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Zoo in Upton by Chester, Chester, England

Chester Zoo is operated by the North of England Zoological Society, a registered charity founded in 1934. The zoo receives no government funding and is the most visited wildlife attraction in Britain with more than 2 million visitors in 2019. In 2007 Forbes described the zoo as one of the fifteen best zoos in the world. In 2017, the zoo was named as the best zoo in the UK and third in the world by TripAdvisor.

The Mottershead family's market garden business was based in Shavington near Crewe. George Mottershead collected animals such as lizards and insects that arrived with exotic plants imported by the business. A visit to Belle Vue Zoo in Manchester as a boy in 1903 fuelled his developing interest in creating a zoo of his own. Mottershead was wounded in the First World War and spent several years in a wheelchair. Despite this, his collection of animals grew and he began to search for a suitable home for his zoo. He chose Oakfield Manor in Upton by Chester, which was a country village then but now is a suburb of Chester. He bought Oakfield Manor for £3,500 in 1930. The house had of gardens and provided easy access to the railways and to Manchester and Liverpool. There were local objections, but Mottershead prevailed, and Chester Zoo opened to the public on 10 June 1931. He was influenced by the ideas of Carl Hagenbeck, who invented the modern zoo concept and by Heini Hediger, a pioneer of ethology. At Chester, Mottershead took Hagenbeck's idea for moats and ditches as an alternative to cage bars, and extended their use throughout the zoo, often with species that Hagenbeck had not considered. For example, when chimpanzees were released into their new enclosure at Chester in 1956, a group of grassy islands, they were separated from visitors by no more than a 12 feet (4 m) strip of water. Nobody knew then if chimps could swim. It turned out that they could not, and today the chimp islands are a centrepiece of Chester Zoo. In 1986 the zoo was enclosed with a fence, in line with the Zoo Licensing Act 1981.

Realm of the Red Ape, an Indonesian forest themed exhibit, featuring threatened Sumatran and Bornean orangutan, opened in May 2007. In January 2009, Chester Zoo unveiled Natural Vision, a £225 million plan to transform itself into the largest conservation attraction in Europe. The first phase of the plan was to be a £90 million, enclosed African rainforest themed sanctuary containing a band of gorillas and a troop of chimpanzees, as well as okapi and a variety of tropical birds, amphibians, reptiles, fishes, and invertebrates, moving freely among lush vegetation. It included a water ride to take visitors through the exhibit. Natural Vision was to eventually include a 90 room hotel, a Conservation College, and a revamped main entrance that would link the zoo to a marina to be developed on zoo land, all to be completed by 2018. Plans went before the public for comment in June 2009. The projected Heart of Africa bio dome, along with plans for the hotel, were shelved in 2011 due to the loss of £40m potential funding when the North West Regional Development Agency was abolished. In December 2012 planning permission was gained for a later phase of the Natural Vision masterplan. One of the largest zoo developments in Europe, Islands at Chester Zoo is a £40 million redevelopment project to extend the zoo's footprint and recreate six island habitats of Southeast Asia. As of 2017 it is now open. A 600,000 square foot nature reserve was opened in April 2018. The reserve sits outside the boundary of the main zoo and is free for people to enter. In October 2018, two Indian elephant calves (Nandita Hi Way, age 3 years, and Aayu Hi Way, age 18 months), died of elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV). From 1995 on this virus disease has caused many deaths of Indian elephants across the world in zoos and in the wild. On 15 December 2018, an electrical fault caused a fire to break out at the Monsoon Forest Habitat. The zoo had to be evacuated and was closed. Fifteen fire crews attended the zoo along with two rapid response units and an ambulance. All mammals were accounted for and one person was treated for the effects of smoke inhalation. Some birds, frogs, fish and small insects were killed in the blaze. The zoo reopened on Sunday 16 December 2018. Chester Zoo monorail was an internal transport system for visitors from 1991 to 2019, but was closed as it had become unreliable and covered less than half the zoo due of the zoo's expansion to over Land from the monorail will be used for a new attraction called Heart of Africa, an open African savannah habitat and vulture aviary. The zoo are also at the same time developing The Reserve Hotel project, a collection of 51 lodges, restaurant and access into the zoo.

The North of England Zoological Society (NEZS) is the organisation that runs Chester Zoo It was formed in 1931 by the zoo's founder, George Mottershead. The zoo is managed by a team led by CEO Jamie Christon DL and he reports to the Board of Trustees. Jamie is tasked with focusing on the One Plan Business model which supports the Strategic Development Plan and Conservation Masterplan. The plan includes the development of Heart of Africa, The Reserve Hotel, new education facilities, The Square wedding venue, and from 2027 the development of African Forests. The executive focuses on education change and DEAI through its people and culture. The zoo employs over 650 permanent staff, increasing to over 1,000 during the main summer period, making it the largest zoo in the UK.

The zoo is bisected by a public bridleway, Flag Lane (formerly the Millennium Cycle Path). For many years, a single bridge (now called Elephants' Bridge), drivable by zoo vehicles and powered wheelchairs, near the elephant exhibit was the only crossing place within the grounds. A second crossing, passable by pedestrians and mobility scooters, called Bats' Bridge, opened in April 2008 near the Twilight Zone (now called Fruit Bat Forest), has improved the ability of visitors to circulate. For a long time the public entrance was at the east end off Caughall Road. In recent years the public entrance has moved to the north side with dedicated access off the A41 Chester By Pass. Thus the zoo is entered in the 'newer' part west of Flag Lane, near the elephants, and the old car parks at the east end are being built over with service and educational buildings. The new entrance was re modelled in 2012 to commemorate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. The zoo owns land outside the public area, and uses that land to grow food for its herbivorous animals. Chester's catering facilities include Bembé Kitchen (formerly the Tsavo Cafe) near the main entrance which opened in 2006. June's Pavilion (formerly the Jubilee Cafe and latterly the Ark Restaurant) is on the west of the zoo and Manado Street Kitchen is found on Sulawesi in the Islands exhibit. The Oakfield is a restaurant in a Victorian mansion house near the lion enclosure, and along with the Acorn Bar, are both used for private functions as well as catering to zoo visitors. There are children's play areas, shops, kiosks and several picnic lawns around the zoo. A second pedestrian entrance is located in the southeast corner of the zoo behind Oakfield House.

The zoo has a service that gives people the option of adopting an animal of their choice, they are also given two complimentary tickets to allow them to visit the animals. They can also become members which allows them to visit Chester and a range of other zoos across the UK free of charge for a year. The zoo has over 145,000 members. Every three months, members and adopters receive the zoo magazine on line, which provides updates and information about what is happening at the zoo.

During summer 2007, television crews from Granada filmed at Chester for the documentary series Zoo Days, a behind the scenes look at the day to day running of the zoo, narrated by Jane Horrocks. British broadcast rights were sold to Five and the first 20 part series began airing on British terrestrial TV on 8 October 2007, transmitting on weekday evenings in a regular 6:30 pm slot. A second 20 part series of Zoo Days was swiftly commissioned and began airing on 3 March 2008. The third 20 part series was broadcast from Colchester Zoo, before returning to Chester for the fourth 20 part series on 10 November 2008. In 2014 the zoo was the subject of BBC One drama Our Zoo, telling the story of the founding of Chester Zoo by the Mottershead family in the 1930s. During the six part series, the show reached audiences in excess of five million viewers and was nominated for two National TV awards. In January 2016, Channel 4 began broadcasting a six part series, The Secret Life of the Zoo, following the keepers and animals at Chester Zoo and narrated by Olivia Colman from Series 1 to 5 and Tamsin Grieg since Series 6. The series was a rating's success and was recommissioned for a second series. Series 2 aired at the end of 2016. The show has now run for ten seasons with a compilation series in 2020.