pair of pygmy slow loris, a pair of Javan green magpies and a female wrinkled hornbill; while births included an aye-aye, a female white rhino, three Socorro doves, three blue-throated macaws and four Sumatran laughingthrushes. As well as additions to our Zoos, we were able to successfully transport threatened species to other zoos, thereby strengthening the breeding programmes for these species. These include: over 1,300 Partula snails made up of four species and subspecies, a Philippine crocodile, two Przewalski’s wild horses, two Visayan hornbills and two Sumatran laughingthrushes. A full animal audit and animal inventories for both Zoos are published on our website, zsl.org.
SAFEGUARDING THREATENED SPECIES
We work in partnership nationally and internationally to safeguard over 184 threatened species in our two Zoos by contributing to international breeding programmes and sharing expertise in animal care and healthcare. One example is our management of the European and global breeding programmes for Sumatran tigers, and our collaboration with the Action Indonesia breeding programme for babirusa, banteng and anoa. Through this collaboration we are sharing skills and best practice with Indonesian zoo colleagues, as well as genetic analysis and support for field conservation.
The world-leading expertise of our zookeepers and curatorial team also has many applications to field conservation. For example, the conservation of the critically endangered tamaraw. The Philippine cattle species is only found on the island of Mindoro and estimated to number less than 500 individuals. We are supporting a local NGO with ecological surveys and a review of disease risks associated with translocations.
With more than 40,000 species currently at risk of extinction, our Zoos have partnered with living biobank Nature’s SAFE to help store the genetics of the world’s most endangered animals. We will be providing samples from post-mortem examinations undertaken at our two Zoos. Tissue and reproductive cell samples will be stored at -196°C and could be used one day, if required, to assist reproductive technologies, maintain genetic diversity for species with small populations and help continue the existence of threatened species.
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THESE SPECIES COMPRISE 48 MAMMALS, 40 BIRDS, 35 FISH, 29 INVERTEBRATES, 22 REPTILES AND 10 AMPHIBIANS
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WHAT’S NEXT?
A look ahead at the 2022-23 financial year
Above: The Vietnam pheasant ( Lophura edwardsi ), thought to be functionally extinct in the wild, is one of the species we are working to restore. Above right: Coral reef in the Indian Ocean. Image © Marleen Stuhr.
RESTORING EXTINCT IN THE WILD SPECIES
We are launching a new initiative alongside the Wilder Institute and IUCN to lead the restoration of Extinct in the Wild animal and plant species. There are currently at least 82, and perhaps as many as 148 species, identified by the IUCN that are thought to have disappeared from the wild and now only reside in zoos, aquariums and botanical gardens. Seventeen Extinct in the Wild species are cared for at London
and Whipsnade Zoos. Currently governments tend to prioritise conservation action
for threatened species still in the wild; this initiative aims to gain wider support for the reintroduction of Extinct in the Wild species, rescue species on the brink of going Extinct in the Wild, and leverage the knowledge and expertise residing within zoos.
DRIVING GLOBAL POLICY AGENDA
The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP15) will take place in the coming year, following multiple delays. We will be calling for four specific outcomes: ambitious, strong targets backed by clear metrics and accountability; the integration of these targets into national government sectoral policy; ensuring that sufficient finance is secured and reaches the ground equitably; and ensuring implementation mechanisms are socially equitable. With regard to the targets themselves, we are pushing for more ambition in terms of halting extinctions, reducing extinction risk and increasing abundance of wild native species, and in so doing, making the case for the Red List Index and the Living Planet Index as absolutely vital indicators for measuring progress against these aspirations.
MONITORING GLOBAL BIODIVERSITY
In autumn 2022 we published the 2022 Living Planet Report alongside partners WWF. The report is created using our Living Planet Index (LPI) – a global biodiversity indicator used to assess progress towards national and international conservation targets. The LPI is the world’s most comprehensive dataset of wildlife
population trends, comprising over 30,000 populations of over 5,000 species. Over 800 species and 11,000 populations have been added to the LPI since the publication of the last report in 2020, and we are working to expand the coverage of the LPI still further to include more sources from non-English languages. NonEnglish language sources of research are currently underrepresented in science and helping ensure these are represented in our database is critical.
CHAMPIONING CONSERVATION OF THE INDIAN OCEAN
The year 2022 represents a ‘super year’ for ocean conservation, particularly with the UN Ocean Conference in June, where ZSL had a strong presence. At the UN Ocean Conference, we highlighted pathways for early-career ocean scientists and conservationists from developing countries to engage in ocean policy, as well as showcasing examples of successful approaches to reducing plastic pollution. We will deliver 10 scientific expeditions across the Indian Ocean, including the Chagos Archipelago, Seychelles and Sri Lanka, and will be running a marine science and conservation training course in the Maldives for Indian Ocean journalists.
RESTORING COASTAL HABITATS
Seagrass, shellfish, mangrove and kelp forests are some of the most degraded ecosystems found around the globe. Unsustainable coastal management continues to lead to their decline, which in turn detrimentally effects the vital role they play in providing us with essential services including storm protection, food security and clean water. We are working around the world, including in the Philippines, Mozambique and the UK, to restore and conserve coastal habitats, and this year we will launch a new coastal habitat restoration strategy that brings together our combined experience. The project will set out a new vision for the conservation of these habitats and for the scaling up of efforts to restore coastal wetlands and their wildlife.
Welcome
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Our global impact
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WILDLIFE BACK FROM THE BRINK
Protecting species
What’s next?
Wildlife health
Making our work possible
Governance and risk
Financial statements
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WILDLIFE HEALTH
We are working to restore and protect ecosystems by addressing the health issues facing wildlife; from deepening our understanding of health threats to species, to reducing disease and decline and empowering a healthier future for wildlife, people and the planet.
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Welcome
Vision and purpose
Shaping global policy
Our global impact
Wildlife and people
Wildlife back from the brink
WILDLIFE HEALTH
Restoring ecosystems
What’s next?
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Making our work possible
Governance and risk
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Welcome
Vision and purpose
Shaping global policy
Our global impact
Wildlife and people
Wildlife back from the brink
habitats increasingly stressed and susceptible to disease. Our research has shown that species that survive, or even thrive, in human-made
WILDLIFE HEALTH
environments tend to carry higher rates of potentially zoonotic pathogens, putting us at greater risk.
Restoring ecosystems
Left: We are working to halt the decline of southern Darwin’s frogs ( Rhinoderma darwinii ).
The public health crisis that the world has endured since the emergence of Covid-19 is part of a wider trend in zoonotic disease emergence.
What’s next?
Ultimately, then, ensuring the health of our wildlife and wider ecosystems is in our best interest. At ZSL we are working for life around the world, and we recognise the interconnectedness of health. Public health and the health of domestic and wild animals, plants and ecosystems are all connected, and through our work with wildlife we help to ensure a healthy future for all.
Centre: Evidence points to a growing trend in zoonotic disease emergence.
Making our work possible
Right: The health of ecosystems, wild animals, domestic animals, plants and people are interconnected.
Governance and risk
by people. This fungal disease is responsible for the greatest loss of biodiversity caused by any single pathogen.
In the past 30 years an increased emergence of zoonoses – diseases that can pass from animals to humans, like SARS, Ebola and Zika – have threatened public health. Covid-19 has been the most devastating example in recent history, but it is unlikely to be the last.
Financial statements
Our veterinarians are at the forefront of efforts to protect wildlife populations and our way of working is based on producing evidence-based science that informs practical changes on the ground. Our research with fruit bats in West Africa will help identify ways to reduce the risk of humans becoming infected with batborne diseases; our work with Critically Endangered mountain chicken frogs and other amphibians will help us to develop scalable chytrid-mitigation techniques that could arrest the decline of amphibians around the world; while our work with threatened native British species is helping to restore healthy and abundant wildlife populations in the UK.
That these trends have arisen while we are experiencing a massive decline in wildlife abundance is no coincidence. Maintaining rich, biodiverse ecosystems stops pathogens from building up across animal populations, ensures animal populations are robust enough to withstand disease outbreaks and limits the degree of human exposure to any particular wildlife pathogen. When we affect ecosystems through urbanisation or agriculture, we often create landscapes that are only suitable for some species, leaving those species populations that are less suited to the altered
Likewise, infectious diseases pose a growing threat to the health of wildlife, with human activities playing a key role in the spread of these diseases. Amphibian chytridiomycosis is a key example. The pathogen responsible is now found on every continent where amphibians occur, most likely created by the hybridisation of fungi brought together by human activities, then inadvertently disseminated globally
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that virus secretion or ‘shedding’ (and therefore the risk of infection for humans) peaks in July and January – an important detail that will help the Ghanaian authorities mitigate the risk from these diseases.
UNDERSTANDING AMPHIBIAN CHYTRIDIOMYCOSIS
We have been at the forefront of research into chytridiomycosis – a fungal disease responsible for catastrophic declines of amphibians – since it was first identified by ZSL research in the 1990s. This year, despite Covid-19 preventing some planned fieldwork, we continued to make significant contributions to the understanding of the disease. We were able to show that alpine newts can respond to non-visual cues from members of the same species carrying the disease by avoiding aquatic habitats, suggesting that increased time on land may be an adaptive response for minimising risk of infection from this water-borne pathogen. In another example of an adaptive response, we also showed that the Critically Endangered southern Darwin’s frog, endemic to Chile and Argentina, can respond to the presence of infection by increasing reproduction efforts. We continue to research how some amphibian species gain immunity from chytrid, and the relationship between chytrid and skin microbiomes. At a regional level, we continue to investigate the spread of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis – the fungus that causes the disease – and look for patterns that can inform conservation efforts on the ground.
IDENTIFYING EMERGING DISEASES IN BATS
The emergence of Covid-19 is part of a worrying trend: the rate of zoonotic diseases emerging from wildlife and jumping to humans has increased exponentially over recent decades. Bats have been identified as the source of many incurable viral diseases with high fatality rates and, since 2007, our researchers have been working with the Ghanaian wildlife, veterinary and public health authorities to understand humanbat interactions and to identify which viruses may present threats to public health in West Africa. Since its inception, the project has involved developing capacity in Ghana, which has thankfully meant that research could continue despite restrictions on international travel due to the pandemic.
In Montserrat, we are continuing our trial of insitu chytrid-mitigation techniques, which involved translocating 27 Critically Endangered mountain chicken frogs from dedicated facilities at London and Jersey Zoos to semi-wild enclosures on the Caribbean island in 2019. Inside these enclosures, we are trialling techniques developed at London Zoo, such as the use of artificially heated pools or the removal of vegetation cover to raise the ground temperature slightly. Ultimately, we hope to find ways to alleviate the impact of chytridiomycosis on wild mountain chicken frogs and develop techniques that could be used for the restoration of many other threatened amphibian species around the world.
One focus over the past year has been the study of straw-coloured fruit bats within urbanised areas of southern Ghana. Since 2010 we have maintained a research colony of the species in Ghana, allowing us to follow the virus status of a closed colony and observe individual bats over long periods of time – something that would be impossible with a wild colony. Our scientists have concentrated their study on a specific family of viruses, paramyxoviruses; a family that includes the pathogens Hendra and Nipah virus. These pathogens can be devastating to humans but cause no sign of illness in the bats. By collecting bat urine samples every week for an entire year, we have shown
Left: We are working to understand viruses carried by fruit bats in Ghana.
Above: We are at the forefront of research into chytridiomycosis, the fungal disease responsible for catastrophic declines of amphibians around the world.
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skipper butterfly and hazel dormouse in the UK to the planned reintroduction of sihek to Guam and the golden coin turtle in south-east Asia.
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species reintroductions supported by the DRAHS With growing enthusiasm for rewilding team in the UK and in the UK, and a focus on beavers as overseas to date ecosystem engineers, the DRAHS team have collaborated with experts around
the world to produce a disease risk analysis for bringing beavers to the UK. The process involved review of over 1,000 scientific papers and highlighted the particular risk of the tapeworm Echinococcus multilocularis , which is known to be carried by beavers from southern Germany and eastern Europe. Three other hazardous pathogens from source countries were evaluated – with two determined medium risk and one low risk – as well as four viruses associated with cattle that were all found to be of low or negligible risk in the case of translocating beavers. Disease surveillance work is set to continue over the coming year, and we hope to see beaver reintroductions go ahead in the near future.
DETECTING RISKS TO BRITAIN’S WILDLIFE RECOVERY
The Disease Risk Analysis and Health Surveillance (DRAHS) project, a partnership led by veterinarians at ZSL and supported by Natural England, has been running for over 30 years and is vital to the health of wild animals in reintroduction programmes in the UK and around the world. With the loss or decline of much of the UK’s wildlife, reintroduction programmes are an important tool for its recovery. However, moving animals increases the risk of exposing them or others to new diseases and hazards. Our vets assess health risks associated with species prior
SUPPORTING BOVINE TUBERCULOSIS VACCINATIONS
Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is one of the greatest animal health challenges facing UK farmers and a polarising topic in the field of wildlife management. Wild badgers can become infected and transmit the infection to cattle but, despite decades of badger culling, bTB has not been eradicated, with new infections continuing to emerge in different regions of the UK. The Cornwall Badger Project was established by ZSL in 2013 to identify sustainable ways to limit bTB transmission
to their translocation, conduct health screenings during quarantine periods and monitor wildlife after its release. Our team of wildlife health professionals are currently involved in the reintroduction or monitoring of 15 species in the UK and five species worldwide, from the chequered
Above: Our veterinary teams undertook a disease risk assessment ahead of plans to reintroduce European beavers ( Castor fiber ) to the UK.
Right: The UK Government announced a transition from the culling of badgers ( Meles meles ) to vaccinations in 2021, empowered by our research.
Left: We support the reintroduction of hazel dormice ( Muscardinus avellanarius ) across the UK.
between badgers and cattle, including cattle husbandry methods such as managing troughs and grazing, as well as vaccination of badgers. The project provided key research that empowered the UK Government to announce in 2021 a transition from badger culling to vaccination. Now, with support from Defra, we are expanding badger vaccinations and sampling across a growing area. By adding new farms each year, we hope to identify a declining prevalence of bTB in vaccinated areas. We are also developing new ways to count badgers using camera traps, so that we can estimate the proportion being vaccinated, and hence predict the likely impact on bTB transmission. By sharing our findings locally, we hope to offer the farming community the evidence and assurance that vaccination can be an effective way to protect cattle. At the same time, we are working at a policy level, through Defra’s ‘bTB Partnership’, to help facilitate the Government’s planned transition from culling to vaccination.
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MONITORING THE HEALTH OF THE UK’S GARDEN WILDLIFE
Our veterinarians monitor the health of the UK’s garden birds, hedgehogs, reptiles and amphibians through the Garden Wildlife Health programme, a partnership with several UK wildlife charities, which investigates causes of death or illness reported by the public. This year, the team have been working to understand the threat posed by Usutu virus, first detected in wild birds in the UK by ZSL’s veterinary scientists in 2020. Usutu can be fatal to some species of bird, like blackbirds, and is zoonotic, but usually causes no symptoms or only a mild flu-like illness in humans. Alongside the UK Health Security Agency we conducted systematic trapping of mosquitoes in order to find out if Usutu virus persists in mosquitoes in the area where it was first found, and we will be publishing these results next year. We also examined current and past cases of undiagnosed illness in London Zoo’s bird collection and found no evidence of infection with the virus.
A key area of CSIP research is the effect of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) on marine mammals. Banned across Europe in 1987, the industrial chemicals persist in European waters, and particularly affect predators at the top of the food chain. This year, our scientists published research indicating an association between lower testes weights in male harbour porpoises and higher concentrations of PCBs. Previous research has already indicated that PCBs can affect female reproduction and the health of calves, but this was the first study to assess impacts on male fertility. It is further proof of the threat PCBs present to the population health of marine species, and the importance of scaling up efforts to remove PCBs from our ecosystems.
INVESTIGATING THE CAUSES OF MARINE STRANDINGS
Established in 1990, the Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme (CSIP) is tasked by Defra and the Welsh Government with investigating the stranding of marine species around the English and Welsh coastline and learning about the threats these species face in our waters. It has produced the world’s largest and longest dataset on cetacean strandings, representing data from over 18,000 cetacean strandings and more than 4,300 post-mortem examinations. This year, one of the most high-profile strandings that CSIP responded to was the arrival of a four-metre female minke whale calf in the River Thames. After the whale stranded first at Richmond Lock and then again at Teddington Lock, the decision was taken to euthanise it due to its poor health. The body was recovered and a post-mortem examination was carried out at ZSL, confirming that the whale was very young, in a critically poor condition and had been losing weight for some time due to starvation. It is likely it had become separated from its mother while still being suckled.
4,820
incidents reported to the Garden Wildlife Health programme, leading to 162 post-mortem examinations
Above: The CSIP team responded to the arrival of a minke whale calf in the Thames.
Right: Our veterinarians monitor the health of the UK’s garden wildlife.
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CARING FOR OUR ZOO ANIMALS
Our zoo animals are cared for by a world-class team of veterinarians and veterinary nurses. Alongside their work caring for 554 different species at our Zoos, the team contribute to the training of veterinarians and conservationists in partnership with organisations that include London’s Royal Veterinary College and the European College of Zoological Medicine. As well as lectures and practical experience, the team supervised 13 research projects on the Wild Animal Biology and Wild Animal Health MSc programmes, including the study of elephant herpes virus in Asian elephants.
Below: Our veterinary teams provide world-class care to our Zoo animals, such as our eastern black-and-white colobus monkeys ( Colobus guereza ).
This year, our veterinarians and scientists have been part of a collaboration with the Wellcome Sanger Institute seeking to understand how ageing correlates with the accumulation of mutations, such as cancer, across mammalian species. The team collected samples from several of our animals, including lions, tigers, lemurs and giraffes, and also provided samples from stranded harbour porpoises. Sequencing showed that the genomes of long-lived animals mutate slower than those of short-lived animals, and all animals accumulate similar numbers of mutations by the end of their life. It suggests that long-lived animals have evolved more effective ways to prevent or repair mutations, protecting them from developing diseases like cancer until they are much older.
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wildlife health professionals
from South Asia trained
by the Interventions in
Wild Animal Health course
since 2016
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SHAPING WILDLIFE HEALTH POLICY
Through our research and work with government agencies in the UK and around the world we aim to influence policymakers to recognise and act in the interests of wildlife conservation. We are a key advocate of One Health, a unifying approach that recognises the interconnectedness between people, domestic and wild animals, plants and ecosystems, and requires cross-sector approaches to wellbeing, health and conservation.
This year, ZSL’s Professor Andrew Cunningham, an internationally recognised expert on wildlife epidemiology, was one of 26 international experts appointed to found the One Health High Level Expert Panel, a collaboration between the World Health Organisation, the World Organisation for Animal Health, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations and the United Nations Environment Programme. Together, the panel will advise the United Nations and its partner agencies on One Health-related issues, support cooperation among governments and provide scientific evidence and policy advice. Andrew has also advised the G7, and in May 2021 gave the keynote speech at the AGM of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on International Conservation.
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ZSL’s science – including our wildlife health research – was profiled in 718 news articles, reaching a potential audience of more than
165.7 MILLION PEOPLE
Governance and risk
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RESTORING ECOSYSTEMS
In the UK, we lead the Wild Oysters project with our partners the Blue Marine Foundation and British Marine, aimed at restoring the health of Britain’s coastal waters through the recovery of native oyster populations. Oyster reefs clean coastal waters and create important habitat for other marine animals, but native oyster populations have declined by 95% since pre-industrial times. Since March 2021 we have installed 141 oyster nurseries at three restoration sites around Britain. Each nursery contains 27 oysters, producing an estimated nine billion larvae in total by 2023, and combined with our work to restore suitable seabed for oysters, we hope that these oyster larvae will begin to repopulate our oceans. Another key element of the project is engaging local people, educating them about oyster restoration and inspiring them about ocean conservation through educational engagement sessions; this year we launched free online educational materials aimed at Key Stage 2 and 3 students.
PROTECTING AND RESTORING IMPORTANT ECOSYSTEMS
With many ecosystems buckling under the pressures of biodiversity loss, climate change and humandriven habitat loss, habitat restoration is a key part of our work. The concept of rewilding, broadly defined as the restoration of self-sustaining and resilient ecosystems shaped by natural processes, offers an increasingly popular way of helping nature to rebuild. In 2021, we helped establish (and co-chair) the IUCN Rewilding Working Group. The group brings together experts in marine and terrestrial conservation, ecology, social science, veterinary science, environmental law and tourism, with the aim of analysing existing rewilding programmes and establishing guidelines for effective rewilding that can be used by conservationists around the world.
We are working to restore native oyster ( Ostrea edulis ) beds across the UK.
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citizen scientist volunteers trained to help monitor our oyster nurseries
7,000
students took part in oyster education sessions
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Left: We will be expanding our badger vaccination programme over the coming year.
Below: CSIP will be expanding to investigate seal mortalities.
Right: ZSL’s Rob Deaville featured in Channel 4’s What Killed The Whale?
NEW RESEARCH INTO AMPHIBIAN DISEASE
We will begin a new partnership with the Leverhulme Trust-funded Holobiont Centre, a 10-year initiative led by Imperial College. Research through the Centre will explore the links between animals, plants and microbial communities, with a strong focus on microbiomes. At least one three-year post-doctoral researcher based at ZSL is being funded through this scheme, and numerous other Research Fellows and PhD students funded by the project will also have the opportunity to engage with our amphibian disease and microbiome research. Other new projects include the development of an environmental DNA toolkit for detecting Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis , one of the fungi responsible for chytridiomycosis disease, and ranaviruses.
EXPANDING OUR BADGER VACCINATION PROGRAMME
We aim to expand our badger vaccination programme further, with an increasing number of farmers signing up to take part. We are also working to establish links with farmers and vets in areas coming to the end of their cull licences to encourage an immediate transition to vaccinations. We are working on a social-science analysis of the barriers to uptake of badger vaccination programmes, and to explore the role of badgers in broader conservation efforts on UK farmland.
MONITORING THE HEALTH OF THE UK’S WILDLIFE
We will be expanding our work with UK wildlife to include new species. Following additional funding from Defra, the CSIP programme will be carrying out a pilot study investigating seal mortalities across England and Wales. Meanwhile, our DRAHS team will be supporting new introductions of the Duke of Burgundy butterfly and natterjack toad, while the reintroduction of beavers to England will continue to go through careful assessment. Our work with marine mammals in England and Wales was also broadcast in June 2022 to a nationwide audience in the Channel 4 documentary What Killed the Whale? Presented by Ella Al-Shamahi, the programme features ZSL’s Rob Deaville as lead scientific advisor and contributor to the project.
GROWING OUR RESEARCH ON GENETIC MUTATIONS
We will be expanding our research with the Wellcome Sanger Institute to include tissues collected from a range of animals at our Zoo, including invertebrates, fish, amphibians and reptiles. The research will help us to further understand the relationship between animal ageing and mutations, and ZSL will receive full genome sequences of each animal featured in the study. This data will allow us to undertake new research into animal evolution and diseases, and will benefit animal science and conservation for years to come.
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Welcome
MAKING OUR WORK POSSIBLE
ZSL’s work would not be possible without our supporters, volunteers and colleagues.
Vision and purpose
Shaping global policy
Our global impact
Wildlife and people
Wildlife back from the brink
Wildlife health MAKING OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Our people
Supporting our work Our supporters Sustainability
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ZSL Wellbeing Champions trained in physical, financial, mental and social wellbeing techniques
0%
ZSL’s gender pay gap in 2021/22, including all UK and seasonal staff
838
total staff employed by ZSL, including 105 overseas employees
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Despite concerns that the pandemic would impact visitor numbers in the long term, our supporters’ love for wildlife, and their need to be connected to nature, was demonstrated as soon as our Zoos re-opened. We saw our UK-based visitors return in large numbers and we ended our year with over 160,000 Members, Fellows and Patrons – the highest number of people joining our organisation in our 196-year history.
The commitment of our people has been essential to ensuring ZSL’s recovery from the pandemic and our continued positive impact on the world.
In the face of the financial pressures of our Zoos being closed for a total of 25.5 weeks last year, and continued financial uncertainty this year, ZSL’s staff and volunteers have gone above and beyond to ensure that the Society can thrive well into the future.
The generosity of our donors and partners throughout the pandemic has also been critical to our survival and to our recovery. We have been delighted that so many of those new supporters who provided that vital aid during our emergency campaign last year have remained dedicated champions of ZSL, with many increasing their commitment to enable our work. We are also incredibly grateful to all of those that so generously left a legacy gift to us in their will, helping us to create a future for a healthy planet for generations to come.
Through their tireless dedication, we continued to inspire millions of people by bringing them closer to the wonder of nature through our work and through our Zoos, advancing their knowledge to better protect wildlife today, while inspiring a lifelong love of animals in the conservationists of tomorrow. In turn, we have supported our people through blended working, wellbeing programmes and diversity initiatives that underpin our way of working.
With businesses increasingly seeking to address the imbalance between people and nature, we are now working with a wider range of organisations who want to put nature at the heart of their decision making and create innovative and impactful partnerships. This not only delivers the income that ZSL needs to carry out its vital role but also inspires more people to take positive steps to value wildlife.
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to put nature at the heart of their decision making and
create innovative and impactful partnerships. This not
only delivers the income that ZSL needs to carry out its
vital role but also inspires more people to take positive
steps to value wildlife.
The commitment of our
people is vital to the
running of our two Zoos.
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Welcome
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Shaping global policy
Our global impact
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Wildlife back from the brink
Wildlife health
MAKING OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Our people
Supporting our work
Our supporters
Sustainability
Governance and risk
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OUR PEOPLE
EMBEDDING NEW WAYS OF WORKING
The pandemic had a profound impact on ways of working for many of us, forcing most desk-based staff to work from their homes. As we emerged from the pandemic, we have sought to embrace the wellbeing benefits of a more flexible working environment and offer our people the opportunity to work more flexibly from home or the office or in the field, in roles where this is possible. However, we must also balance this with the needs of ZSL and a complex range of job roles across the Society – many of which (such as zookeepers, veterinarians and grounds staff) are dependent on coming to site, while others based around the world have their own unique requirements.
Our positive impact on the world – from protecting wildlife globally to helping people learn about animals at our Zoos – is underpinned by the dedication and passion of our people; ensuring their development and success is the key to ZSL’s future.
Following the establishment of a Blended Working Group in early 2021, and a review of working practices at ZSL, we have approached blended working by supporting teams and managers to agree their own working patterns. We have created hot-desking areas with bookable desks, social distancing guidelines for
Left: ZSL staff have embraced new ways of working, including working from home and video meetings.
staff, flexible meeting spaces and improved technological support. The approach has empowered teams to find what works for them, colleagues, ZSL, students and visitors to our Zoos.
Supporting these decisions throughout has been ZSL’s Covid Working Group, which continued to meet throughout the year to make key decisions about how ZSL operates in a way that keeps people safe while being able to continue with our key operations. The Group has been responsible for responding to changes in UK Government guidance around working from home and workplace safety. Throughout the pandemic we have followed official rules on social distancing, wearing of masks and testing for staff, and we have also encouraged staff to take part in vaccination programmes where able – with time off to do so.
ESTABLISHING A WELLBEING STRATEGY
With so many of our people working remotely, and external pressures related to the pandemic threatening both mental and physical health, supporting the wellbeing of our people has never been more important. This year we created a new, overarching wellbeing strategy. Responses to a staff survey in April 2021 had shown us that we needed to focus on mental and financial wellbeing and do more to help managers support their teams’ wellbeing.
As part of this new action plan we undertook several new initiatives, including: the training of an additional 11 mental health first aiders (taking our total to 23); adding to our successful wellbeing champions with over 50 champions now supporting wellbeing across ZSL; the launch of a menopause policy and menopause awareness training; the launch of a baby-loss policy, a baby-loss support group and an IVF policy to support colleagues undergoing fertility treatment; and a partnership with Barclays to offer free and confidential financial wellbeing services to UK employees.
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ZSL continues to attract a diverse pool of UK applicants in terms of gender (60% or 3,086 out of 5,127 identify as female) and sexual orientation (16% or 809 out of 5,127 identify as LGBTQ+), with those reflected throughout the recruitment stage to successful offer (67% or 66 out of 98 identify as female and 18% or 18 out of 98 identify as LGBTQ+). Progress has also been made in terms of ethnicity, with 22% (1,136 out of 5,127) of applicants from an Asian, black or mixed ethnic origin background and 28% (27 out of 98) receiving a successful offer (up from 11% or 3 out of 28 in 2020).
SUPPORTING DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
At ZSL we celebrate the diversity of the natural world but we also recognise the importance of diversity and inclusion in society. The effects of climate change and biodiversity loss are global problems, and they need a global solution – requiring the inclusion of all people. In 2020 we established a Diversity and Inclusion Working Group and five action plans designed to address areas across ZSL: leadership; diversifying the workforce; accessibility; raising awareness and education; and inclusion and belonging.
However, we know we still have a way to go. While the percentage of our UK employees from Asian, black or mixed ethnic backgrounds has grown from 8.3% in 2020 to 10.2% in 2021, it still does not reflect the diversity in England (13.6%) or London (36.8%) where many of our people live. The number of our employees declaring a disability grew from 3.3% in 2020 to 4.4% in 2021, whereas 18% of residents in England have a disability. We will be working to improve these areas further as part of our diversity and inclusion action plans.
This year we have progressed several initiatives under those five action plans, which included: provided staff training and induction programmes on topics including unconscious bias, inclusive leadership and disability awareness; achieved the ‘Disability Confident Committed’ accreditation, which recognises commitments to the recruitment, training and development of disabled people; the quarterly publication of ZSL’s diversity and inclusivity data for staff and volunteers; and the creation of ‘Real Talk’ sessions, to help our people share and discuss issues related to diversity and discrimination.
Above: Staff and volunteers from ZSL took part in London Pride.
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YEARS OLD.
58.3%
10.2%
4.4%
7.8%
26%
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Above: We aim to diversify our workforce and improve job accessibility through schemes like Kickstart and our Zoo Academy.
Right: Volunteers are a crucial part of ZSL.
IMPROVING OPPORTUNITIES AND JOB ACCESSIBILITY
VOLUNTEERING AT ZSL
Volunteers are a crucial part of ZSL, helping us to ensure the smooth running of our Zoos and enhancing the experience for visitors, as well as supporting our library, fieldwork and wildlife health services. This year, we continued work that we began in 2019 (but paused during the pandemic) to integrate Zoobased volunteers with our Zoo engagement teams. The management of volunteers by operational teams means that volunteers are now better able to complement the work of our Zoo presenters, pass on up-to-date visitor information and ensure a consistent experience for visitors.
As part of our efforts to diversify our workforce and improve job accessibility, our community and learning teams have been working with partner organisations and schools across London and Bedfordshire to offer employability skills courses, such as Zoo Academy, to 230 young people otherwise lacking these career opportunities, helping to develop their skills for animalrelated employment. Our new work experience scheme has offered 17 students a chance to explore work in person across our zoo teams, and over 600 local students took part in virtual work experience days.
A key part of this new vision for volunteering at ZSL has also involved establishing several new voluntary roles, focused on different skill sets – including new railway volunteers at Whipsnade Zoo – and creating a more flexible volunteering rota that allows a greater diversity of people to volunteer for us. We have also begun a supported volunteering scheme, aimed at those who are keen to get involved with ZSL and gain experience from volunteering but need additional support to do so. Following consultations and taster sessions with partner organisations in the community, we began an eight-week pilot at London Zoo in April 2022 with five participating volunteers. We have also recruited and trained a new team of 21 Community Engagement Volunteers, who will act as supportedvolunteering team leaders, and we hope to roll out a similar pilot at Whipsnade Zoo in 2023.
Meanwhile we have continued to run a successful apprenticeship programme, creating more entrylevel jobs at ZSL. Since leading the creation of the zookeeping and aquarist apprenticeship programme in 2019, we’ve provided 23 apprenticeships. In January 2022, we expanded these into new areas of the organisation, offering an apprenticeship in the events team and three business administration apprenticeships.
We also took great advantage of the Kickstart scheme – a government-funded programme aimed at improving job accessibility for unemployed young people. Through the six-month Kickstart scheme, 20 young people joined us on placements across the organisation, from zookeeping to engagement, with four progressing to further employment at ZSL.
Over 1,000 volunteers supported us this year at our Regent’s Park and Whipsnade sites, donating
OVER 100,000 HOURS
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SUPPORTING OUR WORK
Our supporters have been vital to our recovery following the pandemic, and their generosity underpins the work of our two Zoos in the UK and our conservation scientists around the world.
154,000
members (an increase of 32% this year)
70%
increase in member visits to our two Zoos, against a pre-pandemic baseline in 2018-19
After an extraordinarily challenging 2020-21, we began this financial year following the end of the third national lockdown with the reopening of our Zoos in April 2021, the return of thousands of supporters and a renewed optimism for the future of ZSL. That optimism has been matched by an ambition to secure our future as a wildlife organisation and the revival of several projects that had to be paused during the pandemic – none more ambitious than the reimagining of the Snowdon Aviary as Monkey Valley. Now a home for our colobus monkey troop, we are grateful to those who have helped to make it happen, including the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Lord Paul and the Ambika Paul Foundation, the Denise Coates Foundation, and the hundreds of supporters who have made donations.
We must acknowledge the lifetime of support from Queen Elizabeth II, who marked 70 years on the throne before her death this year. We had the great privilege of The Queen’s Patronage and we recognised this important relationship during our ‘Zoobilee’ celebrations in June 2022, and later through our tribute activities remembering her enormous impact. We also pay tribute to Honorary Fellow Field Marshal Sir John Chapple GCB CBE DL, who passed away this year. Sir John was a former President of ZSL, a Fellow for over 75 years and a passionate supporter of our fieldwork, who will be sorely missed.
Below: We celebrated a record number of members, fellows and patrons this year.
32%
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increase in
members
on 2020-21
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Across ZSL, our work is underpinned by our supporters, and it is because of the hundreds of donations made this year by people, trusts, foundations and businesses that ZSL is able to work around the world for wildlife. Specifically, we would like to acknowledge significant gifts made by the Akester family, the Garfield Weston Foundation and TestRAMP, who supported a number of different ZSL projects.
INDIVIDUALS SUPPORTING OUR WORK
At ZSL, we are proud to have a community of thousands of individuals who support our work and our vision for a world where wildlife thrives. Donations from our supporters and the monthly contributions of members, fellows and patrons are essential to ensuring the high standards of care for animals in our Zoos and the continuation of our work to protect wildlife around the world.
This year, we celebrated a new milestone: reaching over 160,000 members, fellows and patrons – the highest number in our history. Having launched a new, two-tier gold and silver membership system in 2020 we continued to grow our membership, acquiring 32% new members year on year. Member visits have also shot up compared to pre-pandemic visits, with both Zoos seeing almost double the number of membership visits against the pre-pandemic baseline set in 2018-19 – indicating the growing value of a ZSL membership.
We launched a new monthly giving option this year, Back from the Brink, aimed at those who want to donate monthly to support our global conservation work. We also worked towards the launch of a new virtual challenge event in June 2022, Around the World in 30 Days, designed to encourage our supporters to run, walk, wheel, swim or cycle in aid of ZSL. These two new and innovative programmes will provide our supporters with new ways to engage with ZSL and our field conservation.
We were saddened by the deaths of three Fellows: Dr John Barker, Dr Francis Williams and Beryl Chinneck-Scoble. John, Francis and Beryl spent decades contributing to the future of ZSL as Fellows, and each very generously left a legacy gift to us in their wills, underpinning our work to secure a future for wildlife.
Welcome
Vision and purpose
Shaping global policy
Our global impact
Wildlife and people
Wildlife back from the brink
Wildlife health
MAKING OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Our people
Supporting our work
Our supporters
Sustainability
Governance and risk
Financial statements
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ENGAGING WITH BUSINESSES
Covid-19 highlighted humanity’s dysfunctional relationship with the natural world and has accelerated the appetite for cross-sector partnerships as companies look to put nature at the heart of their decision making. Each partnership with ZSL is bespoke – often involving campaigns, sponsorship or corporate memberships – and, by working with business, we provide opportunities for people to experience wildlife through our Zoos and educational talks, while delivering income for our work.
This year we scaled up our partnership with Sky to offer more of their Sky VIP members great days out at our Zoos, and we were a lead partner with Asda on their Fun Packed Summer campaign. We also saw the arrival of a new Asiatic lioness, Arya, at London Zoo, supported by longstanding corporate partner Liontrust, and the culmination of our partnership with Royal Bank of Canada in the publication of our first State of the Thames report. Meanwhile, we were grateful to Ford for the loan of several vehicles for use at our Zoos, and The Marshall Wace TOPS (ESG) Foundation funded our work mapping the barriers to migration for the critically endangered European eel in Kent and a survey of harbour porpoises in the Thames Estuary.
Our corporate membership programme has also grown this year, and with it, our employee reach. Membership benefits such as Zoo tickets, behind-the-scenes tours, regular e-newsletters and educational talks have provided us with regular opportunities to inspire and inform employees about our work and empower them to protect the planet. A key component of these memberships is volunteering, and this year we saw an increased uptake from companies following the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions, with staff taking on tasks such as painting, gardening, cleaning enclosures, preparing animal feed and making items for the behavioural enrichment of our animals.
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30
partnerships
with business
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Above: Bloomberg Corporate Volunteers helped us clean and maintain London’s Penguin Beach.
Below: Arya the Asiatic lion ( Panthera leo persica ) helped us celebrate World Lion Day and the support of sponsor Liontrust.
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OVER 110
grant-making bodies
support our work
361
corporate volunteers
supported us from seven
companies, donating
1,252 hours to ZSL
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Welcome
Vision and purpose
Shaping global policy
Our global impact
Wildlife and people
Wildlife back from the brink
Wildlife health
MAKING OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Our people
Supporting our work
Our supporters
Sustainability
Governance and risk
Financial statements
39
Annual Report and Accounts 2021–22 zsl.org
SUPPORT FROM TRUSTS AND FOUNDATIONS
Our global conservation work would not be possible without the support of trusts and foundations around the world. We are grateful for the continued support of several long-term funders including players of People’s Postcode Lottery Planet Trust, who provided core funding for several key areas of our work. The National Lottery Heritage Fund continued to support
the restoration of the Snowdon Aviary, and the UK Trust for Nature Conservation in Nepal funded our tiger recovery programme in Nepal. We are grateful to Fondation Segré for their continued and generous support of our EDGE programme and dog detection work to combat the illegal wildlife trade in Mongolia. We were also delighted to receive grants from new funders including Flotilla Foundation for oyster restoration and the Mayor of London/Thames Water Grow Back Greener Fund to create a community garden and learning space at London Zoo.
This year we secured major funding from the Garfield Weston Foundation for three years of support for our ongoing work to restore and protect Britain’s biodiversity. Key activities funded by Garfield Weston Foundation will include: work to restore sea grass, salt marsh and oyster beds in the Thames Estuary; the reintroduction of sturgeon to British waters; conservation of threatened chalk grass at
our Whipsnade Zoo site; and badger vaccination trials in Cornwall. The funding will also support Garden Wildlife Health, the ZSL-led project monitoring the health of the UK’s garden birds, hedgehogs, amphibians and reptiles; as well as DRAHS (Disease Risk Analysis and Health Surveillance), a collaborative project between ZSL and Natural England established to assess and detect disease risks to reintroduction programmes in the UK, currently involved in the assessment of 29 reintroduced species across the UK.
967
Patrons
4,179
Fellows (including 134 Patron Fellows)
Welcome
Vision and purpose
Shaping global policy
Our global impact
Wildlife and people
Wildlife back from the brink
Wildlife health
Left: Fondation Segré continued to support our work in Mongolia to tackle the illegal wildlife trade.
the illegal wildlife trade. MAKING OUR
Right: EDGE Fellow Issah Seidu undertook landing surveys of fishing WORK POSSIBLE catches in Ghana.
Below: Funding from Garfield Weston Foundation will support our work with UK species, such as the hazel dormouse (pictured undergoing a health check).
Our people
Supporting our work
Our supporters
Sustainability
Governance and risk
Financial statements
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OUR SUPPORTERS
ZSL’s achievements would not be possible without the generosity of its supporters. We would like to thank all the individuals and agencies mentioned in these pages, as well as those not listed here.
Professor John Lawton CBE FRS
ROYAL PATRONS
ZSL Patron Queen Elizabeth II (until Sept 2022)
Professor Sir John Beddington CMG FRS
Dr Desmond Morris
ZSL Vice-Patron His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales (until Sept 2022)
Ken Sims
The Rt Hon Lord Paul
The Stamford Raffles Patron
His Serene Highness, Prince Albert II of Monaco
Dr Michael Brambell
HONORARY FELLOWS
Professor Milton Thaigo de Mello
HONORARY CONSERVATION FELLOWS Jamie Arbib Rosalind Aveling Dr Elizabeth Bennett
His Majesty The Emperor Akihito of Japan
Sir David Attenborough OM, CH, CVO, CBE, FRS
Professor Sir Brian Follet FRS DL
Dr Robin Bidwell
Sir Martin Holdgate CB Professor Sir John Krebs FRS
Beth Blood
Professor Luigi Boitani
Professor Sir Brian Heap CBE FRS Professor Katherine Ralls
Nicholas Booth Dr Arlo Brady
Steven Broad Dr Mark Penning Julia Bucknall Mary Rice Katherine Chou Dr John Robinson Ian Craig Professor Alex Rogers Dr Glyn Davies Mark Rose Dr Emmanuel de Merode Professor Yvonne Sadovy Dr Braulio Dias Dr Christián Samper Alexandra Dixon Kim Sams Dr Iain Douglas-Hamilton Dr M Sanjayan Dr Nick Dulvy Dr John Scanlon Dr Charles Foley Dr Wes Sechrest Simone Friedman Dr Claudio Segré Professor Joshua Ginsberg Peter Seligmann Matthew Hatchwell Professor Charles Sheppard Professor Heribert Hofer Brian Sheth Roger Howard Dr Mark Stanley-Price Kate Humble Jon Stryker Dr Jonathan Hutton Dr Simon Stuart Dr Anwarul Islam Adam Sweidan Dr Lucas Joppa Jessica Sweidan Kenzo Kaifu Kerry ten Kate Dr Tom Kaplan James Thornton Richard Traherne
Dr Michael Knight
Woody Turner Dr John Veron
Dr Annette Lanjouw Dr Frédéric Launay
Dr Jean-Christophe Vié Dr Amanda Vincent Alannah Weston Peter Wheeler Nigel Winser Jochen Zeitz
Professor Nigel LeaderWilliams
Dr Susan Lieberman
Professor Keping Ma Professor David Macdonald Dr David Mallon Charles Mayhew
Professor Jessica Meeuwig Charles Mindenhall
DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY BOARD
Dr Russell Mittermeier Dr Maurus Msuha
Stamford Galsworthy (Co-Chair)
Edward Norton
Neil Grundon (Co-Chair) Oliver Brettle David Coffer
Dr Timothy O’Brien Hans-Ulrich Obrist
Joshua Critchley
Dr Robin and Veronica Bidwell
Ben Grant The Blackburn Family Dominic Jermey CVO OBE Emily and Oliver Brettle Rasha Khawaja Simon and Elaine Brown Henrietta Loyd Rachel and Barry Chapman Tatiana Melkinova Pete and Val Charlton Simon Quayle The Countess of Chichester Mark Ridgway The Clarkson Family Alex Schmid Michael Walker The Coffer Foundation C. Colclough James Wren The Dalrymple Family The Dixon Family
NEXTGEN COMMITTEE
Mo Duncan The Flamman Family Eileen Flanagan David Fawkes and Family Julie FS The Grant Family Peter Hamm Nicholas Heung The Humphreys Family
Lucy Hambro (Co-Chair) Rasha Khawaja (Co-Chair) Jack Baucher Harry Becher George Bullard Posey Collis Charles Crawley Olivier Emanuel Emily Forbes Georgia Forbes Max Guen
Iain Paul Israel The James Family
Jolyon Klean Iain Russell Lucy Sloane
Anjal Kariya and Family
The Lewis Family The Lohr Family The Longhurst Family
Lyonel Tollemache Michael Walker Will Wells
Kieran Maguire
The Michael and Nicola Sacher Charitable Trust
PATRONS
Nancy Miller and Glen Ireland
The Akester Family The Amey Family The Anderson Family The Bacchus Family Scott Beaumont Francis and Jo Beddington
Jan Mol
Patsy and Malcom Newton Sylvia and Martyn Notley The O’Brien Family
Roy Palmer Jay Patel
Welcome
Vision and purpose
Shaping global policy
Our global impact
Wildlife and people
Wildlife back from the brink
Wildlife health
MAKING OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Our people
Supporting our work
Our supporters
Sustainability
Governance and risk
Financial statements
41 Annual Report and Accounts 2021–22
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The Rt Hon Lord Paul
Dr Andrew Powell
The Pratt Family
Simon and Karen Quayle
Sheila Rankin
The Rihal Family
Rolanda, Anthony and all their family
The Rose Family
Lady Susan Ann Sangster
The Schmid Family
Sophie Scott
The Skingle Family
David and Alison Slade
Mike Staunton
Lisa Syne
Neil Thomas-Childs Kenny Watson
Ian Webb
Barry Werner
Stephen Whittam and Darren Jordan
Jo Windsor
The Wren Family
The Yordan Family
Erdem Yurdanur
LEGACIES FROM THE ESTATES OF
Ms Beryl Chinneck-Scoble Mr Vincent Peck Dr Francis Williams
CHARITIES, TRUSTS, FOUNDATIONS, STATUATORY BODIES AND ZOOS
Ambika Paul Foundation
American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative
Asian Species Action Partnership
Auckland Zoo
Australian Embassy in the Philippines - Direct Aid Program
The Balcombe Charitable Trust
Banister Charitable Trust Bellewaerde Park
Bertarelli Foundation Bestsellar Foundation British Ecological Society
British Hedgehog Preservation Society
Calgary Zoological Society
CITES Secretariat City Bridge Trust
Coast4C
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
Critical Ecosystems Partnership Fund (CEPF)
Mrs Linda Cooke (deceased)
Darwin Initiative, Defra
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation
David Family Foundation
Defra
DP World
Dr Robert Andrew Rutherford CT Dreamworld Wildlife Foundation
ECOFAC
The Environment Agency Environment Canada The European Union
EU BIOPAMA
European Maritime and Fisheries Fund
European Union
Flotilla Foundation
Fondation Franklina
Fondation Segré
Fota Wildlife Park
Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo Garfield Weston Foundation
German Corporation for International Cooperation
Global Canopy Global Conservation Good Energies Foundation Government of Guam Greater London Authority Greenville Zoo
Helsinki Zoo Howard Buffett Foundation Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund, Defra Indianapolis Zoo
IUCN
IUCN/ KfW Integrated tiger habitat conservation programme
Island Conservation Seychelles James Gibson Charitable Trust
JNCC
John S Cohen Foundation
Kadorie Farm and Botanical Gardens Kolmarden Foundation Kusuma Trust
La Passerelle/Auvergne Wilhelma Zoo and The Marshall Wace TOPS Botanical Gardens (ESG) Foundation Mayor of London/ Thames Water Woodchester Trust Mowgli Street Food Michael and Nicola Sacher ZSL America Paper Round (Recorra) Welcome Charitable Trust Morris Animal Foundation Peak Scientific Vision and DONATIONS TO Royal Bank of Canada National Geographic Society ZSL AMERICA purpose Shaftesbury The National Lottery Disney Conservation Fund Heritage Fund Sky Shaping Natural England Joan and John Digby State Bank of India global policy Emma Barnsley Foundation The Nature Conservancy TestRAMP The Esmond Nissim Our global NGOs for Fisheries Reform Foundation Thames Water impact Oak Foundation James Karl Fischer White & Case LLP Ocean Park Conservation Wildlife and Cynthia and Armins Rusis Foundation, Hong Kong Weedon Foundation people On The Edge Panthera Jo Weiss Wildlife back from the brink Players of People’s Postcode Lottery CORPORATE Research England SUPPORTERS Wildlife health Rewilding Europe Acamar Films Limited MAKING OUR Rockefeller Philanthropy Ally WORK POSSIBLE Rose Foundation AmazonSmile UK The Rufford Foundation American Express Our people Sahara Conservation Fund Asda Supporting Sargasso Sea Alliance Aviva Investors our work Selatan Crafted Giftware Bain Social Impact Shark Conservation Fund Our supporters Bloomberg L.P. Sherling Charitable Trust BMC Software Sustainability Stitching Ave Fenix Europa Deutsche Bank’s Tayto Park International Private Bank Governance and risk Thriplow Charitable Trust DP World UK Trust for Nature Expo 2020 Dubai Financial Conservation in Nepal US Department of State Ford statements USAID Goldman Sachs USFWS HS1 Ltd 42 Walter Zoo The Howard de Walden Estate Annual Report West Midlands Safari Park and Accounts Wildlife Conservation Liontrust 2021–22 Network zsl.org
SUSTAINABILITY
Nature is at the heart of everything we do, including the way we operate as a charity. We are committed to sustainability through our supply chain, our partnerships, consumption and operations.
In May 2021, we set out our new Environmental Sustainability Plan, which includes the commitment to halve our carbon footprint by 2030 and reach net zero by 2035. Our targets are informed by the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and other commitments include reducing mains water use by 30% by 2030 and increasing recycling of visitor waste to 70% by 2026.
To manage our environmental impact we also operate an Environmental Management System (EMS), which covers all areas of management and operation at both Zoos. The EMS is accredited to the ISO 14001 standard, a globally recognised certificate of environmental responsibility only achieved by a handful of zoos in the UK, and both of our Zoos successfully completed external audits this year.
SUPPLY CHAIN AND PROCUREMENT
This year our focus has been on interrogating our procurement process and supply chain. A Sustainability Project Assistant, supported by the Kickstart programme (see page 37), joined our Sustainability team to help us with an assessment of the products we buy against our responsible sourcing policies for palm oil, seafood and timber, and engaged suppliers on carbon reduction plans.
We contacted 142 suppliers and confirmed that all seafood products served on site for human consumption are from sustainable sources. Coffee served at both Zoos is Rainforest Alliance-certified and arrives in sustainable packaging to reduce plastic pollution. We continue to assess food products that contain palm oil, and timber and paper-based products, and, of the 64 suppliers who responded regarding carbon emissions, 32% already have timebound carbon reduction plans, while 61% are willing to work with ZSL to improve the information we have on supplier carbon emissions.
We have taken several steps to grow our offering of sustainable products at our Zoos and reduce waste. These include collaborating with suppliers to remove unnecessary packaging from the production line ahead of delivery to the Zoos, limiting food air miles, taking a seasonal and local approach to food and drink sourcing and working with soft toy suppliers to develop products made from 100% recycled materials.
ENERGY AND CARBON
This year we installed sub-meters in our most significant energy-using buildings at Regent’s Park, allowing us to see real-time consumption and start identifying wasted energy. However, reducing energy usage remains a balancing act as we meet the needs of our animals, who require carefully controlled environments. A business case for a large-scale solar farm at Whipsnade is currently being assessed for feasibility, as is the option of wind power.
WATER AND WASTE
We continue to make progress on reducing our water usage, with both sites consuming significantly less than the baseline set in 2018/19: London and Whipsnade recorded a 38% and 20% reduction respectively this year. While the zoo closures contributed to this, we aim to maintain this reduction now that our sites are open. We continue to send zero non-hazardous waste to landfill, and at Whipsnade we have installed larger ‘recycling stations’ with new signage to help visitors know how to correctly dispose of items. Our end of year recycling rates for office and visitor waste are 60% at London and 52% at Whipsnade, higher than England’s average household recycling rate of 44%, and we are exploring ways to increase this further, in order to achieve our 70% target.
Welcome
Vision and purpose
Shaping global policy
Our global impact
Wildlife and people
Wildlife back from the brink
Wildlife health
MAKING OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Our people
Supporting our work
Our supporters
Sustainability
Governance and risk
Financial statements
43
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ZSL’S SUSTAINABILITY TARGETS
OBJECTIVES TARGETS Welcome
Vision and
Reduce electricity emissions by 50% by end of FY2030/31, based on purpose
In Progress
FY2019/20 baseline
Shaping
Carbon and Energy: Reduce gas and other fossil fuel emissions by 50% by end of FY2030/31, based In Progress global policy
on FY2019/20 baseline
Reduce absolute greenhouse gas
emissions in line with limiting global Reduce business travel emissions from air, road and rail by 50% by end of FY2030/31, Our global
In Progress
average temperature increase to 1.5°C, based on FY2019/20 baseline impact
and aim to achieve net zero for all
Install large-scale solar photo-voltaic array of minimum 1.0MWp size at Whipsnade
residual GHG emissions by 2035 In Progress Wildlife and
Zoo by end of FY2021/22
people
Set a science-based Scope 3 target for significant value chain emissions by Dec 2022 In Progress
Wildlife back
from the brink
Waste and Materials
Efficiency: Recycle 70% of office and visitor waste by end of FY2025/26 In Progress Wildlife health
Promote responsible consumption, Maintain zero non-hazardous waste to landfill Achieved MAKING OUR
minimise the amount of waste produced, WORK POSSIBLE
and assess all remaining significant
waste streams for alternatives that Awaiting
Treat 30% of waste onsite by 2030 via composting or anaerobic digestion Our people
support a circular economy Assessment
Supporting
our work
Water Management: Reduce total mains water consumption by 30% by end of FY2030/31, based on In Progress Our supporters
FY2018/19 baseline
Reduce total water consumption
Sustainability
through design and maintenance
of the estate, and implementation
Achieve 100% compliance with effluent discharge consent limits by Dec 2021 In Progress Governance
of water efficiency measures
and risk
Financial
100% of food products sold by ZSL that contain palm oil to be RSPO-certified statements
In Progress
sustainable by Dec 2022
Responsible Procurement:
100% of seafood products served in catering to be from certified sustainable sources Achieved
Integrate sustainability within all by Dec 2021 44
procurement activities and throughout
our supply chain, in line with the 100% of timber and paper-based products to be certified as sustainable (FSC or other Annual Report
guidelines of ISO 20400:2017 standard approved certification) by Dec 2022 In Progress and Accounts
2021–22
100% of suppliers signed up to ZSL’s code of conduct by Dec 2022 In Progress
zsl.org
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ZSL’S SUSTAINABILITY TARGETS
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OBJECTIVES TARGETS Welcome
Vision and
purpose
Onsite Biodiversity: Implement the principles of ZSL’s UK Site Biodiversity Policy in all relevant operational
In Progress
Optimise the biodiversity value and and capital development activities at Whipsnade and Regent’s Park Shaping
function of land managed by ZSL global policy
in the UK, to complement national
Review and update ZSL’s Site Biodiversity Management Plan framework by Dec 2022 In Progress
biodiversity strategies Our global
impact
Wildlife and
Sustainable Buildings All new-build exhibits to consider lifecycle value, include initiatives to reduce Awaiting people
and Exhibits: energy and water consumption, reduce construction waste, and to source
Assessment
materials responsibly in line with ZSL policies Wildlife back
Manage the design and construction
from the brink
of new exhibits, and refurbishment
of our existing estate, to minimise All projects to include sustainability targets in the project brief and confirm Awaiting
a sustainability assessment method with ZSL Sustainability Manager at earliest Wildlife health
environmental impact and embed Assessment
design stage
sustainability principles from the outset
MAKING OUR
WORK POSSIBLE
Food and Catering: Out-sourced caterers Benugo (London Zoo) and RA Venues (Whipsnade) to reduce energy and water consumption, increase recycling, and source produce sustainably Awaiting Our people
Assessment
Provide nutritious, sustainable food in line with ZSL targets
Supporting
options for our staff, visitors and
animals with as little environmental By Dec 2022 agree additional sustainable catering targets to address: food waste; Awaiting our work
impact as possible promotion of plant-based meals; visitor engagement campaigns related to food Assessment
Our supporters
Sustainability
Governance
and risk
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PRINCIPAL RISKS AND UNCERTAINTIES
ZSL is a diverse organisation working to achieve our strategic priorities in several discrete areas, each with their own unique set of challenges.
In delivering all our objectives we accept that we face a range of risks, varying in substance and significance. We have procedures in place to establish the organisation’s appetite for risk and to identify and evaluate the risks we face when working to achieve our objectives. Our procedures also enable the Trustees and Executive to identify and implement effective measures to reduce the likelihood of risks occurring, and to limit the potential impact if those risks do occur.
OUR RISK MANAGEMENT PROCESS
ZSL’s Trustees review and set the organisation’s risk appetite statement. This statement sets out the organisation’s overall tolerance for different categories of risk and provides the framework within which ZSL’s risk management policies and procedures operate. The Executive Committee has responsibility for underlying procedures relating to risk.
We manage a Society-wide strategic risk register that contains the key risks owned and managed by the executive leadership team and the Council of Trustees. This tracks and evaluates the strategic, operational, finance and compliance risks that we face against ZSL’s risk appetite. We have risk assessment processes embedded in management and operational processes and the Head of Legal, Governance and Risk Management works to support the tracking of risks from an organisational perspective. Where relevant, the strategic risk register is supported by underlying operational risk registers across the Society for the operational and charitable activities we undertake. Specifically for health and safety, we have a detailed system for monitoring risks and issues, as well as actions taken, managed by the Health and Safety team.
Risk is a standing item on the agenda of the monthly meeting of the Executive Committee, where each risk has a named owner, and the risks and mitigations are reviewed. Any new or emerging risks are also added through this forum. In this way, risks are considered, and suitable mitigation plans developed and implemented.
ZSL’s strategic risk register is reviewed annually by our Audit, Finance and Risk Committee and our Council of Trustees, who have collective responsibility to identify, assess and manage risks, and ensure that risk management arrangements are robust, appropriate, and comprehensive. Any significant changes made to the risk register during the year are reported to our Audit, Finance and Risk Committee (AFRC), and the minutes of these meetings are provided to our Council of Trustees.
RISK ASSESSMENT
Risks are assessed according to their likelihood to occur, and their likely impact on the organisation. These values combine to provide a score that allows us to identify the principal risks to the organisation and prioritise management actions accordingly.
RISK MANAGEMENT STATEMENT
Our Trustees have considered the principal risks to which ZSL, and its subsidiary undertaking is exposed, and satisfied themselves that suitable procedures have been established to identify and manage those risks. The following principal risks were identified during the 2021–22 accounting period. Specific actions are in place to manage each risk.
PRINCIPAL RISKS
The risks in the principal risks table relate to ZSL’s key priorities in line with our objectives. These are key risks for ZSL but may have been rated as ‘low’ or ‘minor’ under our assessment framework because of the effectiveness of ZSL’s control and mitigation measures.
Welcome
Vision and purpose
Shaping global policy
Our global impact
Wildlife and people
Wildlife back from the brink
Wildlife health
Making our work possible
GOVERNANCE AND RISK
Principal risks and uncertainties
Governance
Financial summary
Financial statements
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DESCRIPTION OF PRINCIPAL RISKS
SUMMARY OF MITIGATION ACTIONS
| Animal Welfare The risk that circumstances outside of our control impact the high standards of health and welfare that we maintain for the animals in our care |
Strict compliance with regulations overseen by the Animal Welfare Committee and Animal Welfare Group |
|---|---|
| Ongoing monitoring of animal health and nutrition overseen by the experienced onsite veterinary team | |
| Active monitoring and management of circulating diseases such as H5N1 bird fu and avian malaria, with internal management systems implemented when required to minimise risk |
|
| Ongoing development and focus on best practice clinical and management expertise, with targeted action plans for identifed emerging issues |
|
| Income and Funding The risk that we are unable to raise sufcient funding from donors, income through admissions, or trading activities to enable delivery of ZSL’s objectives, or that reliance on a single income stream or funding source impacts our ability to deliver said objectives |
Income strategy that drives diversifed commercial and fundraising income streams |
| Robust monitoring of income and expenditure with implementation of mitigating actions as required | |
| Ensure we maintain the research standards funders require by regularly reviewing research outputs and benchmarking performance |
|
| Grant-funded projects are subject to approval procedures to ensure conditions and commitments can be met | |
| Impact The risk that we do not have a demonstrable positive impact and create a world where wildlife thrives through our ground-breaking science, our feld conservation around the world, and by engaging millions of people through our two Zoos and outreach |
Robust peer-reviewed science which informs our conservation feldwork |
| Collaboration with the international community of responsible zoos and participation in sustainable breeding programmes |
|
| Develop a robust impact framework that enables transparency in all our communications to the public, donors and partners |
|
| The delivery of high impact and robust programmes of species recovery and habitat protection in the feld | |
| Ongoing development of impactful and inclusive public engagement and education with diverse audiences | |
| Safeguarding The risk of a safeguarding incident that harms our people, our visitors, or any individual we are working with |
Global safeguarding policy |
| We have a clear process for any signifcant concerns to be raised quickly at the most senior levels in the charity, with a dedicated Safeguarding Lead reporting regularly to the Director General |
|
| Mandatory training for all staf and students | |
| Designated safeguarding lead trustee on Council | |
| Ensure safeguarding and prior informed consent for programmes working with human communities to restore wildlife and improve wellbeing |
Welcome
Vision and purpose
Shaping global policy
Our global impact
Wildlife and people
Wildlife back from the brink
Wildlife health
Making our work possible
GOVERNANCE AND RISK
Principal risks and uncertainties
Governance
Financial summary
Financial statements
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DESCRIPTION OF PRINCIPAL RISKS
SUMMARY OF MITIGATION ACTIONS
| Health and Safety The risk of a Health and Safety incident that harms our people, our visitors, or any individual we are working with |
Strict compliance with legislative requirements |
|---|---|
| Regular risk assessment, inspections, health surveillance and audits | |
| Programme of targeted training and general awareness of risk and safety matters | |
| Comprehensive policy and procedures | |
| Capital Project Management The risk that we are unable to manage our programme of capital projects efectively |
Governance processes including a Capital Portfolio Group in place to: – Assess capital needs, with clear criteria – Prioritise and allocate funding – Monitor performance and spends – Agree project aims and objectives and oversee project control |
| Cost Infation The risk that rising costs, including utilities, food, and construction materials, impact our ability to deliver our objectives, both in terms of day-to-day operations and capital projects |
Annual budgets and ongoing fnancial forecasting |
| Robust monitoring of income and expenditure, cost base reduction exercises as needed | |
| ZSL’s procurement function secure best value for ZSL’s purchases | |
| Capital Portfolio Group oversight of capital spend | |
| Legislative changes The risk that unforeseen legislative change requires signifcant change to our funding and / or operational model |
Ongoing monitoring of proposed legislative change and consideration of any potential impact on ZSL |
| Proactive participation in consultation exercises, and input drawing on the breadth and depth of expertise from across ZSL |
|
| Maintain open and positive relationships with key stakeholders such as government departments and BIAZA | |
| Extreme Weather The risk of any weather condition impeding or signifcantly disrupting operations (due to risk of harm to people, animals, buildings, and critical infrastructure) resulting in reduced income, or increased maintenance and insurance costs |
Monitor weather to anticipate extreme conditions (and their implications) requiring implementation of adverse weather protocols |
| Executive Committee review of high winds and other adverse weather protocols at least annually, with short-term mitigations forming part of regular site maintenance and operational protocols |
|
| Build long-term solutions into capital investment strategy for ZSL |
ZSL’s Trustees are responsible for overseeing the mitigation measures and assurances as set out in the principal risks table above. The Audit, Finance, and Risk Committee has delegated authority to review the detail of this and the Legal, Governance, and Risk Management team has day-to-day responsibilities in this area. ZSL also works very closely with our regulators and has robust policies and procedures which all seek to ensure that these principal risks do not materialise.
Welcome
Vision and purpose
Shaping global policy
Our global impact
Wildlife and people
Wildlife back from the brink
Wildlife health
Making our work possible
GOVERNANCE AND RISK
Principal risks and uncertainties
Governance
Financial summary
Financial statements
48
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GOVERNANCE
Our work as a charity is directed and controlled by our Council of Trustees and expert committees, outlined here.
GOVERNANCE REVIEW
Council undertook an in-depth review of ZSL’s governance arrangements in 2019, identifying several improvements designed to align us with the best practice recommended by the Charity Governance Code.
We have continued to report on the implementation of the recommendations, and in the 2020/21 Annual Report highlighted several significant milestones, including the Privy Council’s formal approval of the updated Byelaws as endorsed by the Fellowship, Council’s approval of an updated framework of delegation, and updates to the Terms of Reference for Council’s Committees.
In 2021/22 we have largely concluded implementation, with highlights including revision of the Standing Orders of Council and the formation of a dedicated Nominations Committee to oversee the annual Council elections, resulting in better engagement and support for prospective candidates during the 2021 elections. Good governance relies on continuous improvement, and so while the core purpose of the 2019 Governance Review has been achieved, we will continue to work to improve our processes and ways of working. The Regulations are the last governing document requiring revision and will be revised in 2022.
CORPORATE STATUS
ZSL (Zoological Society of London) is a charity incorporated under Royal Charter, registered in England and Wales with the Charity Commission (No. 208728). Certain commercial operations of the two Zoos, principally catering and shops, are carried out through its wholly owned subsidiary company, Zoo Enterprises Limited, a company registered in England and Wales with company number 01178687 (together referred to below as ‘the group’).
ORGANISATION
Council
The Society is governed by the Charter, which was amended in 2021 as part of the ongoing improvements identified by the in-depth review of ZSL’s governance in 2019, and by the Byelaws, Standing Orders, and Regulations. The Byelaws set out requirements concerning membership of the Society, the Officers (President, Secretary and Treasurer), and other members of Council as well as the proceedings of Council, annual general, and other meetings.
The Council is the ruling body of the Society, meets five times each year as standard (more if required) and is responsible for establishing and monitoring the strategy and policies of the Society. Save for those filling a ‘casual vacancy’, Council members (‘the Trustees’) are elected from and by the membership (‘Fellows’) of the Society by ballot and serve for periods of four years. Invitations are circulated to all Fellows to nominate Trustees, and Fellows are advised of the retiring Trustees and specialist skills that the Council considers would be helpful to the Society. The election is by ballot of the complete Fellowship of the Society. The introduction of electronic voting in recent
years (with postal available where required) has increased voter turnout and offers flexibility to the Fellowship, as well as being more environmentally friendly and cost-effective for the Society than postal-only voting. We provide various forms of training to Council, including mandatory training (part of the induction process) for new trustees and those half-way through their terms of office, covering trustee legal duties and responsibilities and ZSL’s governing documents. Additional training is provided as needs arise, for example on matters such as safeguarding.
Welcome
Vision and purpose
Shaping global policy
Our global impact
Members of Council/Trustees
The following were Council members in the period 1 May 2021 to the date of this report, unless otherwise indicated (* to November 2021, + from November 2021). See the next pages for short biographies of each Council member.
Wildlife and people
Wildlife back from the brink
President: Professor Sir John Beddington CMG FRS
(resigned September 2022) Secretary: Professor Geoff Boxshall FRS (resigned September 2021) Secretary: Professor Sir Jim Smith FRS (appointed October 2021) Treasurer: Richard Sykes
Wildlife health
Making our work possible
GOVERNANCE AND RISK
Lynne Abbess* AND RISK Shruti Ajitsaria
Ray Heaton* Principal risks Dr Peter Higgins David Jones
Richard Kimblin QC+ Governance Alex Large
Athena Markides+ Financial
Dr Maggie Redshaw summary Martin Rowson
Ken Sims Financial
Paul Wilson statements Robert Wingate* Roger Wood (resigned July 2021)
Principal risks and uncertainties
Governance
49 Annual Report and Accounts 2021–22
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COMMITTEES
In addition to Council, the Society operates through several committees and boards, whose terms of reference and membership are shown below (* retired during 2021–22, + joined during 2021–22, ^ external to ZSL).
Animal Welfare Committee
Terms of reference: The Committee oversees the day-to-day welfare of animals under the care of ZSL. In particular, the role of the Committee is to assist Council to fulfil its responsibility to ensure that: matters requiring ethical review under the Zoo Licencing Act 1981 are appropriately considered; ZSL complies with its obligations under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 as it applies to animals in zoos and any other legislation which applies to the welfare of animals in zoos; and to demonstrate and practise the highest standards of welfare management for all the animals for which ZSL is responsible. In the last year the committee met formally twice and held several informal briefing meetings on specific topics as and when required.
Membership: Dr Maggie Redshaw (Chair), Georgina Groves^, Dr Heather Bacon^, Dr Brian Bertram^, Sally Binding^, Dr Matthew Brash^, Neil D’Cruze^, Troy Gibson^, Miranda Stevenson^, Robert Wingate^, Dr Andrew Kitchener^, Dr Peter Higgins+, Iri Gill+^
Awards Committee
Terms of reference: The role of the Committee is to provide independent advice to Council with regards to the determination and presentation of ZSL awards, medals and prizes for contributions to Zoology and Conservation Science. The committee met in October 2021.
Membership: Professor Sir Jim Smith+, Professor Stuart Bearhop^, Professor Geoff Boxshall, Dr Susan Cheyne^, Dr Katie Hampson^, Professor Ben Hatchwell^, Professor Susan Healey^, Professor David Morritt*^, Professor Steve Paterson^, Professor Claire Spottiswoode^, Professor Seirian Sumner^, Professor Graham Taylor^
Ethics Committee for Animal Research (ECAR)
Terms of reference: The role of the Committee is to ensure that any research carried out by or on behalf of ZSL is subject to appropriate ethical review. The Committee has a specialist sub-body, the Animal Welfare and Ethical Review Body (AWERB) to meet ZSL’s obligations under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986. In the last year, the committee met twice and considered 14 new applications and five amendments to previous submissions. In addition, the AWERB acted as the chair of the local AWERB hub and hosted a workshop at ZSL to promote knowledge sharing and best practice.
ECAR Membership: Richard Kock (Chair)^, Alick Simmons (Chair)+^, Brian Bertram^, Lola Brookes, Madeleine Campbell^, Andrew Cunningham, Sarah Durant, Arturo Fernandez^, Trent Garner, Matthew Gollock, Amanda Guthrie+, Bill Holt^, Wendy Jarrett^, Paul Pearce-Kelly, Victoria Ortin Piqueras^, Jane Roberts^, Chris Sergeant, Ben Tapley, David Williams^, Lisa Yon^
AWERB Membership: Richard Kock (Chair)*^, Alick Simmons (Chair)+^, Andrew Cunningham, Sarah Durant, Trent Garner, Matthew Gollock, Amanda Guthrie, Bill Holt^, Wendy Jarrett^, Chris Sergeant, Ben Tapley
Audit, Finance, and Risk Committee
Terms of reference: To monitor the financial management of the Society, to act as an audit committee, to make recommendations to Council on financial policy or capital investment decisions and to monitor the Society’s risk framework. In the last year, the committee met nine times.
Membership: Richard Sykes (Chair), Lynne Abbess, Alison Beckett^~, Professor Sir John Beddington CMG FRS, Professor Geoff Boxshall FRS, Professor Sir Jim Smith+, Dr Peter Higgins+, Alex Large, Athena Markides+, Dr Maggie Redshaw, Paul Wilson~, Loraine Woodhouse^~
~non-voting advisory members **resigned September 2022
Human Ethics Committee
In March 2021, Council agreed to create a dedicated Human Ethics Committee, recognising the need to add additional governance to complement the existing frameworks that ensure that all activities undertaken by ZSL are carried out in an ethical manner and respect all stakeholders, indigenous people and local communities, as well as our institutional position on human rights. A Human Ethics Working Group was established in the year reported on, to support the development of the formal Committee and manage the ethical review of projects involving human participants in the intervening period.
Nominations Committee
Terms of Reference: To ensure that the collective skills and experience of Council and its Committees are appropriate and sufficiently diverse for it to effectively undertake its legal duties and the governance of the Society. The committee met five times in the year reported on.
Membership: Professor Geoff Boxshall FRS (Chair), Professor Sir Jim Smith FRS (Chair)+, Martin Rowson, Shruti Ajitsaria, Richard Kimblin QC+, David Jones
Remuneration Committee
Terms of reference: To determine the remuneration and pension arrangements of Executive Directors. In the event of termination of employment of an Executive Director, to consider and (if appropriate) authorise any payment owing to that person. The committee met twice in the year reported on.
Membership: Professor Sir Jim Smith FRS (Chair)+, Richard Sykes+, Professor Sir John Beddington CMG FRS**, Dr Peter Higgins+, David Jones+
Day-to-day management
The day-to-day management of ZSL is delegated to the Director General and the other members of the Executive Committee and monitored by Council. All significant matters of policy are determined by Council.
Welcome
Vision and purpose
Shaping global policy
Our global impact
Wildlife and people
Wildlife back from the brink
Wildlife health
Making our work possible
GOVERNANCE AND RISK
Principal risks and uncertainties
Governance
Financial summary
Financial statements
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EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
The Executive Committee of ZSL comprises:
Director General: Matthew Gould CMG MBE (from 12 September 2022) Director General: Dominic Jermey CVO OBE (to 7 June 2022)
Acting Director General (from 8 June 2022 to 11 September 2022) and Chief Financial Officer (from 14 July 2021): Jo Keaney
Director of Conservation and Policy: Dr Andrew Terry Interim Director of Science: Professor Sarah Durant (to 31 January 2022)
Dr Guy Cowlishaw (from 1 February 2022) Chief Operating Officer, London Zoo: Kathryn England Chief Operating Officer, Whipsnade Zoo: Owen Craft Executive Director of Fundraising, Marketing and Engagement: James Wren People Director: Helen Downton
THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND TRUSTEES’ RESPONSIBILITIES
The Trustees are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and UK Accounting Standards (UK Generally Accepted Accounting Practice). The law applicable to charities in England and Wales requires the Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year, which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the Charity and the group, and of the incoming resources and application of resources of the Charity and the group for that period.
In preparing these financial statements, the Trustees are required: to select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently; to observe the methods and principles in the Charities Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP); to make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent; to state whether applicable UK accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and to prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis, unless it is inappropriate to presume that the Charity will continue in business.
The Trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the Charity and the group and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011, the Charity (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 and the provisions of the Royal Charter. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the Charity and the group, and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities. The Trustees are also responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the Charity and the group, and for financial information included on the Charity’s website.
Auditor
A resolution to reappoint RSM UK Audit LLP, chartered accountants, as auditor will be put to the Council before the end of the next financial year.
Welcome
Vision and purpose
Shaping global policy
Our global impact
Wildlife and people
Wildlife back from the brink
REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION
| Principal / Registered address: |
Regent’s Park London NW1 4RY |
Annual Report and Accounts 51 Wildlife hea Making our work possi GOVERNANC AND RISK Principal ris and uncerta Governanc Financial summary Financial statements |
|---|---|---|
| Also at: | ZSL Whipsnade Zoo Bedfordshire LU6 2LF |
|
| Investment advisors: | Newton Investment 160 Queen Victoria Street London EC4V 4LA |
|
| Principal bankers: | Barclays Bank PLC 1 Churchill Place London E14 5HP |
|
| Statutory auditor: | RSM UK Audit LLP 25 FarringdonStreet London EC4A 4AB |
|
| Lawyers: | Hempsons Solicitors 100 Wood Street London EC2V 7AN |
Wildlife health
Making our work possible
GOVERNANCE AND RISK
Principal risks and uncertainties
Governance
Annual Report and Accounts 2021–22
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COUNCIL MEMBERS/TRUSTEES
President:
Professor Sir John Beddington CMG FRS Elected to Council 2019, resigned September 2022 Sir John was appointed Professor of Applied Population Biology at Imperial College London in 1991 and, from 2008 until 2013, was the UK Government Chief Scientific Advisor reporting directly to the Prime Minister. Sir John was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2001 and knighted in 2010. Sir John was elected as ZSL’s President at the Annual General Meeting on 17 June 2014, and was re-elected for a second term in 2019. Sir John resigned in September 2022.
Secretary:
Professor Sir Jim Smith FRS
Appointed to Council 2021
Jim Smith is a developmental biologist who served as Director of the Medical Research Council (MRC) National Institute for Medical Research, where he helped establish the Francis Crick Institute. Most recently he was Director of Research Programmes at Wellcome. Jim was elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society in 1993 and of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 1998 and was knighted in 2017.
Treasurer:
Richard Sykes
Elected to Council 2022
Richard, a chartered accountant and a former senior client partner at PwC, was appointed as Treasurer in January 2020 and brings his accounting, risk, governance and wider business and charity expertise to his role as Chair of the Audit, Finance, and Risk Committee.
Shruti Ajitsaria
Elected to Council 2019
Shruti is a partner at law firm Allen & Overy, where she created and launched an initiative to build digital skills. She brings this spirit of innovation and adoption of technology to ZSL, in addition to her governance and fundraising experience from serving as a school governor and sitting on a fundraising development group for a hospice. She has also completed the Financial Times’ Non-Executive Director Diploma.
Dr Peter Higgins
Elected to Council November 2020
Peter has over 30 years of experience as a veterinary surgeon, including zoological advisory work, coupled with a Fellowship of the Institute of Company Directors, a passion for wildlife and conservation, and experience and achievements in fundraising strategy for charities, as well as marketing and media skills. Peter is the ZSL Trustee accountable for safeguarding. He was appointed to this responsibility in September 2021.
David Jones
Appointed to Council 2020 (to fill a casual vacancy) David had a board-level career at the John Lewis Partnership where he held senior roles in retail, commercial and supply chain. He brings to ZSL experience in non-executive roles, spanning retail, sport, local government, community and voluntary, charity, regulatory and trade bodies.
Richard Kimblin QC
Elected to Council November 2021
Richard started out in environmental sciences: PhD, Royal Society post-doc, environmental assessment. He was then called to the bar in 1998, practising in planning and environmental law. Richard was a Trustee of the United Kingdom Environmental Law Association for ten years and its Chair for two. Richard was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2016 and advises in and appears in respect of development and environmental issues for government, developers and planning authorities.
Alex Large
Elected to Council 2018
Alex worked as an investment banker at JPMorgan for over 25 years, where he held a variety of risk management, capital-raising and corporate finance roles in the UK and Asia Pacific. He now runs his own investment business based in London.
Athena Markides
Elected to Council November 2021
Athena is a commercial barrister specialising in insurance, construction and property damage. She was an elected member of the General Council of the Bar of England and Wales between 2015 and 2021 and was elected Chair of the Young Bar in 2019, negotiating the first pay rise for publicly funded prosecutors in 18 years. She is passionate about wildlife, conservation science and fostering greater public engagement with ZSL’s work on these fronts.
Dr Maggie Redshaw
Elected to Council November 2018
Maggie is a Psychologist and Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit, University of Oxford. Maggie has worked in research and education at Jersey and Bristol zoos, chairs the ZSL Animal Welfare Committee and is an editor for the Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology and BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth.
Martin Rowson
Elected to Council 2019
Martin is an award-winning cartoonist, illustrator and author and has decades of experience of charity governance. Martin served his first term on Council in 1992 following his involvement in the Reform Group, which successfully spearheaded the campaign to reverse the decision to close London Zoo in 1991.
Ken Sims
Elected to Council 2019
Ken is the founder Director of Thrigby Hall Wildlife Gardens in Norfolk, opened in 1979, and is a strong proponent of field and zoo conservation work and of inter-zoo cooperation. Ken became a zoo inspector in 1984 and has been a BIAZA member for over 40 years, having served on both BIAZA and EAZA Councils.
Paul Wilson
Elected to Council November 2020
Paul has had a lifelong interest in zoology and conservation and has been a Fellow of ZSL for almost 30 years. Now retired, Paul was Managing Director of a large UK construction company, delivering major projects across the UK, giving him broad experience in strategic and commercial management. Paul is also chair of ZSL’s Library Advisory Group.
Welcome
Vision and purpose
Shaping global policy
Our global impact
Wildlife and people
Wildlife back from the brink
Wildlife health
Making our work possible
GOVERNANCE AND RISK
Principal risks and uncertainties
Governance
Financial summary
Financial statements
52
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FINANCIAL SUMMARY
ZSL’s 2021/22 financial year has been strong, both operationally and financially. In contrast to 2020/21, we were able to remain open and operational for the entire year, which has allowed us to continue to build resilience in the face of ongoing economic uncertainty.
OVERVIEW
ZSL’s total income grew to £79.5m from £58.8m, an increase of 35%, with both Zoos able to open for the full year. Visitor income doubled to £30.9m in 21/22, compared to the prior year’s income of £15.1m. This increase was driven by strong visitor performance in summer 2021 and the relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions that had forced our Zoos to close for over 25 weeks in 20/21.
Total expenditure also grew to £70.9m against £58.1m in the prior year, an increase of 22%. The organisation continues closely to monitor costs, having undertaken the difficult but necessary cost-reduction programmes in previous years. However, with rising energy prices and inflation, some elements of our cost base – for example our utility costs – rose exponentially towards the end of the year. ZSL’s strong performance enabled us to invest in our Zoos with a historically high annual investment of £8.7m in capital expenditure while simultaneously putting the organisation on a sound financial footing by increasing our general reserves.
A full year of operating income and income-generating activity led to one of the best performances for the organisation in recent history. We achieved double the numbers of visitors to both our Zoos compared to 20/21, reached record visitor numbers in some months and saw strong support from our members and donors throughout. This produced net income of £8.7m before other recognised gains and losses, compared to £1.3m in 20/21.
We are hugely thankful for the continued support from all of our visitors, members and donors; their financial support provides the income which enables us to continue our conservation work and to future-proof our organisation against an uncertain world.
The net surplus of £8.7m against the prior year’s surplus of £1.3m is before other recognised gains and losses and is the highest net surplus that ZSL has achieved in a decade. Once the annual Financial Reporting Standard 102 (FRS102) pension revaluation is included, ZSL’s net surplus of £16.8m in 21/22 compares to a net deficit of £1.4m in 20/21.
A big thank you too to our incredible staff, who supported the running of our Zoos, the care of our animals, our scientific research and our conservation projects around the world. Their skill and dedication are the foundation of everything we do.
Welcome
Vision and purpose
Shaping global policy
Our global impact
Wildlife and people
Wildlife back from the brink
Wildlife health
Making our work possible
GOVERNANCE AND RISK
Principal risks and uncertainties
Governance
Financial summary
Financial statements
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INCOME
INCREASE DECREASE TOTAL
Welcome
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90
1.9
9.6 Vision and
85
80 (2.4) (1.5) 79.5 purpose
(2.3) (0.4)
15.8 Shaping
75 global policy
70
Our global
65 impact
60 58.8
Wildlife and
55 people
Wildlife back
from the brink
Zoo admissions Wildlife health
Admissions income rose by £15.8m (104%) to
£30.9m in 21/22, reflecting a strong summer Making our
and the falling away of the Covid-19 restrictions work possible
that closed our Zoos in 20/21. The Zoos offered
a range of enticing visitor activities, such as 1.8M 100% 21/22 GOVERNANCE
Zoorassic Park at Whipsnade Zoo and the 20/21 AND RISK
Travel the World experience at London Zoo,
successfully attracting strong visitor numbers
Principal risks
throughout the year.
and uncertainties
Almost 1.8 million people visited our Zoos, 150% Governance
nearly double the previous year when 0.9m
61%
individuals visited London and Whipsnade Financial
Zoos. London Zoo saw an increase of 150%, 1M summary
welcoming 1m visitors, while Whipsnade visitor
0.8M
numbers grew 61% to 0.8m visitors, the Zoo’s Financial
strongest ever performance in a financial year.
statements
54
0.9M 0.4M 0.5M
Annual Report
and Accounts
2021–22
TOTAL LONDON WHIPSNADE zsl.org
20/21 TRADING GRANTS 21/22
ADMISSIONS MEMBERSHIP OTHER INCOME DONATIONS INCOME
TOTAL INCOME E.G. FURLOUGH AND LEGACIES TOTAL INCOME
OTHER CHARITABLE
MILLIONS
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Trading income
Zoo Enterprises Limited (ZEL) – ZSL’s trading subsidiary – provides merchandising, food and beverage through its retail and catering outlets across both Zoos, plus other commercial activities such as overnight stays and other visitor-tailored experiences. The increase in visitors and the appetite for an excellent day out following Covid-19 restrictions saw income rise to £16.2m against £6.6m in 20/21, a rise of 145%. Our trading operations, after cost of sales and support overheads, generated a net profit of £3.0m, an increase of £2.8m from the prior year. This is wholly gift-aided to the parent charity and is an important income stream that supports ZSL’s charitable activities.
Grants and foundations
Much of our field conservation, science and research work in the UK and overseas is funded by grants from government agencies, institutional donors, trusts, foundations and private individuals. Grant income dropped by £1.5m (11%) to £12.5m from £14.0m in 20/21 and we continue to consolidate our overseas work, wrapping up projects where fixed-term grant programmes have finished. Our conservation work overseas and in the UK totalled £6.6m in 21/22 compared to £8.7m in 20/21 with our science and research income increasing to £6.0m from £5.8m in 21/22.
Donations and legacies
After a very successful fundraising campaign in 20/21, when the future of our Zoos was threatened by the Covid-19 pandemic and related closures, we saw an expected reduction in 21/22 in total donations and legacy income by £2.3m – from £11.6m in 20/21 to £9.3m in 21/22. Donations dropped by £1.1m to £7.8m, with the end of the successful emergency appeal in 20/21 being partially offset by the increase in restricted donations linked to our Snowdon Aviary restoration project – Monkey Valley. Legacies saw a small decrease to £0.8m from £1m in the prior year. Gifts-in-kind income represent services provided to ZSL for free. This dropped by £1m, to £0.7m, with the end of the free television and radio advertising that underpinned the emergency appeal in 20/21. We are hugely grateful to all our supporters who helped ZSL during this last financial year, as it enabled us to invest in our infrastructure and build financial sustainability going forward.
Memberships
UK Government Covid-19 related support
Our members contribute a significant proportion of our income through their continued and regular support for ZSL’s activities. This year was very successful, with our membership base growing to a record 156,000 from 119,000 in the prior year, a 31% increase. As a result, membership income grew to £9.6m compared to £7.6m in 20/21. Members continued to show their dedication with 688,000 visits compared to 365,000 the previous year, an increase of 88%. We are thankful to all our members, both new and longstanding, who provide this essential ongoing support for our work.
We continued to receive support during 21/22 under the UK Government’s Coronavirus Job Retention (furlough) scheme but at a much lower level than the previous financial year. With the scheme now shut, £29k was received in 21/22 compared to £2.5m in 20/21.
Investments and income from investments
ZSL’s listed investments – valued at £3.2m at 30 April 2022 (2021: £3.1m) – comprise a restricted scientific fund which is held in the Newton Investment Management ‘Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) Fund for Charities’. Income from this fund remained stable at £0.1m (20/21: £0.1m). The yearly investment revaluation produced a gain of £0.1m compared to a gain of £0.6m in 20/21. ZSL’s other investments comprise the Whipsnade property investment of £3.8m, representing surplus Whipsnade land for possible sale.
Membership income (£m) vs membership numbers
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156,000
MEMBERS
£9.6M
119,000
MEMBERS
£7.6M
21/22 20/21
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Welcome
Vision and purpose
Shaping global policy
Our global impact
Wildlife and people
Wildlife back from the brink
Wildlife health
Making our work possible
GOVERNANCE AND RISK
Principal risks and uncertainties Governance
Financial summary
Financial statements
55 Annual Report and Accounts 2021–22 zsl.org
EXPENDITURE
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INCREASE DECREASE TOTAL
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80
75
7.1 70.9
70
58.1
65 6.8
60
1.0
55 (2.1)
50
CONSERVATION AND SCIENCE
20/21 EXPENDITURE COST OF GENERATING VOLUNTARY INCOME AND CONSERVATION 21/22 EXPENDITURE
TRADING COSTS OF GOODS SOLD AND OTHER COSTS ZOO ANIMAL COLLECTION
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Costs attributed to generating voluntary (fundraising) income fell from £3.7m to £1.7m in 21/22, largely linked to the reduction in gifts-in-kind benefits.
Our largest area of expenditure – £38.5m – relates to the care of the animals in our Zoo collections and the people and operations that deliver their world-class support. This increased by £7.1m in 21/22, rising from £31.4m in 20/21.
Subsidiaries
As indicated above, merchandising, catering and other activities are undertaken by Zoo Enterprises Limited (ZEL), a subsidiary trading company, with the net profits distributed to ZSL annually.
Expenditure on science and research grew by £0.8m from £6.3m in 20/21 to £7.1m in 21/22, driven by a £1.0m increase in restricted grant-funded activities, partly offset by a £0.2m decrease in unrestricted science and research spend.
A large proportion of our expenditure is on conservation, spending £10.3m in 21/22, slightly more than the £10.2m in 20/21. This expenditure supports our conservation work both in the UK and internationally. We continued to work closely with our overseas offices and partners to deliver this critical work. Key areas of work in 21/22 included work in Nepal, Cameroon and in the UK itself.
Administration expenses – which are charged by ZSL to ZEL – increased to £1.9m compared to £1.0m in 20/21, reflecting the higher levels of activity. ZEL’s net profit grew to £3.0m from £0.2m in the prior year and was donated to ZSL through a deed of covenant Gift Aid transfer.
Costs associated with staff remuneration, including social security and pension costs, rose to £28.5m, increasing by £1.0m.
ZSL is in the process of closing two dormant subsidiaries: Whipsnade Wild Animal Park Limited and Zoo Operations Limited. It is intended to close them both before the end of the current 22/23 financial year. An impairment in respect of the recoverability of an intercompany balance related to this closure is recognised in ZSL’s charity stand-alone financial statements at £0.3m (20/21: £nil).
Continued focus on efficiencies resulted in a reduction in indirect support costs – which largely comprise operational staff and establishment support costs – by £0.9m to £11m in 21/22.
Our trading costs rose by £6.8m to £13.3m, driven by the significantly increased activity during the financial year. This represents a full year of trading in our shops, catering outlets and residential experiences at both London and Whipsnade Zoos.
Welcome
Vision and purpose
Shaping global policy
Our global impact
Wildlife and people
Wildlife back from the brink
Wildlife health
Making our work possible
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Principal risks and uncertainties
Governance
Financial summary
Financial statements
56
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Capital expenditure
As a result of the strong performance of both Zoos through the pandemic, the ongoing generosity of our supporters and the hard decisions relating to costs taken in 19/20 and 20/21, ZSL continues on its journey to greater financial resilience. Although the future outlook remains challenging, more funds were invested in the Zoos and their infrastructure than in previous years and we spent £8.7m on capital expenditure in 21/22 compared to £2.6m in the previous year (and £2.2m the year before that). The largest of these projects related to the Snowdon Aviary restoration at London Zoo, which we resumed in earnest after pausing the project during the pandemic. This exciting exhibit opened in the summer of 2022, renamed Monkey Valley, and is ZSL’s largest project of such size in recent years. Other projects included the successful completion of the new Galápagos tortoise house at London Zoo, providing a new home to our three giant Galápagos tortoises, plus starting work on our new reptile and amphibian house, also at London Zoo.
Funds and reserves
Total funds held on 30 April 2022 amounted to £86.7m (2021: £69.9m) of which £8.6m relates to the pension scheme reserve. Restricted funds including endowments totalled £11.4m (2021: £12.7m). Restricted funds include conservation and scientific programme funds of £7.1m and £3.1m respectively (2021: £8.6m and £3.1m respectively) for conservation and scientific research work expected to be carried out in future periods.
Unrestricted funds held on 30 April 2022 totalled £75.3m (2021: £57.3m). This includes designated funds of £50.1m (2021: £45.3m), of which the majority relates to ZSL’s fixed assets of £47.2m (2021: £43.3m) and predominately reflects land and buildings on our Regent’s Park and Whipsnade sites including our Zoos, science and veterinary facilities. Other designated balances of £2.9m (2021: £2.0m) include heritage assets of £1.8m (2021: £1.8m) and a strategic project reserve of £1.1m (2021: £0.2m).
In 21/22 we continued to work on our masterplan to deliver a strategic framework for our two sites at Regent’s Park and Whipsnade. This vision, with the help of future partners and funding, will transform our two Zoos and reflect our commitment to world-leading animal care and conservation of wildlife through the protection of species, inspiring change, helping people live with wildlife and ecosystem restoration – as well as continuing to strengthen ZSL’s future financial sustainability.
Annual Capex spend (£m)
8.7
Welcome
Vision and purpose
Shaping global policy
With this increase in capital expenditure and construction work at our sites, we have considered the need for impairments across our fixed asset portfolio, as old assets are demolished or renovated for new animals or experiences. Net impairment of £1.0m has been recognised in these financial statements to reflect assets no longer fit for their intended use which are either dormant or have been superseded by new exhibits opened during the financial year. In 21/22 these include our aquarium and old tortoise house at London Zoo and our former sea lion enclosure at Whipsnade Zoo.
Our global impact Wildlife and people
2.6 Wildlife and 2.2 people Wildlife back from the brink Wildlife health 21/22 20/21 19/20
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Making our
86.7 work possible
GOVERNANCE
69.9 Funds (£m) AND RISK
2022
2021 Principal risks
and uncertainties
Governance
50.1
45.3 Financial
summary
Financial
statements
25.2
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TOTAL FUNDS GENERAL FUNDS DESIGNATED FUNDS RESTRICTED FUNDS zsl.org
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ZSL’s general, free reserves comprise unrestricted funds and exclude all designated funds including the fixed asset fund used to operate ZSL’s activities. General reserves rose to £25.2m at 30 April 2022 (2021: £12.0m), driven by the annual net surplus and FRS102 revaluation of the DB pension scheme. ZSL’s improving general reserves and cash position contributes to the ZSL’s continuing journey toward longer-term financial resilience. Facing the UK’s currently deteriorating economic environment, this is needed both to fund our vital investments in ZSL’s infrastructure and for ZSL to withstand possibly lower income and higher costs in future years.
ZSL aims to maintain minimum general (free) reserves at a level that enables the ZSL to manage financial risk and income volatility. This is currently set as £6.7m which represents three months’ core operating expenditure.
Liquidity
ZSL held £29.2m total cash at 30 April 22 compared to £21.9m at 30 April 2021, an increase of £7.3m. Of this, £20.5m was unrestricted cash (2021: £13.0m), with the rest comprising restricted and designated cash.
Going concern
ZSL’s strong performance in 21/22 created increased funds to invest in infrastructure but also increased our general reserves, building financial resilience for the future. Thanks to the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions, our Zoos were able to remain open for the entire year, which significantly increased revenues to support ZSL’s core conservation and science work. We have also been able to invest in our sites with an increase in capital expenditure, and future projects are expected to continue in the upcoming financial year.
Management use detailed tools to review and forecast both monthly performance and ZSL’s longer-term financial sustainability. These tools and ZSL’s risk management processes give management comfort that ZSL’s financial situation remains secure. In the light of this, the Trustees consider that there are no material uncertainties about the charity and group’s continuing ability to operate as a going concern and to meet its liabilities as they fall due.
Investment policy
Although listed investments have been reduced in recent years (representing only £3.2m at 30 April 2022) we seek to adopt a cautious, prudent and well-diversified
investment stance to balance potential returns with appropriate levels of risk, having regard to our mission objectives.
The Charter and Byelaws of ZSL give the Trustees the right to invest ZSL’s funds in such investments, securities or property as may be thought fit. ZSL’s investment managers have been instructed not directly to make investments that are contrary to ZSL’s stated purpose and objectives. Specific areas of constraint include companies involved in animal testing, marine harvesting, high environmental impact products and those using tropical hardwoods from unsustainable sources.
Pension schemes
ZSL operates and participates in two pension schemes: the ZSL 1988 defined benefit pension scheme (which closed to new entrants in 2011) and the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) scheme.
ZSL 1988 DB Pension Scheme
The annual accounting valuation of the ZSL’s defined benefit scheme – per the Financial Reporting Council’s FRS102 – shows a surplus of £10.3m at 30 April 2022 (2021: surplus £1.9m), an increase of £8.3m. This increase is largely driven by the actuarial gain on assumptions within the pension scheme, which in turn was driven by an estimated reduction in the scheme’s future liabilities caused by the recent rise in interest rates.
Funding levels of the ZSL 1988 Scheme continue to be monitored by ZSL and the Pension Trustee on a regular basis. The investment strategy was reviewed by the Pension Trustee and the Executive Committee during 20/21 and, as a result, a liability-driven investment strategy was chosen to reduce the volatility of the scheme valuation and limit the fund’s exposure to future market volatility.
The last triennial valuation of the scheme – a separate Pensions Regulator requirement - occurred 30 June 2020 i.e. in the previous financial year. This resulted in a funding shortfall (technical provisions less value of assets) of £6.7m compared to a funding surplus of £0.7m as at 30 June 2017. Following discussions with the Pension Trustee at that time, a deficit repair plan was agreed with the first payment of £200,000 occurring in May 2021 and is reflected in these financial statements.
Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) scheme. The Institute of Zoology (IOZ) is closely affiliated with University College London (UCL) and, as a result, many of its employees are members of the USS Pension Scheme. The most recent valuation of the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) as at 30 March 2020 (published in September 2021) showed an increase in the scheme’s deficit.
Per FRS102, ZSL is required to account for its share of the future contributions required to address this deficit. As at 30 April 2022, ZSL’s provision in respect of these contributions was £1.7m (2020: £0.7m), an increase of £1m.
Remuneration policy
The Trustees determine the overall policy for the remuneration and pension arrangements for ZSL’s employees and oversee any major changes to employee benefits. Our reward principles are to ensure the same remuneration system applies to all, except where there are justifiable reasons for making separate arrangements. For example, the remuneration policy for many IOZ employees is aligned to the higher education sector and has a separate remuneration committee linked to University College London (UCL).
ZSL aims to provide an overall reward package that is competitive within the sectors in which it operates. In assessing levels of remuneration, we use external professional advice and salary survey databases from the public, private and charity sectors. While ZSL recognises that it should not and does not compete directly with the private sector, it does aim to provide an overall reward package that is competitive to continue to attract and retain high-calibre staff to deliver our mission, vision and values.
Approved by Council on 6 October 2022 Trustees’ Report signed on behalf of Council
Professor Sir Jim Smith FRS, Secretary
Welcome
Vision and purpose
Shaping global policy
Our global impact
Wildlife and people
Wildlife back from the brink
Wildlife health
Making our work possible
GOVERNANCE AND RISK
Principal risks and uncertainties Governance
Financial summary
Financial statements
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INCOME £30.9M
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£79.5M Vision and
purpose
Shaping
£16.2M global policy
Our global
£12.5M EXPENDITURE impact
£9.6M Wildlife and
£9.3M people
£38.5M
Wildlife back
from the brink
£1.0M
Wildlife health
£70.9M Making our work possible
GOVERNANCE
AND RISK
Principal risks
£13.3M and uncertainties
£10.3M Governance
£7.1M Financial
summary
£1.7M Financial
statements
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ADMISSIONS TRADING GRANTS MEMBERSHIP OTHER INCOME INCL.
INVESTMENT INCOME
DONATIONS AND LEGACIES
ZOO ANIMAL COLLECTION AND CONSERVATIONTRADING COSTS OF GOODS SOLD AND OTHER COSTS SCIENCE AND RESEARCHCOST OF GENERATING VOLUNTARY INCOME
CONSERVATION FIELD PROGRAMMES
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INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES OF THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON
In our opinion the financial statements:
OPINION
CONCLUSIONS RELATING TO GOING CONCERN
- give a true and fair view of the state of the group’s and Charity’s affairs as at 30 April 2022 and of their incoming resources and application of resources for the year then ended;
We have audited the financial statements of the Zoological Society of London (the ‘charity’) and its subsidiaries (the ‘group’) for the year ended 30 April 2022 which comprise the Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities, the Consolidated and Charity Balance Sheets, the Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows and notes to the financial statements, including significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including FRS 102 “The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland” (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the Trustees’ use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.
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have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and
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have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011.
Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the group’s or parent charity’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least 12 months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.
BASIS FOR OPINION
We have been appointed as auditors under section 151 of the Charities Act 2011 and report in accordance with regulations made under section 154 of that Act.
Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.
We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the group and parent charity in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.
OTHER INFORMATION
The other information comprises the information included in the Annual Report other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. The Trustees are responsible for the other information contained within the Annual Report. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information, and we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.
Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the course of the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material
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FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
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misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.
We have nothing to report in this regard.
MATTERS ON WHICH WE ARE REQUIRED TO REPORT BY EXCEPTION
We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters where the Charities Act 2011 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:
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the information given in the financial statements is inconsistent in any material respect with the Trustees’ Report; or
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sufficient accounting records have not been kept by the parent charity; or
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the parent charity financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or
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we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit.
RESPONSIBILITIES OF TRUSTEES
As explained more fully in the Statement of Trustees’ responsibilities set out on page 51, the Trustees are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the Trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.
In preparing the financial statements, the Trustees are responsible for assessing the group’s and parent charity’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the Trustees either intend to liquidate the group or parent charity or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.
AUDITOR’S RESPONSIBILITIES FOR THE AUDIT OF THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.
THE EXTENT TO WHICH THE AUDIT WAS CONSIDERED CAPABLE OF DETECTING IRREGULARITIES, INCLUDING FRAUD
Irregularities are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. The objectives of our audit are to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence regarding compliance with laws and regulations that have a
direct effect on the determination of material amounts and disclosures in the financial statements, to perform audit procedures to help identify instances of noncompliance with other laws and regulations that may have a material effect on the financial statements, and to respond appropriately to identified or suspected non-compliance with laws and regulations identified during the audit.
In relation to fraud, the objectives of our audit are to identify and assess the risk of material misstatement of the financial statements due to fraud, to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence regarding the assessed risks of material misstatement due to fraud through designing and implementing appropriate responses and to respond appropriately to fraud or suspected fraud identified during the audit.
However, it is the primary responsibility of management, with the oversight of those charged with governance, to ensure that the entity’s operations are conducted in accordance with the provisions of laws and regulations and for the prevention and detection of fraud.
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In identifying and assessing risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud, the audit engagement team:
As a result of these procedures we consider the most significant laws and regulations that have a direct impact on the financial statements are FRS 102, Charities SORP (FRS 102), Charities Act 2011, the parent charity’s governing document and Charities (Protection and Social Investment) Act 2016. We performed audit procedures to detect non-compliances which may have a material impact on the financial statements which included reviewing the financial statements including the Trustees’ Report and remaining alert to new or unusual transactions which may not be in accordance with the governing documents.
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obtained an understanding of the nature of the sector, including the legal and regulatory framework, that the group and parent charity operate in and how the group and parent charity is complying with the legal and regulatory framework;
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inquired of management, and those charged with governance, about their own identification and assessment of the risks of irregularities, including any known actual, suspected or alleged instances of fraud;
The most significant laws and regulations that have an indirect impact on the financial statements are those in relation to animal welfare, data protection, health and safety and fundraising. We performed audit procedures to inquire of management and those charged with governance whether the group is in compliance with these law and regulations and inspected correspondence with regulatory authorities.
- discussed matters about non-compliance with laws and regulations and how fraud might occur including assessment of how and where the financial statements may be susceptible to fraud.
The audit engagement team identified the risk of management override of controls as the area where the financial statements were most susceptible to material misstatement due to fraud. Audit procedures performed included but were not limited to testing manual journal entries and other adjustments, evaluating the business rationale in relation to any significant, unusual transactions and transactions entered into outside the normal course of business and challenging judgments and estimates.
A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is provided on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at http://www.frc.org.uk/ auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.
USE OF OUR REPORT
This report is made solely to the charity’s Trustees as a body, in accordance with the Charities Act 2011. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charity’s Trustees those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charity and the charity’s Trustees as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.
RSM UK Audit LLP Statutory Auditor Chartered Accountants 25 Farringdon Street London EC4A 4AB
Date: 11 October 2022
RSM UK Audit LLP is eligible to act as an auditor in terms of section 1212 of the Companies Act 2006.
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FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
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CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 APRIL 2022
Welcome
Endowment funds
Restricted expenditure includes any financial activity related to endowment funds. Further detail of endowment fund movements can be found in note 17.
| Notes Income and endowments from: Donations and legacies 2 Charitable activities: 3 Zoo species collection and conservation Science and research Conservation and policy Trading activities 4 Investment income 5 Other income 3 Total income Expenditure on: Raising funds: Costs of generating voluntary income Trading: Costs of goods sold and other costs 4 Charitable activities: Zoo species collection and conservation Science and research Conservation and policy Total expenditure 7 Net gains on investments 13 Net income Other recognised gains/(losses): Remeasurement of defned beneft pension obligation 19 (Losses) on revaluation of fxed assets 6 Transfers between funds 17 Net movement in funds Reconciliation of funds: Total funds brought forward 17 Total funds carried forward |
Unrestricted Restricted incl. Endowment 2021/22 Total 2020/21 Total £000 £000 £000 £000 4,299 5,044 9,343 11,598 40,999 137 41,136 23,408 2,849 3,140 5,989 5,818 5 6,616 6,621 8,722 16,238 - 16,238 6,618 49 66 115 144 51 17 68 2,512 64,490 15,020 79,510 58,820 1,680 14 1,694 3,746 13,253 - 13,253 6,445 38,380 166 38,546 31,472 3,376 3,752 7,128 6,299 1,827 8,437 10,264 10,169 58,516 12,369 70,885 58,131 - 64 64 564 5,974 2,715 8,689 1,253 8,100 - 8,100 (2,574) - - - (105) 4,003 (4,003) - - 18,077 (1,288) 16,789 (1,426) 57,267 12,659 69,926 71,352 75,344 11,371 86,715 69,926 Annual Report and Accounts 2021–22 zslor 63 Vision and purpose Shaping global policy Our global impact Wildlife and people Wildlife back from the brink Wildlife health Making our work possible Governance and risk FINANCIAL STATEMENTS |
|---|---|
Wildlife back from the brink
Wildlife health
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CONSOLIDATED AND CHARITY BALANCE SHEETS AS AT 30 APRIL 2022
Welcome
Approved by Council on 6 October 2022 and signed on their behalf by:
| Notes Fixed assets Intangible assets 10 Tangible assets 11 Heritage assets 12 Investments 13 Current assets Stock 14 Debtors 15 Cash at bank and in hand Liabilities Creditors: amounts falling due within one year 16a Net current assets Creditors: amounts falling due in more than one year 16b Net assets excluding pension reserve Defned beneft pension reserve 19 Net assets Funds Unrestricted funds excluding pension reserve and holiday pay accrual: – General – Designated Unrestricted – Pension reserve Holiday pay accrual Total unrestricted funds Restricted funds – Endowments – Other Total restricted funds Total funds 17 |
Group 2022 2021 £000 £000 - 58 47,248 43,212 2,170 2,170 6,963 6,899 56,381 52,339 701 639 8,361 5,627 29,228 21,901 38,290 28,167 (16,641) (11,879) 21,649 16,288 (1,580) (625) 76,450 68,002 10,265 1,924 86,715 69,926 17,259 11,576 50,149 45,281 67,408 56,857 8,559 1,214 (623) (804) 75,344 57,267 38 38 11,333 12,621 11,371 12,659 86,715 69,926 |
Charity 2022 2021 £000 £000 - 58 47,248 43,212 2,170 2,170 8,390 8,672 |
|---|---|---|
| 57,808 54,112 - - 15,616 6,722 21,269 19,929 |
||
| 36,885 26,651 (17,021) (12,146) |
||
| 19,864 14,505 (1,580) (625) |
||
| 76,092 67,992 10,265 1,924 |
||
| 86,357 69,916 |
||
| 16,901 11,566 50,149 45,281 |
||
| 67,050 56,847 8,559 1,214 (623) (804) |
||
| 74,986 57,257 |
||
| 38 38 11,333 12,621 |
||
| 11,371 12,659 |
||
| 86,357 69,916 |
Vision and purpose
Shaping global policy
Our global impact
Wildlife and people
Wildlife back from the brink
Wildlife health
Making our work possible
Governance and risk
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
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Richard Sykes, Treasurer
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 APRIL 2022
NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 APRIL 2022
Welcome
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 APRIL 2022 |
|
|---|---|
| Notes Cash fows from operating activities 22 Cash fows from investment activities Interest received on bank and cash balances Investment income Assets in the course of construction Purchase of tangible fxed assets Disposal of fxed assets Net cash used in investing activities Change in cash and cash equivalents in the reporting year Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year |
Group 2021/22 2020/21 £000 £000 15,900 8,083 49 86 66 58 (8,626) (2,304) (62) (336) - 29 |
| (8,573) (2,468) 7,327 5,616 21,901 16,285 |
|
| 29,228 21,901 |
1. Accounting policies
The Zoological Society of London is a registered charity in England and Wales (charity number 208728). The registered address is Regent’s Park, London, NW1 4RY.
Basis of preparation and assessment of going concern
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (second edition effective 1 January 2019) – (Charities SORP (FRS 102)), FRS102 and the Charities Act 2011.
The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention with items recognised at cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant note to these financial statements.
The financial statements have been prepared to give a ‘true and fair’ view and have departed from the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 only to the extent required to provide a ‘true and fair view’. This departure has involved following Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (second edition effective 1 January 2019) – (Charities SORP (FRS 102)).
The Society constitutes a public benefit entity as defined by FRS 102.
The Consolidated Financial Statements are presented in sterling which is the functional currency of the society.
Vision and purpose
Shaping global policy
Our global impact
Wildlife and people
Wildlife back from the brink Wildlife health
Making our work possible
Governance and risk
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Monetary amounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest whole £1,000 except where otherwise indicated.
The Charity has taken advantage of the paragraph 1.11 Section 1, Cash flows, of FRS102 and as such has not shown an individual charity cash flow statement within these financial statements on the basis that it is a qualifying entity and the Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows included within these financial statements includes the charity’s own cash flows.
Going concern
The Society has continued to perform well during the financial year and has been able to increase our reserves building financial resilience for the future. The Zoos have increased their contribution to our organisation given they were open for the full financial year in comparison to around 50% in the prior year. The organisation
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continues to invest in our sites with an increase in capital expenditure and with future projects expected to continue in the upcoming financial year.
Management use detailed tools to review and forecast both monthly performance and ZSL’s longer-term financial sustainability. These tools and ZSL’s risk management processes give comfort that ZSL’s financial situation remains secure. In the light of this, the Trustees consider that there are no material uncertainties about the charity and group’s ability to operate as a going concern and meet its liabilities as they fall due. The accounts are therefore prepared on a going concern basis of preparation.
Consolidation
The financial statements consolidate on a line-by-line basis the results and the assets and liabilities of the Society and its wholly owned subsidiaries – Zoo Operations Limited, Zoo Enterprises Limited and Whipsnade Wild Animal Park Limited. The Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities represents the results of both the charitable and non-charitable activities of the group. A separate Statement of Financial Activities for the Charity itself is not presented; however, a summary statement of Financial Activities for the charity itself is presented in note 25. The results for the activities carried out by the Society’s subsidiaries are set out in note 4 in respect of catering and merchandising and in note 13 in respect of other activities.
Funds
The Society maintains a number of internal funds, including both restricted and unrestricted funds:
Unrestricted – general fund
The general fund contains the free funds of the Society.
Unrestricted – designated funds
These funds are derived from donations, grants, bequests, heritage assets not held for sale and other resources set aside to be used in accordance with the resolutions passed by the Council of the Society. Both the capital and income may be spent. Until expended, the funds are held in cash, intangible fixed assets, heritage assets, investment property or tangible fixed assets.
Fund transfers
Restricted funds are transferred to unrestricted funds on occasions when restricted income has been used and restrictions no longer apply. For example, in the acquisition of tangible fixed assets, when the asset is purchased the equal value of the restricted fund is transferred to unrestricted funds.
Income
In accordance with the SORP, all income, including Gift Aid on admissions, becoming receivable by the Society during the year is recognised in the Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities, regardless of their source or of the purpose to which they are to be put or have been put. The exception to this relates to membership income and similar income, which is deferred to the extent that it relates to a service to be provided in future years, and grants and donations that are deferred where milestones and conditions for recognition are expected to be met in future years.
Where income is received for a specific purpose, the income is included in Restricted Funds.
Income from conservation and scientific research grants is recognised in accordance with the recognition criteria of SORP when entitlement is assured, there is probability of receipt, and when the amount can be reliably measured. Government grants are recognised when received.
Legacies are recognised when the Society is entitled to the asset and have been advised that it is probable that payment will be made or assets transferred and the amount involved can be reasonably quantified.
Donated goods, facilities and services (Gifts in kind) are recognised on the basis of estimated current market value and recognised in the period in which they are received.
Gift Aid on membership income is recognised when the Society becomes entitled to it which is the year that the associated donation was made.
Receipts that have arisen as result of HM Government’s Coronavirus job retention (furlough) scheme are reported as other income.
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FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Restricted – endowment funds
These funds are derived from bequests to the Society, are held permanently by the Trustees, and comprise investments, the income from which may be used to support Society activities.
Restricted – other funds
These funds are subject to specific restriction imposed by the donor, by the purpose of an appeal or are received for a specific purpose.
Expenditure
Expenditure is recognised when a liability is incurred. Expenditure is allocated to categories in accordance with the main activity of the staff concerned or the substance of the costs incurred as set out in note 7. Resources expended include the costs of raising funds and charitable expenditure, including support, management and administration costs. Gifts in kind are valued at market value or on a valuation basis agreed with the supplier providing the asset or service.
Governance costs are a component of support costs and include those expenses incurred in the governance of the Society’s assets and are primarily associated with constitutional and statutory requirements and include an appropriate proportion
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of senior management time. Support costs have been allocated to each of the charity’s core chargeable activities in the proportion that the activity has to the total of all other costs as set out in note 7. Support costs are those costs incurred in support of expenditure on the objectives of the Society as set out in note 7.
VAT
Admissions income is treated as VAT exempt and accordingly, as a partially exempt body, ZSL may not recover all VAT paid. The exception is VAT incurred in connection with the catering and merchandising operations that operate through subsidiary companies, which is fully recoverable. Irrecoverable VAT, with the exception of capital works, is charged as a support cost and allocated to core activity costs based upon the total expenditure during the financial year. Any irrecoverable VAT incurred on capital works is capitalised along with the cost. Catering and merchandising income is stated excluding VAT.
Tangible assets and depreciation
Fixed assets acquired by purchase or gift are initially recognised at cost or valuation and are subsequently depreciated (with the exception of freehold land and assets under construction, which are not depreciated) on a straight-line basis at rates appropriate to write off the cost over their expected useful lives. Freehold buildings are depreciated over five to 50 years; leasehold buildings from three years to the shorter of the lease term and 50 years; plant and equipment five to 15 years; and motor vehicles five to 20 years.
Assets under construction consist of expenditure incurred in respect of tangible assets in the course of their construction and installation and that are directly attributable to bringing the asset into operation, these assets are not depreciated. Transfers are made to the relevant fixed assets category as and when the assets are available for use.
The carrying values of tangible fixed assets are reviewed for impairment when events or changes in circumstances indicate the carrying value may not be recoverable.
Individual tangible fixed assets with a cost below £5,000 are charged to expenditure and are not capitalised. When a number of assets are purchased in a single purchase where individually they have a cost less than £5,000 but cumulatively the figure is greater, these assets are capitalised when they share an identical useful life.
Intangible assets and amortisation
Intangible assets are stated at cost less accumulated amortisation. Amortisation is calculated using the straight line method to allocate the depreciable amount of the assets to their residual values over their estimated useful lives. Intangible assets comprise software and the website and are amortised between three and five years.
The carrying values of intangible fixed assets are reviewed for impairment when events or changes in circumstances indicate the carrying value may not be recoverable. Intangible assets with an original cost of under £5,000 are charged to expenditure and are not capitalised.
Assets under construction consist of expenditure incurred in respect of intangible assets in the course of their construction and installation and that are directly attributable to bringing the asset into operation, these assets are not depreciated. Transfers are made to the relevant fixed assets category as and when the assets are available for use.
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Foreign currencies
Transactions in foreign currencies are recognised at the rate of exchange at the date of the transaction. Any exchange differences are recognised through the Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities. Foreign exchange monetary assets and liabilities are recognised at the rate of exchange ruling at the balance sheet date.
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Investments
Listed investments are included in the balance sheet at fair market value based on their published bid price. Investment income is accounted for on an accruals basis.
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Other investments comprise investments in subsidiaries and are initially measured at cost and subsequently measured at cost less any accumulated impairment losses.
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Assets that are surplus to the achievement of ZSL’s charitable objects and with a view to possible future disposal, are valued at market value.
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Investment properties
Investment property are included in the balance sheet at fair market value based on the most recent valuation by an independent valuer, with realised Governance and unrealised gains or losses recognised in the Consolidated Statement of and risk Financial Activities, in the year in which they arise. There are no restrictions on the realisability of income from such investment property nor proceeds of its disposal. Similarly there are no obligations to develop such property nor obligations for FINANCIAL repair, maintenance or enhancements. STATEMENTS
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Stocks
Stocks are stated at the lower of direct cost (determined on a first-in, first-out basis) and net realisable value.
Animals
The animals are generally acquired by the Society from other zoological organisations at zero cost or bred in our Zoos and a realistic valuation cannot be placed thereon. Many of the animals acquired are held in trust with other zoological societies at zero cost.
Heritage assets
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ZSL holds a collection of books and artwork located at the ZSL London Zoo site, which is held to support ZSL’s charitable objectives, being the advancement of zoology. The collection of books and artwork is held to advance zoology by facilitating the improvement and dissemination of zoological knowledge.
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The collection was professionally valued during the 2019/20 financial year and the Trustees do not believe the value to have changed materially. The Trustees anticipate that these collections will be revalued periodically and impaired if required. All heritage assets are therefore held at valuation.
The Trustees have considered guidance from Charities SORP, FRS102 relating to the valuation of the heritage assets.
Redundancy Payments
Termination benefits are payable when employment is terminated. The charity recognises termination costs at the point at which management is committed to incur these costs.
Donated facilities
The Society leases the Regent’s Park site from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The lease was renewed in 2021 for a term of 60 years at no annual rent. The Trustees do not believe it is practicable to reasonably quantify and measure the benefit conferred to the Society under this rent-free arrangement due to the Zoo’s unique location and, as such, have not included the value of this donated facility in the Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities.
Advertising costs
Costs incurred in relation to advertising are charged to the Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities at the time the advertisements appear in the media or are otherwise made public. Amounts invoiced but not yet taken to the Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities are included in prepayments.
Pension costs
The Society participates in various defined benefit and defined contribution pension schemes:
Defined benefit schemes
The cost of providing benefits under the ZSL 1988 defined benefit plan is determined using the projected unit credit method, and is based on actuarial advice.
The change in the net defined benefit liability arising from employee service during the year is recognised as an employee cost. The cost of plan introductions, benefit changes, settlements and curtailments are recognised as an expense in measuring profit or loss in the year in which they arise.
The net interest element is determined by multiplying the net defined benefit liability by the discount rate, taking into account any changes in the net defined benefit liability during the year as a result of contribution and benefit payments. The net interest is recognised in the Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities as other finance revenue or cost.
Remeasurement changes comprise actuarial gains and losses, the effect of any asset ceiling and the return on the net defined benefit liability excluding amounts included in net interest. These are recognised immediately in the other recognised
gains and losses in the year in which they occur and are not reclassified to the net income/expenditure in subsequent years.
The defined net benefit pension asset or liability in the balance sheet comprises the total for each plan of the present value of the defined benefit obligation (using a discount rate based on high-quality corporate bonds), less the fair value of plan assets out of which the obligations are to be settled directly. Fair value is based on market price information, and in the case of quoted securities is the published bid price. The value of a net pension benefit asset is limited to the amount that may be recovered either through reduced contributions or agreed refunds from the scheme.
The Society participates in the Universities Superannuation Scheme. The scheme is a hybrid pension scheme, providing defined benefits (for all members), as well as defined contribution benefits. The assets of the scheme are held in a separate Trustee-administered fund. Because of the mutual nature of the scheme, the assets are not attributed to individual employers and a scheme-wide contribution rate is set. The Society is therefore exposed to actuarial risks associated with other institutions’ employees and is unable to identify its share of the underlying assets and liabilities of the scheme on a consistent and reasonable basis. As required by Section 28 of FRS 102 “Employee benefits”, the Society therefore accounts for the scheme as if it were a wholly defined contribution scheme. As a result, the amount charged to the Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities represents the contributions payable to the scheme. Since the Society has entered into an agreement (the Recovery Plan) that determines how each employer within the scheme will fund the overall deficit, the Society recognises a liability for the contributions payable that arise from the agreement (to the extent that they relate to the deficit) and therefore an expense is recognised.
Defined contribution scheme
Contributions to defined contribution schemes are recognised in the Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities in the year in which they become payable. Any unpaid (or prepaid) contributions are separately disclosed within note 19.
Leasing commitments
Rentals payable under operating leases are charged to the Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities on a straight-line basis over the lease term.
Where assets are financed by leasing agreements that give rights approximating to ownership (“finance lease”), assets are treated as if they had been purchased outright. The amount capitalised is the present value of the minimum lease payments payable during the lease term. The corresponding leasing commitments are shown as obligations to the lessor. Lease payments are treated as consisting of capital and interest elements, and the interest is charged to the Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities in propotion to the remaining balance outstanding.
Financial Instruments
Financial instruments are classified and accounted for according to the substance of the contractual arrangement as financial assets or financial liabilities.
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Debtors and creditors
Trade and group debtors which are receivable within one year are initially measured at the transaction price. Trade and group debtors are subsequently measured at amortised cost, being the transaction price less any amounts settled and any impairment losses.
Other creditors and trade creditors payable within one year that do not constitute a financing transaction are initially measured at the transaction price and subsequently measured at amortised cost, being the transaction price less any amounts settled.
Critical accounting estimates and judgements
The Society makes estimates and assumptions concerning the future. The resulting accounting estimates and assumptions will, by definition, seldom equal the related actual results. The estimates and assumptions that have a significant risk of causing a material adjustment to the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities within the next financial year are those used by the scheme actuary in calculating the Society’s defined benefit pension scheme liability (see note 19 for details).
3. Charitable activities income
| Zoo species collections and conservation Admissions Membership Grant income Other Science and research Grants Studentships Conservation and policy Grants Other Total income from charitable activities |
2021/22 2020/21 £000 £000 30,867 15,136 9,596 7,649 137 - 536 623 |
|---|---|
| 41,136 23,408 |
|
| 5,707 5,382 282 436 |
|
| 5,989 5,818 |
|
| 6,603 8,555 18 167 |
|
| 6,621 8,722 |
|
| 53,746 37,948 |
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2. Donations and legacies
| Donations Legacies Gifts in kind |
2021/22 2020/21 Unrestricted Restricted Total Unrestricted Restricted Total £000 £000 £000 £000 £000 £000 3,115 4,718 7,833 7,663 1,265 8,928 517 326 843 874 84 958 667 - 667 1,712 - 1,712 |
|---|---|
| 4,299 5,044 9,343 10,249 1,349 11,598 |
Income from Zoo species collections and conservation includes those derived from providing: access to ZSL London Zoo and ZSL Whipsnade Zoo to view the collections and to learn about animals and conservation; animal adoption services, animal keeping experiences; and animal and conservation educational services inside and outside (outreach programmes) the Zoos. Income from Science and research and Conservation field programmes include the following government grants:
| Government grants Research England Department for Environmental Food & Rural Afairs (Defra) US Government UK Government Environment Agency EU Medical Research Council NERC Natural England Welsh Government DIFD United Nations German Government Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Ofce Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science |
2021/22 2020/21 £000 £000 2,502 1,862 1,416 1,683 590 228 523 - 444 221 243 1,035 241 79 230 323 123 164 56 83 - 272 - 239 - 115 - 79 - 46 6,368 6,429 |
|---|---|
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The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) receipt of £29,445 (2020/21: £2,504,672), received to April 2022, (reported as other income) is the only other form of direct financial assistance that has been received from the UK Government.
For government grants recognised as income there are no unfulfilled conditions or contingencies attached which have not been adhered to.
Gift Aid on membership income was recognised when the income was received and contributed an additional £1,849,000 to total income (2020/21: £1,434,000).
Other includes income which does not fall into the main categories in this note and other income from the statement of financial activities.
4. Trading activities
The Society wholly owns Zoo Enterprises Limited which undertakes the merchandising, catering activities, overnight experiences in our lodges at London Zoo and Whipsnade Zoo and other commercial activities.
Taxable net profits are distributed to the Society annually.
The turnover and net contribution to the Society from catering and merchandising in Zoo Enterprises Limited (ZEL) were as follows:
| Turnover: Catering Merchandising Other commercial income Cost of activities Trading income (net) Support and overhead costs Interest receivable Net proft for the year before distribution |
2021/22 2020/21 £000 £000 8,106 2,838 5,777 3,054 2,355 726 |
|---|---|
| 16,238 6,618 (11,341) (5,476) |
|
| 4,897 1,142 (1,915) (969) 1 1 |
|
| 2,983 174 |
Catering, merchandising and other commercial activity turnover of £16.2m (2020/21: £6.6m) is included in the Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities within ‘trading activities’. Cost of activities, support and overhead costs of £13.2m (2020/21: £6.4m) are included within trading whilst £1,000 (2020/21: £1,000) is included as interest receivable.
5. Interest and investment income
| Interest on bank and cash balances Investment income Interest and investment income |
2021/22 2020/21 £000 £000 49 86 66 58 |
|---|---|
| 115 144 |
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6. Other gains and losses on fixed assets
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| In-year adjustment to heritage asset value Other gains and losses on fxed assets |
2021/22 2020/21 £000 £000 - (105) |
|---|---|
| - (105) |
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7. Group analysis of total expenditure
| 7. Group analysis of t | otal expenditure from the bri |
|---|---|
| Charitable activities: Zoo animal collection and conservation Science and research Conservation feld programmes Expenditure on raising funds: Cost of generating voluntary income Trading costs of goods sold and other costs |
Direct staf costs Direct costs Other support costs 2021/22 2020/21 £000 £000 £000 £000 £000 12,159 20,343 6,044 38,546 31,472 3,757 2,253 1,118 7,128 6,299 4,083 4,571 1,610 10,264 10,169 19,999 27,167 8,772 55,938 47,940 659 769 266 1,694 3,746 1,587 9,752 1,914 13,253 6,444 2,246 10,521 2,180 14,947 10,190 22,245 37,688 10,952 70,885 21,342 24,931 11,857 58,130 Wildlife hea Making our work possib Governance and risk FINANCIAL STATEMENTS |
| Total Group expenditure in 2021/22 |
|
| Total Group expenditure in 2020/21 |
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| Analysis of support costs Staf and related costs Computer services Depreciation and amortisation Insurance Bank charges Irrecoverable VAT Pension costs (ZSL 1988 scheme and USS scheme) Governance costs Holiday accrual Bad debt provision Foreign exchange diferences Bank facility fee and associated costs Other costs |
2021/22 2020/21 £000 £000 6,476 6,041 841 643 175 332 489 531 174 123 593 439 1,172 445 106 77 (181) 304 (3) 26 (39) 638 199 151 950 2,107 |
|---|---|
| 10,952 11,857 |
These costs have been allocated to the activities on the basis of total expenditure by activities.
8. Net expenditure
Net expenditure before other recognised gains/(losses) is stated after charging/ (crediting) the following items:
| 2021/22 | 2020/21 | |
|---|---|---|
| £000 | £000 | |
| Auditor’s remuneration: | ||
| Audit services – charged by RSM UK Audit LLP | 87 | 83 |
| Audit services for pension scheme – charged by RSM UK | ||
| Audit LLP | 10 | 10 |
| Non-audit services – charged by RSM UK Tax and | ||
| Accounting Limited: | ||
| Tax Advisory | 26 | 9 |
| Other fnancial consultancy services | 59 | 39 |
| Amortisation | 58 | 210 |
| Depreciation | 3,646 | 3,561 |
| Impairment charge (net) | 1,006 | - |
| Operating lease rentals in respect of plant, equipment | ||
| and motor vehicles | 494 | 594 |
| Foreign exchange losses/(gains) | (17) | 693 |
| Trustees’ expenses | 1 | - |
Trustees’ expenses were £1,000 in 2021/22 (2020/21: £nil) and relate to four Trustees expenses related to travel and subsistence, and no Trustee, nor any persons connected to the Trustees, received remuneration for their services in either year. The Society pays the insurance premiums on behalf of the Trustees in respect of professional indemnity insurance. The premium paid is incorporated with the general professional liability premiums and so is not separately identifiable.
There are no other reportable transactions with Trustees other than those in Note 24. The auditor’s remuneration for non-audit services is in respect of fees in connection with general tax advice and consultancy.
9. Staff costs and remuneration of key management personnel
| Salaries and wages (including those of key management personnel) Social security costs Pension costs – Defned beneft (including fnance costs) Pension costs – Defned contribution Other Staf Costs |
2021/22 2020/21 £000 £000 23,498 22,934 2,067 1,967 - 33 1,964 1,916 991 716 |
|---|---|
| 28,520 27,566 |
Included within salaries and wages is £34,000 of redundancy payments in the year (2020/21: £315,000) which included ex-gratia payments of £4,000. In addition to the above, the cost of temporary staff in the year was £31,000 (2020/21: £11,000).
The average actual number of employees during the year was as follows:
| Zoo animal collection and conservation Science and research Conservation feld programmes Cost of generating funds - voluntary income Cost of generating funds - trading Support staf |
2021/22 2020/21 No. No. 333 375 90 78 189 179 15 17 46 53 94 85 |
|---|---|
| 767 787 |
The above is based solely on number of employees on a monthly basis, given the large number of part-time seasonal staff. The FTE (Full Time Equivalent) is significantly lower than this.
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The number of employees with emoluments in excess of £60,000 pa (high paid employees) exclusive of pension contributions were:
| 2021/22 | 2020/21 | |
|---|---|---|
| No. | No. | |
| Band | ||
| £60,001 - £70,000 | 26 | 17 |
| £70,001 - £80,000 | 8 | 8 |
| £80,001 - £90,000 | 6 | 3 |
| £90,001 - £100,000 | 1 | 2 |
| £100,001 - £110,000 | 5 | 2 |
| £120,001 - £130,000 | - | 1 |
| £180,001 - £190,000 | - | 1 |
| £190,001 - £200,000 | - | 1 |
| £200,001 - £210,000 | 1 | - |
The key management personnel of ZSL comprise the Trustees, who are not remunerated, as well as the Executive Committee which at 30 April 2022 comprised the Director General, The Chief Finance Officer, the Chief Operating Officers of London Zoo and Whipsnade Zoo, Director of Fundraising, Director of Conservation and Policy, acting Director of Science and Head of Human Resources. The Chief Finance Officer joined in July 2021 and the Director General has left, post year end in June 2022 with Matthew Gould, his replacement, joining ZSL in September 2022.
The total employee benefits, including employer pension contributions and redundancy of key management personnel of ZSL were £1,076,000 (2020/21: £1,118,000), and employer NI contributions for these personnel were £108,000 (2020/21: £118,000). The total FTE Executive Committee members for the year ended 30 April 2022 were eight (30 April 2021: eight). The emoluments of the person in the top band in 2021/22 include a taxable allowance in lieu of employer pension contributions.
10. Intangible assets
| Group and Charity Cost: At 1 May 2021 Additions during the year At 30 April 2022 Amortisation: At 1 May 2021 Charge for the year At 30 April 2022 Net book value: NBV at 30 April 2022 NBV at 30 April 2021 |
Software assets Total £000 £000 1,148 1,148 - - |
|---|---|
| 1,148 1,148 |
|
| 1,090 1,090 58 58 |
|
| 1,148 1,148 |
|
| - - |
|
| 58 58 |
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11. Tangible assets
| Group and Charity Cost: At 1 May 2021 Additions during the year Transfers of assets under construction Impairment At 30 April 2022 Depreciation: At 1 May 2021 Charge for the year Impairment At 30 April 2022 Net book value: At 30 April 2022 At 30 April 2021 |
Freehold land and buildings Buildings on leased land Assets under construction Plant and equipment Motor vehicles Total £000 £000 £000 £000 £000 £000 29,468 65,676 896 8,708 613 105,361 - - 8,626 62 - 8,688 421 2,712 (3,133) - - - (1,130) (1,008) - (96) - (2,234) |
|---|---|
| 28,759 67,380 6,389 8,674 613 111,815 |
|
| 18,084 36,210 - 7,252 603 62,149 988 2,485 - 168 5 3,646 (537) (598) - (93) - (1,228) |
|
| 18,535 38,097 - 7,327 608 64,567 |
|
| 10,224 29,283 6,389 1,347 5 47,248 |
|
| 11,384 29,466 896 1,456 10 43,212 |
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All tangible fixed assets are held by ZSL and substantially all are used for the charitable purposes of the Society.
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12. Heritage assets
| 12. Heritage assets | |
|---|---|
| Group and Charity Value as at 1 May 2021 Value at 30 April 2022 |
Library Assets Total £000 £000 2,170 2,170 |
| 2,170 2,170 |
ZSL holds an extensive collection of heritage books and artwork relating to zoological science and conservation. A valuation of this collection was carried out in the prior year and is included at estimated market value. Each item of the collection has been individually catalogued and the records held at ZSL’s Regent’s Park site. Each asset’s value is an average of two estimated auction rates provided by professional auctioneers, less an allowance for sales commission at the time of valuation. The Trustees have considered the value at year end and consider it to be materially appropriate.
ZSL holds all fixed assets within designated funds as they are for the furtherment of the charitable objectives of the Society. Currently within Heritage assets there are £364,000 (2021: £364,000) of assets which are classified under general funds as they are deemed to be held for sale at a future point.
New acquisitions to these collections are usually made by donation and are recorded at the current value where available. ZSL holds and retains the collections as a long-term policy for use in its charitable purposes.
The collections are accessible to the public and scientists in a number of ways, a significant proportion of the collection is on show in the library which can be accessed by the public and the remainder held in an archive. Specific items in the archive are available to view on express request.
| Five-year summary of transactions Opening balance at 1 May Additions In-year adjustment to heritage asset value Value at 30 April |
2021/22 2020/21 2019/20 2018/19 2017/18 £000 £000 £000 £000 £000 2,170 2,275 - - - - - 2,275 - - - (105) - - - |
|---|---|
| 2,170 2,170 2,275 - - |
13. Investments
| Group and Charity Listed investments at market value: Fixed interest (UK) Other Investment Portfolio (UK) Investment property Total Group investments Charity Unlisted investments at cost: Investment in Zoo Enterprises Limited Investment in Zoo Operations Limited Total Charity investments Listed investments historical cost |
Valued at 1 May 2021 Valuation Disposal Impairment Valued at 30 April 2022 £000 £000 £000 £000 £000 2 - (2) - - 3,097 66 - - 3,163 3,800 - - - 3,800 |
| 6,899 66 (2) - 6,963 |
|
| 112 - - - 112 1,661 - - (346) 1,315 |
|
| 8,672 - - (346) 8,390 |
|
| 1,690 - - - 1,690 |
Investment property comprises three plots of land at Whipsnade that are not essential to the delivery of ZSL’s charitable objectives. The land at Whipsnade Zoo was purchased by the Society many years ago at negligible cost. This was valued by a professional firm of surveyors during 2019/20 at an estimated market value of £3.8m. This valuation was on the basis of similar land / property transactions in the market at the date of valuation. ZSL plans to look at opportunities to realise greater income from these assets. The Trustees are not aware of any other material difference between the carrying value and the market value of land and buildings since the 19/20 valuation.
The shares in ZSL’s wholly owned subsidiary, Zoo Enterprises Limited (ZEL) (company number 1178687) undertakes the merchandising, catering and commercial operations at ZSL London Zoo and ZSL Whipsnade Zoo and Gift Aids its profits to ZSL annually. The results of Zoo Enterprises Limited are set out in note 4.
The unlisted investment in the wholly owned subsidiary, Zoo Operations Limited (ZOL) (company number 2226414), is carried in the Charity balance sheet at its net asset value and has remained as the investment holding company for its wholly owned subsidiary, Whipsnade Wild Animal Park Limited (WWAP) (company number 990860) and is incorporated in the UK. Both of these companies ceased trading on 31 December 2015.
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ZSL had agreed to close these subsidiaries prior to the end of the financial year but had not processed this closure prior to 30 April 2022. ZSL intend to close them both before the end of the current 22/23 financial year, with a significant proportion of this process complete before the approval of these financial statements. The investment in Zoo Operations Limited has been impaired as a result to reflect the unrecoverable intercompany balance.
The value of investments at 30 April 2022 where ZSL owns more than 5% of the holding included the following significant investments:
2022 £000 Zoo Enterprises Limited 112 Zoo Operations Limited 1,315
The financial position of the individual subsidiaries was as follows:
| Assets | Liabilities | Funds | Assets | Liabilities | Funds | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2022 | 2022 | 2021 | 2021 | 2021 | |
| £000 | £000 | £000 | £000 | £000 | £000 | |
| Zoo Enterprises Limited | 9,386 | (9,274) | 112 | 2,963 | (2,851) | 112 |
| Zoo Operations Limited | 1,661 | - | 1,661 | 1,661 | - | 1,661 |
| Whipsnade Wild Animal | ||||||
| Park Limited | 357 | - | 357 | 357 | - | 357 |
14. Stock
| Finished goods | Group 2022 2021 £000 £000 701 639 701 639 |
Charity 2022 2021 £000 £000 - - |
|---|---|---|
| - - |
16.a Creditors due in less than one year
| Trade creditors Amounts owed to group companies Taxation and social security Accruals Deferred income Other creditors |
Group 2022 2021 £000 £000 6,926 3,063 - - 679 776 3,328 2,998 5,354 4,889 354 153 16,641 11,879 |
Charity 2022 2021 £000 £000 6,610 2,891 1,441 1,315 679 776 3,262 2,918 4,675 4,092 354 154 17,021 12,146 Welcome Vision and purpose Shaping global polic Our global |
|---|---|---|
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The movement in deferred income included within creditors amounts falling due within one year is analysed below:
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| Deferred income at 1 May Amounts released from prior year Incoming resources deferred Deferred income at 30 April |
Group 2022 2021 £000 £000 4,889 3,121 (4,889) (3,121) 5,354 4,889 5,354 4,889 |
Charity 2,022 2021 £000 £000 4,092 2,785 (4,092) (2,785) 4,675 4,092 |
|---|---|---|
| 4,675 4,092 |
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Deferred income comprises membership and similar income, which relates to services that will be provided in future years, and grants and donations where milestones and conditions for recognition are expected to be met in future years.
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
15. Debtors
| Trade debtors Amounts owed by group companies Other debtors Prepayments Accrued income |
Group 2022 2021 £000 £000 1,580 1,742 - - 1,163 668 1,074 829 4,544 2,388 8,361 5,627 |
Charity 2022 2021 £000 £000 928 1,394 7,907 1,443 1,163 668 1,074 829 4,544 2,388 |
|---|---|---|
| 15,616 6,722 |
Included in the charity amounts owed by group companies is an impairment of £346k (2021: Nil).
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16.b Creditors due in more than one year
| USS pension liability (note 19) | Group 2022 2021 £000 £000 1,580 625 1,580 625 |
Charity 2022 2021 £000 £000 1,580 625 |
|---|---|---|
| 1,580 625 |
17. Funds
Movement of funds for the year – Group
| At 30 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| At 1 May | Gains/ | April | ||||
| 2021 | Income | **Expenditure ** | Transfers | (losses) | 2022 | |
| £000 | £000 | £000 | £000 | £000 | £000 | |
| Unrestricted funds: | ||||||
| General fund before | ||||||
| pension reserve | 11,576 | 64,449 | (57,901) | (865) | - | 17,259 |
| Holiday pay accrual | (804) | - | 181 | - | - | (623) |
| Pension reserve | 1,214 | 41 | (796) | - | 8,100 | 8,559 |
| General fund after | ||||||
| pension reserve | 11,986 | 64,490 | (58,516) | (865) | 8,100 | 25,195 |
| Designated funds | ||||||
| ZSL strategic projects | 205 | - | - | 890 | - | 1,095 |
| Tangible and intangible | ||||||
| fxed asset fund | 43,270 | - | - | 3,978 | - | 47,248 |
| Heritage asset fund | 1,806 | - | - | - | - | 1,806 |
| 45,281 | - | - | 4,868 | - | 50,149 | |
| Restricted funds: | ||||||
| Endowment funds | ||||||
| Fantham Bequest | 36 | 1 | - | - | 1 | 38 |
| Davis | 2 | - | - | (2) | - | - |
| 38 | 1 | - | (2) | 1 | 38 | |
| Other restricted funds | ||||||
| Scientifc | 3,081 | - | - | - | 63 | 3,144 |
| Curatorial projects | 64 | 111 | (88) | 5 | - | 92 |
| Fundraising development | 895 | 4,556 | (493) | (4,006) | - | 952 |
| Conservation and | ||||||
| science | 8,581 | 10,352 | (11,788) | - | - | 7,145 |
| 12,621 | 15,019 | (12,369) | (4,001) | 63 | 11,333 | |
| Total funds | 69,926 | 79,510 | (70,885) | - | 8,164 | 86,715 |
Movement of funds for the year – Charity
| At 30 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| At 1 May | Gains/ | April | ||||
| 2021 | Income | **Expenditure ** | Transfers | (losses) | 2022 | |
| £000 | £000 | £000 | £000 | £000 | £000 | |
| Unrestricted funds: | ||||||
| General fund before | ||||||
| pension reserve | 11,566 | 51,194 | (44,994) | (865) | - | 16,901 |
| Holiday pay accrual | (804) | - | 181 | - | - | (623) |
| Pension reserve | 1,214 | 41 | (796) | - | 8,100 | 8,559 |
| General fund after | ||||||
| pension reserve | 11,976 | 51,235 | (45,609) | (865) | 8,100 | 24,837 |
| Designated funds | ||||||
| ZSL strategic projects | 205 | - | - | 890 | - | 1,095 |
| Tangible and intangible | ||||||
| fxed asset fund | 43,270 | - | - | 3,978 | - | 47,248 |
| Heritage asset fund | 1,806 | - | - | - | - | 1,806 |
| 45,281 | - | - | 4,868 | - | 50,149 | |
| Restricted funds: | ||||||
| Endowment funds | ||||||
| Fantham Bequest | 36 | 1 | - | - | 1 | 38 |
| Davis | 2 | - | - | (2) | - | - |
| 38 | 1 | - | (2) | 1 | 38 | |
| Other restricted funds | ||||||
| Scientifc | 3,081 | - | - | - | 63 | 3,144 |
| Curatorial projects | 64 | 111 | (88) | 5 | - | 92 |
| Fundraising development | 895 | 4,556 | (493) | (4,006) | - | 952 |
| Conservation and | ||||||
| science | 8,581 | 10,352 | (11,788) | - | - | 7,145 |
| 12,621 | 15,019 | (12,369) | (4,001) | 64 | 11,333 | |
| Total funds | 69,916 | 66,255 | (57,978) | - | 8,164 | 86,357 |
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FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
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Unrestricted − general fund
The general fund is the free fund of the Society.
Unrestricted − designated funds
Designated Funds are set aside for specific charitable purposes and include ZSL’s buildings and facilities on both sites.
These funds are derived from donations, grants, bequests and other resources set aside to be used in accordance with the resolutions passed by the Council of the Society. Both the capital and income may be spent. Until expended, the funds are held in cash or tangible fixed assets. Designated funds are as follows:
ZSL Strategic Projects
This includes:
-
ZSL 200 strategic implementation fund. This was designated in 2018/19 to create a fund which will be used to implement the ZSL 200 strategy.
-
A fund designated in 21/22 to support the implementation and completion of our new ticketing system and website development.
Tangible and intangible fixed/heritage assets funds
This represents resources that have been used to acquire tangible and intangible fixed assets and heritage assets not held for sale, and which were professionally valued in 2019/20. The value of this fund at the year-end represents the net book value of those tangible and intangible fixed assets. Included are heritage assets not held for sale, and which were professionally valued in 2019/20.
Restricted – endowment funds
These funds are derived from bequests to the Society, are held permanently by the Trustees, and comprise investments, the income from which may be used to support Society activities. These funds are:
Fantham bequest
This fund is held permanently by the Trustees, and comprises investments, the income from which is to be used to endow a Memorial Research Fellowship for research in parasitology or aquatic animal ecology.
Restricted − other funds:
These funds are as follows:
Scientific fund
Welcome
This fund was derived from grants and donations, and the Society, by trust deed dated 30 May 1991 created a trust over the fund and converted it into a restricted fund that can be used for the ‘advancement of zoology and animal physiology’.
Vision and
purpose
Curatorial project
Shaping global policy
This represents restricted donations received to support animal curatorial and conservation project expenditure.
Fundraising development Our global This represents restricted donations acquired as a result of fundraising activities. impact The largest element of this fund relates to sums fundraised for the Snowdon Aviary restoration project which as at 30 April 2022 is £218,000 (2021: £566,000). Wildlife and
Wildlife and people
Conservation & Science
This represents grants and donations received to cover conservation, science and project expenditure.
Wildlife back from the brink Wildlife health
Fund Transfers
Transfers from restricted funds totalling £4,001,000 (2020/21: £19,000) are the Making our result of donations received for specific causes which were released as they were work possible used in the year with the majority related to restricted donations to support the construction of Monkey Valley within the Snowdon Aviary.
Governance
and risk
Transfers from endowment funds to general funds in the year totalled £2,000 (2020/21: £nil).
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Total net funds transfers of £4,868,000 (2020/21: £1,493,000) have been made from general and restricted funds to designated funds, including £3,978,000 to the tangible fixed asset fund to reflect the net movement in these assets and £890,000 to the ZSL strategic projects fund reflecting funds to complete scheduled work on our new ticketing system and website.
Davis fund
This fund is held permanently by the Trustees, and comprises investments, the unrestricted income from which may be used to support Society activities.
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Movement of funds for the year – Group (prior period)
Movement of funds for the year – Charity (prior period)
| At 30 | At 30 | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| At 1 May | Gains/ | April | At 1 May | Gains/ | April | ||||||||
| 2020 | Income | **Expenditure ** | Transfers | (losses) | 2021 | 2020 | Income | **Expenditure ** | Transfers | (losses) | 2021 | ||
| £000 | £000 | £000 | £000 | £000 | £000 | £000 | £000 | £000 | £000 | £000 | £000 | ||
| Unrestricted funds: | Unrestricted funds: | ||||||||||||
| General fund before | General fund before | ||||||||||||
| pension reserve | 11,859 | 45,240 | (46,997) | 1,474 | - | 11,576 | pension reserve | 11,849 | 38,796 | (40,553) | 1,474 | - | 11,566 |
| Holiday pay accrual | (500) | - | (304) | - | - | (804) | Holiday pay accrual | (500) | - | (304) | - | - | (804) |
| Pension reserve | 3,738 | 73 | (23) | - | (2,574) | 1,214 | Pension reserve | 3,738 | 73 | (23) | - | (2,574) | 1,214 |
| General fund after | General fund after | ||||||||||||
| pension reserve | 15,097 | 45,313 | (47,324) | 1,474 | (2,574) | 11,986 | pension reserve | 15,087 | 38,869 | (40,880) | 1,474 | (2,574) | 11,976 |
| Designated funds | Designated funds | ||||||||||||
| ZSL 200 strategic | ZSL 200 strategic | ||||||||||||
| implementation fund | 238 | - | (135) | 102 | - | 205 | implementation fund | 238 | - | (135) | 102 | - | 205 |
| Tangible and intangible | Tangible and intangible | ||||||||||||
| fxed asset fund | 44,430 | - | - | (1,160) | - | 43,270 | fxed asset fund | 44,430 | - | - | (1,160) | - | 43,270 |
| Heritage asset fund | 1,911 | - | - | - | (105) | 1,806 | Heritage asset fund | 1,911 | - | - | - | (105) | 1,806 |
| Tangible fxed asset | Tangible fxed asset | ||||||||||||
| commitments | 333 | - | - | (333) | - | - | commitments | 333 | - | - | (333) | - | - |
| Change reserve | 102 | - | - | (102) | - | - | Change reserve | 102 | - | - | (102) | - | - |
| 47,014 | - | (135) | (1,493) | (105) | 45,281 | 47,014 | - | (135) | (1,493) | (105) | 45,281 | ||
| Restricted funds: | Restricted funds: | ||||||||||||
| Endowment funds | Endowment funds | ||||||||||||
| Fantham Bequest | 38 | - | - | - | (2) | 36 | Fantham Bequest | 38 | - | - | - | (2) | 36 |
| Davis | 2 | - | - | - | - | 2 | Davis | 2 | - | - | - | - | 2 |
| 40 | - | - | - | (2) | 38 | 40 | - | - | - | (2) | 38 | ||
| Other restricted funds | Other restricted funds | ||||||||||||
| Scientifc | 2,515 | - | - | - | 566 | 3,081 | Scientifc | 2,515 | - | - | - | 566 | 3,081 |
| Curatorial projects | 118 | 42 | (96) | - | - | 64 | Curatorial projects | 118 | 42 | (96) | - | - | 64 |
| Fundraising | Fundraising | ||||||||||||
| development | 734 | 1,064 | (903) | - | - | 895 | development | 734 | 1,064 | (903) | - | - | 895 |
| Conservation and | Conservation and | ||||||||||||
| science | 5,834 | 12,400 | (9,672) | 19 | - | 8,581 | science | 5,834 | 12,400 | (9,672) | 19 | - | 8,581 |
| 9,201 | 13,506 | (10,671) | 19 | 564 | 12,621 | 9,201 | 13,506 | (10,671) | 19 | 564 | 12,621 | ||
| Total funds | 71,352 | 58,819 | (58,130) | - | (2,117) | 69,926 | Total funds | 71,342 | 52,375 | (51,686) | - | (2,117) | 69,916 |
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FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
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18. Analysis of group net assets between funds
Group
| Group | |
|---|---|
| Fund balances at 30 April 2022 are represented by Unrestricted funds Restricted funds - Endowment funds - Other restricted funds |
Tangible & intangible assets Heritage assets Investments Investment Property Other net assets Total £000 £000 £000 £000 £000 47,248 2,170 - 3,800 22,12675,344 - - 38 - - 38 - - 3,125 - 8,208 11,333 |
| 47,248 2,170 3,163 3,800 30,334 86,715 |
Group – prior year
| Group – prior year | |
|---|---|
| Fund balances at 30 April 2021 are represented by Unrestricted funds Restricted funds - Endowment funds - Other restricted funds |
Tangible & intangible assets Heritage assets Investments Investment Property Other net assets Total £000 £000 £000 £000 £000 43,270 2,170 - 3,800 8,02757,267 - - 38 - - 38 - - 3,061 - 9,560 12,621 |
| 43,270 2,170 3,099 3,800 17,585 69,924 |
Welcome
Vision and purpose
Shaping global policy
Our global impact
Wildlife and people
Charity – prior year
Charity
| Charity | Charity – prior year | |
|---|---|---|
| Fund balances at 30 April 2022 are represented by Unrestricted funds Restricted funds - Endowment funds - Other restricted funds |
Tangible & intangible assets Heritage assets Investments Investment Property Other net assets Total £000 £000 £000 £000 £000 47,248 2,170 - 3,800 21,76874,986 - - 38 - - 38 - - 3,125 - 8,208 11,333 47,248 2,170 3,163 3,800 29,976 86,357 Fund balances at 30 April 2021 are represented by Unrestricted funds Restricted funds - Endowment funds - Other restricted funds |
Tangible & intangible assets Heritage assets Investments Investment Property Other net assets Total £000 £000 £000 £000 £000 43,270 2,170 - 3,800 8,01757,257 - - 38 - - 38 - - 3,061 - 9,560 12,621 |
| 43,270 2,170 3,099 3,800 17,577 69,916 |
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Wildlife health
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FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
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19. Pension schemes
The Society has contributed to both defined benefit and defined contribution schemes during the year. Employees join the appropriate scheme, depending on their employment terms. The total cost to the Society for the year ended 30 April 2022 in respect of pension contributions, has been allocated between expenditure categories in proportion to staff costs and charged to the Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities as appropriate, as follows:
| Defned beneft scheme contributions Defned contributions schemes* |
2021/22 2020/21 £000 £000 - 33 1,964 1,916 |
|---|---|
1,964 1,949 |
At 30 April, there were no outstanding employer’s and employees’ contributions, including any additional voluntary contributions, to the schemes.
After the closure of the ZSL 1988 scheme which was closed to employees joining after 30 June 2011, a Friends Life stakeholder-defined contribution scheme is available for those employees. Any employees who participate in a defined benefit scheme do so in either the Zoological Society 1988 Pension Scheme (ZS 1988), which is the Society’s own self-administered occupational pension scheme, or the Universities Superannuation Scheme, which is contracted out of the State Second Pension (S2P) or the Friends Life schemes.
The date of the last triennial actuarial valuation for the 1988 Pension Scheme was 30 June 2020. The date of the next triennial actuarial valuation is 30 June 2023.
ZSL 1988 Pension Scheme
| Changes in present value of the defned beneft value of obligation Defned beneft obligation at the start of the period Interest cost Actuarial (gain)/loss Benefts paid Change due to settlements or curtailments Beneft obligation at the end of the period Changes in fair value of plan assets Fair value of plan assets at the start of the period Interest income Benefts paid (including expenses) Return on plan assets (excl. net interest on the net defned beneft asset) Contributions by Scheme participants Fair value of plan assets at the end of the period Amounts recognised in the balance sheet Plans that are wholly unfunded and plans that are wholly or partly funded: Present value of wholly or partly funded obligations Fair value of plan assets Surplus for funded plans and net assets/(liabilities) Components of pension cost Pension scheme expenses Net fnance income Pension income recognised in net income Other recognised gains & losses Return on plan assets less income on plan assets Actuarial (gain)/loss Remeasurements of the net defned beneft pension asset |
At 30 April 2022 At 30 April 2021 £000 £000 60,680 55,663 1,201 906 (11,120) 5,664 (1,246) (1,553) - - |
|---|---|
| 49,515 60,680 |
|
| 62,604 60,121 1,242 979 (1,246) (1,586) (3,020) 3,090 200 - |
|
| 59,780 62,604 |
|
| At 30 April 2022 At 30 April 2021 £000 £000 49,515 60,680 59,780 62,604 |
|
| 10,265 1,924 |
|
| At 30 April 2022 At 30 April 2021 £000 £000 - 33 (41) (73) |
|
| (41) (40) |
|
| At 30 April 2022 At 30 April 2021 £000 £000 (3,020) 3,090 11,120 (5,664) |
|
| 8,100 (2,574) |
Actual return on plan assets for 2022 is a loss of £1,778,000. (2021: £4,069,000).
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FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
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Principal actuarial assumptions
Weighted average assumptions used to determine benefit obligations
| Weighted average assumptions used to determine beneft obligations |
||
|---|---|---|
| At 30 April 2022 | At 30 April 2021 | |
| % | % | |
| Discount rate | 3.2 | 2.0 |
| Future salary increase | N/A | N/A |
| Rate of price infation (Retail Price Index) | 3.4 | 3.2 |
| Rate of price infation (Consumer Price Index) | 3.1 | 2.8 |
| Future pension increases: | ||
| Retail Price Index capped at 5% | 3.3 | 3.1 |
| Retail Price Index capped at 5% subject | ||
| to a minimum of 3% | 3.7 | 3.6 |
Plan assets
Fair value of plan assets and percentage of plan assets by asset allocation
| Cash and cash equivalents Equity investments Diversifed growth funds Debt investments Fixed income Annuities |
At 30 April 2022 2022 At 30 April 2021 2021 £000 % £000 % 154 1 1,920 3 14,480 24 13,380 21 5,881 9 6,134 10 22,718 38 27,558 44 16,424 27 13,467 22 123 1 145 - |
|---|---|
| 59,780 100 62,604 100 |
Assumed life expectancy on retirement age at 65
| Assumed life expectancy on retirement age at 65 |
|
|---|---|
| Retiring today (member age 65) Retiring in 25 years (member age 40 today) |
30 April 2022 30 April 2021 Male Female Male Female 22.4 24.7 22.3 24.7 |
| 24.1 26.5 24.1 26.5 |
Plan assets
Contributions
There were no outstanding contributions payable to the plan at 30 April 2022 (2021: nil). Following discussions with the pension scheme trustees, a multi-year pension deficit repair plan was agreed and a £200,000 payment was made in May 2021 and is reflected in the financial statements. The next payment is due in May 2023 as part of our repayment plan.
Welcome
Vision and purpose Shaping global policy
Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS)
The latest available complete actuarial valuation of the Retirement Income Builder is as at 31 March 2020 (the valuation date), and was carried out using the projected unit method.
Our global impact Wildlife and people
Since the institution cannot identify its share of USS Retirement Income Builder (defined benefit) assets and liabilities, the following disclosures reflect those relevant for those assets and liabilities as a whole.
The 2020 valuation was the sixth valuation for the scheme under the scheme- Wildlife back specific funding regime introduced by the Pensions Act 2004, which requires from the brink schemes to have sufficient and appropriate assets to cover their technical provisions. At the valuation date, the value of the assets of the scheme was Wildlife health £66.5 billion and the value of the scheme’s technical provisions was £80.6 billion indicating a shortfall of £14.1 billion and a funding ratio of 83%. Making our work possible The key financial assumptions used in the 2020 valuation are described below. More detail is set out in the Statement of Funding Principles ( uss.co.uk/about-us/ Governance valuation-and-funding/statement-of-funding-principles ). and risk FINANCIAL CPI assumption Term dependent rates in line with the difference between the Fixed Interest and Index Linked yield curves less: STATEMENTS 1.1% p.a. to 2030, reducing linearly by 0.1% p.a. to a long-term difference of 0.1% p.a. from 2040 Pension increases CPI assumption plus 0.05% (subject to a floor of 0%) Discount rate Fixed interest gilt yield curve plus: (forward rates) Pre-retirement: 2.75% p.a. Post retirement: 1.00% p.a.
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The main demographic assumptions used relate to the mortality assumptions. These assumptions are based on analysis of the scheme’s experience carried out as part of the 2020 actuarial valuation. The mortality assumptions used in these figures are as follows:
2020 valuation
Mortality base table 101% of S2PMA “light” for males and 95% of S3PFA for females
Future CMI 2019 with a smoothing parameter of 7.5, an initial addition improvements to of 0.5% p.a. and a long-term improvement rate of 1.8% pa for mortality males and 1.6% pa for females
The current life expectancies on retirement at age 65 are:
| At 30 April 2022 | At 30 April 2021 | |
|---|---|---|
| Males currently aged 65 (years) | 23.9 | 24.7 |
| Females currently aged 65 (years) | 25.5 | 26.1 |
| Males currently aged 45 (years) | 25.9 | 26.7 |
| Females currently aged 45 (years) | 27.3 | 27.9 |
A new deficit recovery plan was put in place as part of the 2020 valuation, which requires payment of 6.2% of salaries over the period 1 April 2022 until 31 March 2024, at which point the rate will increase to 6.3%. The 2022 deficit recovery liability reflects this plan. The liability figures have been produced using the following assumptions:
| At 30 April 2022 | At 30 April 2021 | |
|---|---|---|
| Discount rate | 4.2% | 2.6% |
| Pensionable salary growth | 2.0% | 2.0% |
As noted above, it is not possible to split out the assets and liabilities of the USS Scheme, hence ZSL has recognised in these accounts the deficit obligations liability within other creditors and long-term creditors and movements in this liability have been shown below:
| USS creditor at 1 May 2021 Unwinding of discount factor Defcit contributions payable Additional funding charge Movement in the year USS creditor at 30 April 2022 |
£000 703 18 (26) 1,003 |
|---|---|
| 995 | |
| 1,698 |
Payable by instalments:
| Payable by instalments: | |
|---|---|
| Within one year Between one to two years Between two to fve years After fve years |
2022 2021 £000 £000 118 78 120 107 350 318 1,110 200 |
| 1,698 703 |
20. Leasing commitments – Group and Charity
| Items held under operating lease: Payments due: Within one year Between two to fve years |
2022 2021 £000 £000 499 494 1,826 55 |
|---|---|
| 2,325 559 |
During the financial year we renewed our waste contract which is contracted over a 5 year period. The previous contract lapsed in 2021.
| Items held under fnance lease: The net carrying amount at the end of the reporting period is Total future minimum lease payments due: Within one year |
2022 2021 £000 £000 - 4 - 5 |
|---|---|
| - 5 |
21. Capital commitments
Outstanding capital commitments at 30 April 2022 amounted to £5,942,000 (2021: £5,574,000). Most of the outstanding capital commitments relate to the completion of our Snowdon restoration project which was opened during summer 2022 and the completion of our new reptile and amphibian house at London Zoo which is due to open before the end of 22/23.
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FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
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22. Net cash from operating activities
| Net income before other gains Defned beneft pension scheme non-cash movement Pension defcit recovery plan repayments Defned contribution USS pension scheme movement (Gain) on investments Interest and investment income Amortisation of intangible assets Depreciation of tangible fxed assets Impairment of tangible fxed assets Other operating income (net) (Increase)/Decrease in stock (Increase)/Decrease in debtors Increase in creditors Net cash infow from operating activities |
Group 2020/21 2020/21 £000 £000 8,689 1,253 (41) (40) (200) - 977 10 (64) (562) (115) (144) 58 210 3,646 3,561 1,006 - - (3) (62) 74 (2,734) 304 4,740 3,420 |
|---|---|
| 15,900 8,083 |
23. Contingent liabilities
The Charity is jointly and severally liable for all Value Added Tax (VAT) debts of the VAT group registration of which it is a part, relating to the year that it has been a member of the VAT group. The total VAT creditor for the VAT group at 30 April 2022 was £105,000 (2021: £34,801).
24. Related parties and other relationships
There were no related party transactions in the year (2021: one), except for the transactions with subsidiary companies.
Entities over which the entity has control
Balances with subsidiaries bear no interest and there are no guarantees given or received in relation to these transactions. Per SORP and FRS 102 the related party disclosure for the subsidiaries (refer to note 13 regarding their purposes) are:
| Zoo Enterprises Limited Zoo Operations Limited |
2021/22 2020/21 Intercompany debtor/ (creditor) at 30 April 2022 Gift aid distribution to ZSL Support costs charged to subsidiary during the year Intercompany debtor/ (creditor) at 30 April 2021 Gift aid distribution to ZSL Support costs charged to subsidiary during the year £000 £000 £000 £000 £000 £000 7,659 2,983 1,915 1,443 174 969 (1,315) - - (1,315) - - |
|---|---|
Other related parties
MRAG limited is a company registered in the United Kingdom which has supported training related to our conservation work in the Indian Ocean. One of ZSL’s Trustees, Professor Sir John Beddington, has a controlling interest in MRAG Limited. During the year the following (expenditure) was recognised as follows:
| 2021/22 | 2020/21 | |
|---|---|---|
| £000 | £000 | |
| MRAG Limited | - | (2) |
Professor Sir John Beddington resigned Sept 2022.
Relationships with other parties
We have the following relationships with other parties:
-
ZSL America Inc (known as ZSL America) is a 501(c)(3) registered non-profit through which US supporters make donations. ZSL shares a director with ZSL America Inc.
-
Coast 4C is a charity registered in Australia which continues a former ZSL conservation project and the two organisations continue to work closely together. ZSL shares a director with Coast 4C.
Notwithstanding these links these entities are not under the direction or control of the Trustees of ZSL and therefore are not considered a part of the ZSL group. During the year the following income was recognised as follows:
| 2021/22 | 2020/21 | |
|---|---|---|
| £000 | £000 | |
| ZSL America | 124 | 92 |
| Coast 4C | 23 | - |
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FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
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25. Charity Statement of Financial Activities for the year ended 30 April 2022
Welcome
A summary Statement of Financial Activities for the charity itself is presented below, with the turnover and expenditure for Zoo Enterprises shown by the amount of Gift Aid payable to the charity by the company.
| Income and endowments from Donations and legacies Charitable activities Gift aid from profts from trading subsidiaries Investment income Other income Total income Expenditure on: Raising funds: Cost of generating voluntary income Charitable activities: Animal collections Science and research Conservation programmes Total expenditure Net gains on investments Net income Other recognised gains/(losses): Remeasurement of defned beneft obligation Transfers between funds Net movement in funds Reconciliation of funds: Total funds brought forward Total funds carried forward |
Unrestricted Restricted incl. Endowment 2021/22 Total 2020/21 Total £000 £000 £000 £000 4,299 5,044 9,343 11,598 43,853 9,893 53,746 37,948 2,983 - 2,983 174 49 66 115 143 51 17 68 2,512 |
|---|---|
| 51,235 15,020 66,255 52,375 1,680 14 1,694 3,746 38,726 166 38,892 31,472 3,376 3,752 7,128 6,299 1,827 8,437 10,264 10,169 |
|
| 45,609 12,369 57,978 51,686 - 64 64 564 |
|
| 5,626 2,715 8,341 1,253 8,100 - 8,100 (2,574) 4,003 (4,003) - - |
|
| 17,729 (1,288) 16,441 (1,426) |
|
| 57,257 12,659 69,916 71,342 |
|
| 74,986 11,371 86,357 69,916 |
Vision and purpose
Shaping global policy
Our global impact
Wildlife and people
Wildlife back from the brink
Wildlife health
Making our work possible
Governance and risk
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
84
Annual Report and Accounts 2021–22
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Restricted expenditure includes any financial activity related to endowment funds. Further detail of endowment fund movements can be found in note 17.
26. Charity Statement of Financial Activities for the year ended 30 April 2021
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Vision and purpose
| Income and endowments from Donations and legacies Charitable activities Gift aid from profts from trading subsidiaries Investment income Other income Total income Expenditure on: Raising funds: Cost of generating voluntary income Charitable activities: Animal collections Science and research Conservation programmes Total expenditure Net gains on investments Net (expenditure)/income Other recognised gains/(losses): Remeasurement of defned beneft obligation Transfers between funds Net movement in funds Reconciliation of funds: Total funds brought forward Total funds carried forward |
Unrestricted Restricted incl. Endowment 2020/21 Total 2019/20 Total £000 £000 £000 £000 10,249 1,349 11,598 7,454 25,849 12,099 37,948 46,389 174 - 174 1,153 85 58 143 246 2,512 - 2,512 394 |
|---|---|
| 38,869 13,506 52,375 55,636 3,338 408 3,746 4,644 30,951 521 31,472 33,881 3,613 2,686 6,299 5,907 3,113 7,056 10,169 15,407 |
|
| 41,015 10,671 51,686 59,839 - 564 564 3,682 |
|
| (2,146) 3,399 1,253 (521) (2,574) - (2,574) 2,721 (105) - (105) 2,275 (19) 19 - - |
|
| (4,844) 3,418 (1,426) 4,475 |
|
| 62,101 9,241 71,342 66,867 |
Shaping global policy
Our global impact
Wildlife and people
Wildlife back from the brink
Wildlife health
Making our work possible
Governance and risk
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
85
Annual Report and Accounts 2021–22
zsl.org