East Anglian zoos forced to cut jobs to give charity 'a fighting chance of survival'

The charity which runs two of the region's zoos is set to cut a third of jobs in order to have what bosses call "a fighting chance of survival" after lockdown.

The Zoological Society of East Anglia relies almost entirely on the income made from admission to Banham Zoo in Norfolk and Africa Alive in Suffolk and says the pandemic has left it with a £1.5 million pound deficit.

Chair of Trustees at the charity, Gerard Smith, has written to the 201 employees to explain the steps he says need to be taken to ensure ZSEA can survive. At the heart of that plan is a proposed restructure.

Back in March as lockdown began the charity warned it feared for its future if no one could visit.

A 30 day period of consultation with all the teams at Africa Alive and Banham Zoo will now get underway to help develop the right number and mix of job roles needed for the charity going forward.