If we are going to continue to do the work that we do as a global charity in the midst of an ongoing extinction crisis we have to continue fighting." Everything we get is through charitable donations into the zoo. "We don't receive any money from the government. At peak we employ 1,000 people and looking after our staff and making sure they have the right rates of pay and are content in their jobs is very important. "There's concerns on many different fronts, including our staff. The Monsoon Forest at Chester Zoo (Image: Chester Zoo) "We, as a conservation charity, rely on visitors coming in through the gates and there is concern that the cost-of-living crisis may reduce those numbers. "We have to maintain those temperatures to maintain the health and welfare of each of those animals and plants. "That all costs money and means that we are concerned about the rise in utility costs - you can't put a jumper on a Komodo dragon! "We've got 110 buildings at Chester Zoo many of them need to be heated or cooled to particular temperatures or lit in particular ways because of the types of animals or plants we have in there. We came out of the pandemic and then went straight into a cost-of-living crisis. Considering it cost £1.8m to run the zoo when it's shut and 97% of our income came from admissions you can see how difficult that period was. On the impact the cost-of-living crisis is having on the zoo, Mr Christon said: "We recovered from the pandemic after 208 days of closure. Chester Zoo chief executive Jamie Christon (Image: Chester Zoo)
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