Colchester Zoo's charity has undergone an official name change ahead of the zoo becoming a charitable trust.

Action for the Wild has become Colchester Zoological Society, and the charity will eventually take over the running of the zoo in 2025.

The change from being a privately owned zoo to a charity comes after two years of work to ensure Colchester Zoo is enjoyed by future generations.

Despite the name change, the charity will continue its support to conservation projects worldwide.

As Colchester Zoological Society, the zoo's charitable arm has donated more than £4.2million to wildlife conservation projects across the globe since 2004.

Director of science, education and training, Andy Moore, wants the zoo to be "a beacon of conservation".

He said: "We don't expect anyone to change how they refer to the zoo – Colchester Zoological Society abbreviated will still be Colchester Zoo.

"The change will allow us to access more funding and help us do more conservation work with endangered species.

"We celebrated our 60th birthday last year and are very lucky and grateful to have such supportive and loyal visitors. Behind the scenes, lots of work is going on in preparation for the charity to take over the running of the Zoo in January 2025.

"We want to bring people from Colchester, and north Essex, and further afield along with us on this journey."

Colchester Zoological Society will continue to support conservation projects worldwide, including the UmPhafa Nature Reserve in South Africa which has also recently turned into a conservation trust.

In 2023, Colchester Zoological Society gave more than £447,000 to the UmPhafa Conservation Trust. The remaining funds of more than £47,000 were distributed between conservation efforts for rhinos, elephants, red pandas, orangutans, bears and other species of wildlife. Every visit made to the Zoo helps towards these donations!

Since January, the zoo has sported a slightly different logo in preparation for the next year. All this is done by the Zoo’s own in house design team.

It is also making changes to the website, www.actionforthewild.org, to encompass both the zoo and the charity as one to reflect the readiness of Colchester Zoological Society's takeover from January 2025.

For more, visit https://www.colchester-zoo.com