ZSL marked their two hundredth anniversary on Wednesday 29 April 2026 with the unveiling of ambitious plans for a new world-leading wildlife health centre – made possible by the most significant donation in their 200-year history.
The new centre at their UK headquarters at Regent’s Park will deliver world-class care for the animals at London Zoo and support their global science and conservation efforts. It will bring veterinary science to everyone – with visitors to the centre able to watch live procedures, from penguin health checks to porpoise post-mortems.
For 200 years ZSL have brought people and wildlife together in the spirit of understanding and discovery, and the planned centre will continue that legacy with the UK’s first viewing gallery in a vet hospital.
Unrivalled veterinary heritage
From employing the world’s first zoo vet in 1829, to constructing Europe’s first purpose-built zoo vet hospital 70 years ago, through to giving 250,000 children a unique glimpse into the veterinary world through our Vets in Action programme, ZSLs veterinary heritage is unrivalled. ZSL state:
The anonymous gift will allow us to create a brand-new centre integrating clinical care, a teaching hospital and wildlife disease research. Central to the project is our commitment to the One Health approach; recognising that the health of animals, people and ecosystems is fundamentally interconnected. With this endeavour we will commit to our belief that wildlife health is global health and must be treated as such.
Our decades of studying wildlife diseases and their spread has helped build a global picture of how they pass between species, including to humans, and how to mitigate them. From understanding the spread of bovine tuberculosis to studying multiple viruses carried by bats and what affects their spillover into humans, our work aims to help ensure a healthy co-existence between people and wildlife.
A platform for action
CEO Kathryn England explains: “For 200 years, ZSL has been committed to growing our understanding of wildlife and taking people on that journey with us; from opening the world’s first scientific zoo, to launching the Institute of Zoology, and establishing global conservation projects. In those two centuries we have evolved from studying wildlife, to conserving it, to fighting for it.
“Today, as we celebrate our bicentenary with the announcement of our ambitious new wildlife health centre, we are drawing on those two centuries of scientific leadership, making us uniquely positioned to deliver this vision. We established the foundations of modern zoo veterinary care, have advanced conservation science on a global scale and been at the vanguard of public engagement with wildlife; our history has shaped how wildlife is studied, treated and protected. Now, that legacy becomes a platform for action.”
ZSL continue:
Our influence on modern zoo and wildlife veterinary care can be seen throughout our history, from the employment of veterinarian Charles Spooner in 1829, who visited the Zoo’s animals twice a week, to the appointment of Britain’s first dedicated zoo vet in 1951, Oliver Graham Jones. Graham Jones oversaw the creation of Europe’s first purpose-built zoo vet hospital at London Zoo; which is still in use today.
Teaching hundreds of wildlife veterinarians and conservation scientists, we already deliver postgraduate training, specialist short courses, and field-based training with partners in biodiversity hotspots – work which can be expanded with the new centre.
Inspiring the next generation
Dr. Amanda Guthrie, Head of Wildlife Health Services, said: “This is a truly momentous way to mark ZSL’s 200th anniversary, and as an organisation founded with a mission to better understand wildlife, this is an extraordinary recognition of that work.
“I’m personally so excited that visitors will be able to see this work happening, building on the enormous efforts we already make to inspire the next generation of conservationists.”
Kathryn added: “As ZSL turns 200, we are not looking back, we are setting the agenda for the future. This is a line in the sand.
“We can’t wait to share more as our plans for the wildlife health centre take shape over the coming months.”
Find out more and support our global work in their bicentenary year
