Wild Place Project
Wild Place Project is a wildlife conservation park in South Gloucestershire, United Kingdom. It is run by the Bristol Zoological Society and is the sister site of Bristol Zoo. The Park has been designed to link specific ecosystems and conservation programmes around the world, and was originally intended to be split into biomes, representing species found only in specific habitats. Current areas include: British Ancient woodland, Benoué National Park and Discover Madagascar. The species list currently includes red river hog, cheetah, zebra, common eland, meerkat, gelada baboon, Kirk's dik-dik, reticulated giraffe, wolverine, eurasian lynx, grey  wolf and brown bear. History. Wild Place Project is located on Hollywood Estate, a grade II listed estate. The estate was gifted to Bristol Zoological Society in the mid 1960s by the White family. From the 1960s to 2013 the site was used as an off show area for breeding and quarantine. The site also housed the society's nurseries and to this day grows a third of the food for the animals at both Bristol Zoo and Wild Place Project. In 2008 Bristol Zoological Society announced plans to submit plans to South Gloucestershire Council for the development of a  new 55-hectare park. The park officially opened on 22 July 2013. The original submitted plans suggested a development cost of circa £70 million. Bear Wood, an environment designed to mimic England in 8,000 BC opened in July 2019. Future Plans. Some of the biomes originally planned are: Congo Basin Tropical Forest, Central American Swamp, African Savannah, Sumatra Tropical Forest, Nepal Riverine Forest, Coral Reef and British Wetlands. Confirmed animals include Western lowland gorilla, Collared mangabey, African grey parrots, Slender-snouted crocodiles, Eastern black rhinoceros and Red panda along with the animals in the new conservation breeding centre The  species list for each ecosystem has not yet been finalised, but is likely to include manatees, bongo, Sumatran tiger, Sumatran orangutan, gibbons, jaguars, giant anteater, warthog, Asiatic lion, kudu, African hunting dog, Hamlyn’s monkey, Sulawesi crested macaque, squirrel monkey, black and white colobus, Mandrill, Toco Toucan and Malayan tapir. Development of the Park has been supported by the South West of England Regional Development Agency through a grant of £1.5million. Bristol Zoo announced on 27 November 2020 that its main centre in Clifton would close, with animals moved to its new Wild Place Project site close to the  M5 motorway. New features from the move will include a conservation breeding centre with climate-controlled enclosures, learning centre and conservation medicine centre.