Northumberland Zoo has officially been accredited by the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria, or EAZA. This prestigious recognition places the family-run zoo among the leading zoos and aquariums across Europe and beyond.
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00:00Achieving the Yaza accreditation for us is a huge moment for us really it's
00:04something that we're super proud of because it's a it's a membership
00:08association that is basically looking for the best possible standards of zoo
00:12operations so the way that we look after our animals the way that we do
00:15conservation education and research it's it's a lot of work to be basically
00:22meeting those standards it's something we've been working towards for years so
00:25for us to actually get the accreditation now and become full members is basically
00:29telling us that it it's all paid off and it demonstrates our commitment to those
00:34Yaza standards Northumberland Zoo has officially been accredited by the
00:38European Association of Zoos in Aquaria or Yaza this prestigious recognition
00:44places the family-run zoo among the leading zoos and aquariums across Europe
00:48and beyond so this year Northumberland Zoo does turn 10 we've been a zoo for 10
00:52years we became by Yaza members in 2021 which is the British version basically of
00:57the zoo membership which was a real great achievement so now becoming part of
01:01the Yaza membership is just that kind of next stepping stone for us and it's a
01:06milestone that we are really proud of the accreditation confirms that Northumberland
01:10Zoo meets and exceeds some of the structured standards in animal welfare
01:14conservation and education the process included a thorough site inspection by
01:20experts from the UK and mainland Europe assessing everything from habitat design in
01:25veterinary care to conservation programs and species management the Yaza screening to
01:32become accredited members was a three-day process and they looked at every single
01:36little thing that we did everything was scrutinized everything was taken apart we
01:40had to show evidence for everything that we do and some of the things that we got
01:44the most praise for was our native species conservation work so we have our
01:48harvest mouse breeding and reintroduction program we reintroduce them
01:51locally at Druridge Bay in Hawksley we also have a white claw crayfish conservation program so they're a
01:56critically endangered native species and we actually rear offspring here at the zoo to
02:02increase the survival rates of the youngsters the little tiny hatchlings and
02:06that's something that we've been doing for a few years now and we're really
02:09starting to have a lot of success with that so native species was was highly
02:13praised by the Yaza screening team it's something that is it's very important
02:16obviously we have an animal collection here and it's really well looked after and
02:20the point of it is to kind of show our visitors that come and also wide our
02:24audiences through our social media platforms what these animals are there's
02:28many animal species that people have never even heard of where they're from what
02:31they do and why they're threatened and what we can do to help them as well so we
02:36have the animals here but another part of that is the funds that we raise goes
02:40towards our conservation work and our research too so there is a huge part to it
02:44isn't just the animal collection here it's all the animals in the wild that
02:47we're supporting to this local zoo in rural Northumberland is not only becoming a
02:52well-loved establishment for families but also a safe and protected environment
02:56where wildlife and species can thrive