A VISIT TO the zoo is set to become even more wild if plans for a new learning centre take root.
Plans are underway for a new centre for wildlife skills and education at the Welsh Mountain Zoo, Colwyn Bay.
The facility would be open all year round, and would provide visitors to the zoo with an indoor attraction during wet weather.
Chris Jackson, Administrative Director of the Welsh Mountain Zoo, said that plans for the centre were still at “a very early stage”, and the zoo was currently securing funding for the project.
He said “We’re currently in the process of talking to a variety of different bodies and looking to match some public funding. And we’re looking to get planning permission.”
Mr Jackson added that the education centre would form part of the zoo’s contribution to the ongoing work in Colwyn Bay.
He said “What we’re looking at would be a major development and very much part of the regeneration plans within the Bay itself, alongside the work at Eirias Park and on the waterfront.”
As well as providing an attraction, the centre would also provide an educational resource for people in the area keen to study wildlife and the natural sciences.
Mr Jackson said “The particularly exciting aspect of it is that we will be providing a national centre for life sciences, and it would involve the two north Wales universities, Bangor and Glyndwr.”
It would be a very, very specialist area, but there’s huge demand for people who want to work with exotic animals, as well as professionals who already work with animals and want to train further.