Chester Zoo was proud to welcome Tony Fitzjohn who opened the new endangered African painted dog exhibit to the public. Tony is a conservationist from England who worked with George Adamson to create Kora national park in Kenya. Kora was built as a reintroduction project for lions.

Chester Zoo’s enclosure for the painted dog has a large area of land including two sections for the dogs to roam. It has plenty of viewing points for the visitors to see the dogs, including a cave and a bridge that is perfect for seeing the wild dogs playing. Even though, as Tony says, it is impossible to perfectly recreate an animal’s natural environment Chester Zoo has done a good job of recreating it.

What has been your hardest conservation task?

When dealing with conservation, you have to remember the situation and be able to handle politics, as you have to be everything from a politician to a plumber in conservation! 

How would you describe living with lions?

Incredibly fantastic! It’s one massive privilege, to see their thoughts, their lives and their feelings. 

How important is captive breeding?

It’s incredibly important! Whether it’s lions or rhinos, they’re losing their wild homes and their population are in steep decline. Zoos play an important role in captive breeding, as we are more demanding for our partnerships with captive breeding.

What advice could you give someone with an interest in wild animals and Conservation?

I’ve been very lucky in finding a place for myself, but whether it’s though zoo work or working for organisations, you need to remember to just do it, if you want to do it, and just hope for the best. You need to be prepared to take risks and also be prepared to suffer.