Bristol Zoo Project


Bristol Zoo Project, formerly known as the Wild Place Project, is a wildlife conservation park in North Bristol, United Kingdom. It is run by Bristol Zoological Society and was the sister site of Bristol Zoo Gardens until closure of that site in 2022. In summer 2023, Wild Place Project rebranded as "Bristol Zoo Project" following the transition of Bristol Zoo Gardens from their Clifton site.
The park has been designed to link specific ecosystems and conservation programmes around the world, and was originally intended to be split into biomes, representing species found only in specific habitats. Current areas include: Bear Wood, Benoué National Park and Discover Madagascar.

History

Bristol Zoo Project is located on Hollywood Estate, a grade II listed estate. The estate was gifted to Bristol Zoological Society in the mid 1960s by the White family. From the 1960s to 2013 the site was used as an off show area for breeding and quarantine. The site also housed the society's nurseries and to this day grows a third of the food for the animals at Bristol Zoo Project.
In 2008 Bristol Zoological Society announced plans to submit plans to South Gloucestershire Council for the development of a new 135 acre park.
The park officially opened on 22 July 2013. The original submitted plans suggested a development cost of circa £70 million.
Bear Wood, an environment designed to mimic England in 8,000 BC opened in July 2019.

Animals

Bristol Zoo Project is home to 25 species of animals, including 19 mammals and 6 birds.
Mammals:
Birds':'
Bristol Zoological Society announced on 27 November 2020 that its historic Bristol Zoo Gardens site in Clifton would close, with the animals moved to the Wild Place Project site close to the M5 motorway.
The new conservation breeding centre would include Annam leaf turtles, Lesser Antillean iguanas, Pancake tortoises, Radiated tortoises, Roti Island snake-necked turtles, Indochinese box turtles, Lemur leaf frogs, Mountain chicken frogs, Marshall's pygmy chameleons, Turquoise dwarf geckos, Blue-spotted tree monitors, Leaf-tail geckos, Deserta Grande wolf spiders, Polynesian tree snails, Lord Howe Island stick insects, two species of Madeiran land snail, Socorro doves, Visayan tarictic hornbills, Sumatran laughingthrushes, Philippine cockatoos, Javan green magpies, European turtle doves, Mindanao bleeding-hearts, Negros bleeding-heart pigeons, pink pigeons, Malagasy cichlids, Malagasy rainbow fish and powder blue panchax, Pupfish and goodeids and White clawed crayfish.
Finally, there was to be a new entrance with a new café, new gift shop, and new entry exhibits.
In 2021, it was announced that new features at Bristol Zoo Project resulting from the move from Clifton were to include a conservation breeding centre with climate-controlled enclosures, a learning centre and a conservation medicine centre.