Gold award for Taronga Western Plains Zoo
Ecotourism Australia member, Taronga Western Plains Zoo took home a gold award at the 2016 Qantas Australian Tourism Awards in Darwin recently; recognising and celebrating their excellence in tourism.
Run by the Taronga Conservation Society; Taronga Western Plains Zoo, located in Dubbo NSW, has an ambition to protect and nurture a shared future between wildlife and people.
The Dubbo site; sister to Taronga Zoo in Sydney, boasts wide open plains which allow larger living and breeding space for our bigger animal friends such as antelopes, elephants and rhinoceros.
Find yourself immersed in an extensive range of exotic and local wildlife, overnight experiences, educational shows and tours, as well as up close encounters with the animals.
Taronga conservation society’s leading objectives are to promote and aid the education of visitors and the community, as well as wildlife conservation and biological research.
Education initiatives by Taronga have a primary focus on community education in regards to the conservation of biodiversity to encourage community activity and further awareness.
Meanwhile, school education programs are run to approximately 100,000 school children between the two zoos annually to teach our youngest Australian’s about environmental management and biodiversity.
Taronga’s ongoing breeding programs, education and research programs demonstrate their absolute commitment to the conservation and preservation of wildlife.
Their environmental pursuit however does not end at conservation; in January this year they installed 456.67 m² of solar panel systems in an effort to reduce the zoo’s carbon footprint.
“The Zoo is committed to continuing to reduce its carbon footprint, with the installation of solar panels in the Savannah Visitor Plaza now complete,” said Kathleen Oke, Manager of Assets and Maintenance.
“The saving from this system alone is equivalent to taking 23.3 cars off the road for a year, or 426,000kms driven by a car in greenhouse gas reductions,” said Kath.
“We are striving to become more sustainable, setting ambitious targets to reduce electricity, paper consumption and water usage over the next four years as well as divert waste from landfill.”
Taronga Western Plains Zoo is one of six Ecotourism Australia members to take home a gold award in Darwin; the other gold winners were: Tasmanian Walking Company, Ocean Rafting, Fun Over Fifty, The Frames, and Yondah Beach House - articles will be published on these winners shortly.
For more information about the zoo and their activities please see their website or facebook page.