Letting thousands of poorer families into London Zoo for ?3 has changed us for ever | Matthew Gould

Bringing children closer to nature is the first step to building the next generation of conservationists. Everyone should have that chanceMatthew Gould is director general of the Zoological Society of LondonIt started with the monkeys. The Zoological Society of London, which I head, received a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to repurpose our Snowdon Aviary in London Zoo into an enclosure for colobus monkeys. This grant also enabled us to offer 100,000 heavily discounted tickets to community groups. We extended this so that anyone on benefits could buy a ticket for ?3, which is a tenth of the cost of peak-season entry for an adult.News of the ?3 offer spread fast, and on the first day of February half-term it became clear that something extraordinary was happening. Literally thousands of families were descending on our zoos. Both London and Whipsnade had twice as many visitors as we had been expecting.Matthew Gould is director general of the Zoological Society of London Continue reading...