Friends of Banham Zoo

FOBZ News

FOBZ Conservation Support Evening

by Gary Batters, Senior Animal Manager

On the 9th February the Friends of Banham Zoo held, as part of Banham Zoo’s 40th Birthday celebrations, its first Conservation Support Evening.

Rebecca Klein, Project Manager, Cheetah Conservation Botswana, with Erika Johnson and Aaron Cook.
Rebecca Klein, Project Manager, Cheetah Conservation Botswana, with Erika Johnson and Aaron Cook.
The Banham Zoo team who took part in the Norwich Half Marathon
The Banham Zoo team who took part in the Norwich Half Marathon in December. (L to R): Rachel Peters, Erika Johnson, Aaron Cook and Darren Yarrow
The Conservation support night was enjoyed by over 70 attendees
The Conservation support night was enjoyed by over 70 attendees
Conservation support night speakers
Conservation support night speakers (L to R): Rebecca Klein, Gary Batters, Tanya Langenhorst and Christoph Schwitzer

This was the actual date 40 years ago that Banham Zoo opened to the public.

The event celebrated some of the important field conservation work that Banham has supported in recent years. Over 70 attendees enjoyed 3 excellent presentations from guest speakers, a light buffet, raffle and a chance for a close encounter with a number of animals including our skunk and kinkajou.

Rebecca Klein, Managing Director of Cheetah Conservation Botswana, gave a presentation about her organisations important work in protecting cheetah.
After her talk Rebecca was presented with a cheque for £393.00, sponsorship money raised by a Banham Zoo team who gained 8th place in the City of Norwich Half Marathon Business Challenge held last December. The runners were Aaron Cook, Erika Johnson, Rachel Peters and Darren Yarrow.

Other guest speakers were Tanya Langenhorst, who spoke about the Grevy’s zebra conservation project in East Africa, and Dr Christoph Schwitzer, who spoke about his work in Madagascar with lemurs for the Association for the Study and Conservation of Lemurs.