Combining creativity and conservation

Great things can happen when creativity and conservation come together!

Like all of you, when our animal experiences keeper Shannon saw the extent of Australia’s worst-ever bushfires she wanted to do her bit to help the people and wildlife in need. So, she put pen to paper to create this conservation puzzle to raise funds for our friends at WWF Australia.

We’re selling each puzzle for $10 in our Zoo Shop (located in our entry plaza so open to everyone!) and if you or your whānau purchase one all of the proceeds will go directly to WWF Australia’s emergency fund so that they can continue their care for injured wildlife and restore Australia’s forest homes. As you can see this puzzle showcases many important species within this ecosystem, with species names listed on the back.

Since early January we’ve been encouraging people to donate online as well as fundraising on-site to support the work of WWF Australia, Australian Red Cross and Zoo and Aquarium Association's Wildlife Conservation Fund. We’ve also reached out to our Australian colleagues to offer whatever practical expert wildlife management and care support we can and we’ll have more updates on this work coming soon.

Due to the generosity of our visitors we’ve been able to raise just over $3,000 (and counting!) which will contribute to the conservation of Australian wildlife and wild places. As well as this, we’re pleased to say that since hitting the shop floor on Friday 50 puzzles have been purchased by you which means extra funding diverted to support the amazing work of WWF Australia.

If you’d like to contribute, our donation boxes are located in the Zoo Shop and at each of our eateries!