Congratulations to our team of keepers who on the 15th May completed the Tough Mudder Half challenge! The team worked together and smashed the challenge running the muddy 5 mile outdoor obstacle course!

During the event some of our team also took part in the now viral video to help a fellow participant complete of the obstacles! 

Our dedicated keepers have spent the last few months fundraising through Colchester Zoo’s charity Action for Wild to support the work of Wildlife Vets international (WVI)‘Big Cats’ projects in the run up to the big event!

WVI is a fantastic conservation project which aims to provide specialised veterinary assistance to endangered species worldwide. Part of WVIs’ focus is the conservation of two of our most iconic big cats here at Colchester Zoo; Amur tigers and Amur leopards, both of which are currently listed as Critically endangered on the IUCN Red list with just 70 Amur leopards and an estimated 400 Amur tigers left in the wild. 

Along the way our team have even been drenched to encourage more donations, with our curators here at the zoo offering their support and getting drenched themselves!

Now the challenge is complete the team known as the ‘Feisty Felines’ have raised a fantastic amount of money for some of the world’s most amazing big cats with a running total of over £3546.55!

tough mudder donation

Meet the team:

First up its Hannah and Lisa who work as keepers in our rainforest section looking after some of our smaller species such as the sloths and small monkeys.

Next its Marianne who is one of our reptile keepers, her favourite animal to work with is the Komodo dragons but her favourite mammal is the Amur tiger!

Introducing Emma and Emily who are both part of our carnivore keeping team. Emma is the head of this section of the zoo and Emily is a senior keeper, they both have a strong bond with the critically endangered Amur leopards which we care for here at Colchester Zoo, Milena and Sayan.

We then have another Hannah who is one of our primate keepers working with one of our most well-known residents, Rajang the orangutan.

Also part of the team was this year’s student keepers, Katie who works on our sealion section and James who works with our giraffe keepers! This is a great way for our young keepers to get involved with some of our conservation fundraising.  

Bex is also part of the team, she is a keeper in our Asia section who has previously worked with both the Amur leopards and Amur tigers.

The final member of the ‘Feisty Felines’ is Helen who is a keeper on our tiger section, she is excited to be raising money for a species she works so closely with and has a great relationship with Igor, Anoushka and Taiga our resident Amur tigers.

We would like to thank you in advance for any support which you can offer whilst helping Colchester Zoo’s Action for the wild and big cat conservation!