Camperdown Wildlife Centre in Dundee has been in the spotlight in recent months.
The park hit the headlines in March 2023 when a pack of five wolves was put down after displaying “unusually anxious and abnormal behaviour” and escaping from their enclosure twice following an operation on alpha male Loki.
The centre was at the centre of attention again in July 2024 when several visitors hit out at its “rundown” state.
But what do we know about Dundee’s only wildlife attraction, which has been a popular destination for decades?
Here, we take a closer look at the zoo, how it is run and governed, and what it does to support animal conservation.
Who runs Camperdown Wildlife Centre?
The Dundee zoo is run by Leisure and Culture Dundee (LCD).
While the organisation is a registered charity, it is run at arm’s length by Dundee City Council.
Several councillors serve on the board as well as members from other backgrounds.
The same organisation runs facilities like the Olympia, the Regional Performance Centre for Sport, Caird Park golf courses, the Caird Hall, libraries and community centres.
How is the zoo funded?
LCD has not revealed how much it costs to run the zoo.
However, the organisation receives the bulk of its funding from the city council – so Dundee taxpayers help to fund the operation of the centre.
Money is also received through admissions.
Tickets cost £7 for adults, £5.75 for children and concessions and £1.75 for under-threes – though Active Lifestyle card-holders get discounts.
Family tickets cost £27.50 (£25).
Fundraising efforts from an independent group, Friends of Camperdown Wildlife Centre, also help pay for the running of the zoo.
The funding of Camperdown is different from most other zoos in Scotland, which are run by larger charities or private owners.
Edinburgh Zoo and Highland Wildlife Park are both owned by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland.
Blair Drummond Safari Park near Stirling is owned by private company Scottish African Safari Park Limited.
The likes of Fife Zoo and the Scottish Deer Centre near Cupar are also run privately.
What animals are at the park?
The zoo is home to more than 50 different species – mostly of European origin.
This includes brown bears, lemurs, macaques, pine martens, giant anteaters, meerkats, marmosets, otters, donkeys and horses.
A number of birds call the centre home – such as owls, eagles, rheas and storks – along with reptiles.
Until they had to be euthanised, the park was also home to a pack of European grey wolves.
What rules and regulations apply to Camperdown Wildlife Centre?
Camperdown Wildlife Centre is a member of the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (Biaza).
The charity has more than 100 members, which are said to be “at the forefront of conservation, education and research”.
Members are governed by a number of policies and guidelines in areas like animal welfare, covering the physical and mental health of animals, their social lives and their enclosures.
According to the Biaza policy on euthanasia, killing an animal should only be considered in certain circumstances, including when the animal is suffering from a disease, detrimental psychological state or severe pain and stress.
This can also be considered when “the continued presence of an individual animal is disruptive to the natural dynamic of a group within an individual collection”.
How does Camperdown support conservation?
According to its website, Camperdown Wildlife Centre has a “very close relationship with science”.
The zoo has animals that are part of the European Breeding Programme, which aims to preserve threatened species by pairing them with compatible mates.
This is designed to create self-sustaining zoo populations and prevent the need to bring wild animals into captivity.
The centre also runs an education programme aimed at offering “the highest standard of zoological education to visitors using every possible resource that is available to education staff”.
The programmes are guided by Biaza and Defra – the UK Government’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
What do visitors think of Dundee’s zoo?
Tens of thousands of people visit the zoo every year.
The zoo has a four out of five rating on TripAdvisor from more than 450 reviews and is 23rd on the list of the city’s best attractions.
The centre is rated 4.4 out of five stars on Google reviews.
Many recent visitors have criticised the condition of the centre.
Several have complained about weeds growing several feet high and the rundown state of enclosures.
Many have also said enclosures are empty or the animals are hard to see.
LCD says it is working to reduce overgrown areas after blaming the weather for the issues.
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