BBC diplomatic correspondent, Bridget Kendall MBE and Chief Executive of east midland development agency (emda) Jeff Moore, will be joining us to officially open “Himalaya” our new Visitor Centre at Twycross Zoo in Leicestershire, on Thursday 20th May 2010 at 2pm.

Bridget Kendall MBE, has been a BBC diplomatic correspondent since 1998, she was the foreign correspondent in Moscow (1989-94) and Washington (1994-98). Bridget was the first woman to win the James Cameron Award for distinguished Journalism in 1992. Today Bridget hosts the programme “The Form”, a show which brings together three innovative thinkers from different cultures and perspectives to put forward new ideas. Bridget will be joined today by Chief Executive of emda Jeff Moore who has encouraged, supported and partly funded the build of Himalaya. Himalaya is a ‘world-class’ building of great interest locally. It will have a positive impact on the local economy by generating new employment opportunities and is a landmark for the East Midlands Region. Himalaya is a visitor attraction in itself one that will put Twycross Zoo up in the top tier of British Zoos. The building has been designed to be an attractive central feature within the zoo, it is a single storey, grass-roofed building which blends in sympathetically with the natural local surroundings. Himalaya is free to enter 364 days a year, it is an ideal venue for visitors who wish to enjoy lunch with the snow leopards but do not have time to visit the Zoo.

The new entrance will speed up access to the zoo for visitors and the Tourist Information Centre within the building is a gateway to the National Forest and will highlight the various attractions within Leicestershire and the surrounding counties.

Incorporated within the building is a spacious 300 seat all-day restaurant with views overlooking onto a Himalayan landscape themed Snow Leopard enclosure. Visitors can enjoy their delicious meal whilst mesmerised by these fascinating big cats.

Also in the building there will also be a new corporate event and private function room available for hire, this is named “Windows on the Wild”. The conference area will encompass a “New England” themed naturalistic wetland wader bird enclosure which has exclusive viewing only for delegates hiring this facility. For great shopping there is the Bazaar and Gallery, a 4,000 sq ft state of the art themed zoo shopping experience. This includes fair trade items which have been ethically sourced and are also ecologically sustainable products.

Some of the plants in the Snow Leopard enclosure originate from the Himalayas, in particular from the Lachung Valley in Sikkim. The following plants will be noticeable in the exhibit: Acer campbellii var serratifolium, Rhododendron barbatum, Rubus splendidissimus and Rosa macrophylla which have been grown from seeds collected in the Lachung Valley, Sikkim.

In September 2008 Twycross Zoo’s Conservation Welfare Fund granted £2840 to the Snow Leopard Trust towards their ‘monitoring snow leopards to evaluate and refine conservation actions’ project.

The snow leopard is one of the most endangered big cats in the world with as few as 3,500 remaining in the wild. They are under threat from illegal trade of their pelts and bones and revenge killings from annoyed farmers who have lost livestock. The Snow Leopard Trust have being trying to conserve this magnificent cat since 1981 and have pioneered community based conservation measures to help mitigate the leopard-human conflict. These programs, which have been tailored to address the unique needs and concerns of individual communities, have been highly successful at improving the livelihoods of poor herding families in snow leopard habitat and at changing attitudes towards these leopards. However, as these cats are extremely elusive work needed to be carried to establish the population size and trends of the cats. As part of a larger snow leopard ecology study based in South Gobi, Mongolia, this project aimed to set up a robust monitoring program using a number of state of the art methods including camera trapping and genetic testing, to improve conservation efforts and help secure the future of the snow leopard. The funds from Twycross Zoo purchased 5 digital trap cameras and the necessary batteries and helped towards the faecal sample analysis work costs.