Animal Care and Conservation

A commitment to our wildlife

We take responsibility for the animals in our care and understand the role we must play in the conservation of endangered creatures and habitats around the world. We work to world-class welfare standards through our animal care network, and we support the WILD LIFE Conservation Fund in its missions to protect unique Australian animals and their habitats.

The WILD LIFE Conservation Fund is dedicated to conserving Australian native wildlife by funding research and conducting educational programs and events. Through these actions we aim to give people an understanding of their place in the natural world and their need for individual and collective action for a sustainable future.

The WILD LIFE Conservation Fund was created to generate interest, inspire awareness, share knowledge and take action to conserve native wildlife. Our vision is a world where vital habitats and wildlife are respected and conserved.

Our mission at the WLCF is to generate interest, inspire awareness, share knowledge and take action to conserve native wildlife. We aim to achieve this through fundraising, hosting educational talks and local initiatives such as our school outreach programs.

We can only achieve this with your support.

At WLCF we believe in conservation through education. Working with WLCF we have the unique opportunity to impart conservation messages upon thousands each year. We can bring our guests face to face with live animals that can be seen, heard, smelt and, occasionally, touched. This can inspire interest and wonder and can create experiences that make people want to take action to conserve native wildlife.

The animals that call WILD LIFE Sydney home act as fundraising ambassadors for their wild counterparts. Funds raised through WLCF go directly towards research, education and conservation projects, which aim to ensure a sustainable future for Australian landscapes and the animals within them.

Wombats like many native animals are often subject to road collisions. This project supports Sleepy Burrows Wombat Sanctuary which is a rescue centre located just outside Canberra that specialises in rehabilitating injured and or orphaned wombats. We support this project through fundraising, education, advocacy and volunteer support which will enable the sanctuary to continue to care for orphaned and or injured wombats and construct new enclosures.

Cassowaries are found in the stunning tropical rainforest of North-east Queensland. Unfortunately with increased land clearing in their rainforest habitat, cassowary numbers have declined significantly and there are now only an estimated 1500 birds remaining in the wild. This project supports Rainforest Rescue’s ‘Daintree Buy Back and Protect Forever’ programs based in the Daintree Rainforest which identifies, purchases, then protects high conservation value rainforest and replants previously cleared areas of rainforest to create more habitable areas for animals like the cassowary. We support this project through fundraising, education, advocacy and volunteer support at annual planting opportunities which help protect and restore vital cassowary habitat.

Koalas are one of Australia’s most iconic and admired native animals. Sadly they are now also threatened with extinction. This project supports the koala research team at Western Sydney University, in collaboration with Science For Wildlife, working with koalas based within the Blue Mountains region. The project involves fitting koalas with radio collars. This important piece of equipment allows a team of researchers to track how far these koalas move, how often they encounter other koalas and, of particular interest, what these koalas eat. Researchers learn what koalas have eaten through a chemical analysis of their poo and leaves in a laboratory. We support this project through fundraising, education and advocacy which enables researchers to continue and expand their koala research and monitoring program.

At WILD LIFE Sydney Zoo we are proud to be a part of the National Tasmanian Devil Conservation Recovery Program. Our four female Tasmanian devils have either previously contributed to the conservation breeding program and are now post reproductive or have well represented genetics and are not currently required to breed. Having a non-reproductive group here is critically important to ensure under-represented genetics can be prioritised for breeding in other institutions. Our Tasmanian devils are ambassadors or advocates for the plight of their endangered wild counterparts.

WILD LIFE Conservation Fund aims to visits schools within the Sydney region to inspire pro wildlife action amongst our youngest generation. We take along some of our favourite animal ambassadors with the help of WILD LIFE Sydney Zoo staff and run interactive animal presentations. With the help of these iconic Australian animals we teach the students about the interconnectedness between humans and nature and the importance of conserving native wildlife. We also donate a small amount of native plants to the school that with the help of the students are planted on their grounds as a native bush garden that will encourage local wildlife to visit and provide food and shelter for many local species for years to come serving as a reminder of the role we can play to conserve native wildlife.