Chester Zoo, the UK’s number one zoo and leading charity for wildlife conservation, was the first of its kind over 80 years ago, not to use bars to house its animals.
Today, it keeps 11,000 animals inside its huge 110-acre site, and CLD Fencing is helping the zoo to keep with the ‘no bars’ tradition by providing rigid mesh fencing to ensure the safety of animals, keepers and visitors alike.
Dave Rogers, Estates Manager at Chester Zoo explains: “The first project we completed with CLD Fencing was around the cheetah enclosure, and parts of the perimeter fencing where the zoo is separated in two by a road. We used CLD Fencing’s Exempla system: an innovative close-mesh segregated and crank top fencing, a standard that most zoos in the UK use to ensure complete security.”
CLD Fencing's Exempla system features a rigid welded steel wire mesh panel with a full length clamp bar to ease installation and increase security.
Rogers continues, “The cheetah enclosure originally housed onagers, so it was important that we stepped up the security as different animals have different requirements. CLD Fencing provided the fencing to keep the animals safe, and mesh enclosures with trap doors for the keepers so that the cheetahs can’t get in. It ensures both animal and staff are kept safe.
“Since then, CLD Fencing has provided us with a variety of solutions around the zoo to make the premises more robust, from an automatic trial gate system for the public, to a new entrance scheme which was opened by Her Majesty The Queen.
“The fencing for the entrance scheme was completed in a very tight timescale to make it ready for Her Majesty’s visit. The scheme houses the zoo shop, memberships and adoptions office, and ticket booths with a modern and robust stone fencing system. We decided straight away that the stone fencing was the most suitable as it fitted the look and feel of what we were trying to achieve with this new scheme.”
CLD Fencing meets the Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) standards of estate management and is suitable for insurance purposes in any situation.
The fencing specialist has worked with a number of other zoos including Yorkshire Wildlife Park, through contractor North Eastern Plant. Utilising CLD Fencing’s double wire panel Dulok system in a number of enclosures, Yorkshire Wildlife Park is currently constructing Europe’s largest polar bear sanctuary, with the provision to house up to 20 bears.
Polar bears are a dangerous and difficult endangered species which will be preserved in captivity. Yet with a specialised 10 acre reserve at Yorkshire Wildlife Park, built to replicate the Arctic Tundra, the bears should be kept safe and secure.
Jim Turner, owner of North Eastern Plant, comments, “CLD Fencing enables us to use its products in diverse ways so that we can be innovative in enclosure design when working closely with the keepers, vets and owners to create the right facilities and environment for the different animals.”
CLD Fencing has also completed works at Blackpool Zoo using the Dulok system to house the lions and tigers safely.
