Paignton Zoo is owned by Wild Planet Trust (formerly the Whitley Wildlife Conservation Trust) and this umbrella charity also owns Newquay Zoo in Cornwall, Primley Park and Clennon Gorge in Paignton, and Slapton Ley National Nature Reserve.

Wild Planet Trust is active in conservation both at home and abroad, often working alongside partner organisations to conserve species and their habitats.

Paignton Zoo Environmental Park developed from the private menagerie of eccentric millionaire Herbert Whitley to become one of the country’s top zoos.

The Zoo opened to the public in 1923 – its remits of conservation, scientific research and education are rooted in these early years. Herbert strongly believed that the Zoo should be a place of learning, not just recreation. On his death in 1955, a Trust was formed that became the Whitley Wildlife Conservation Trust.

Paignton Zoo was in at the beginning of the modern zoo movement. Philip Michelmore – Whitley’s friend and successor – was instrumental in founding the Zoo Federation (now the British & Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums), the body that represents top zoos in this country. Similar organisations formed at European and global levels, and this helped pave the way for co-operation between zoos around the world.