Chester Zoo is one of the oldest zoos in England, it was opened by George Mottershead during the second world war in 1931. George's idea behind the zoo was to open a zoo without bars, he has achieved this over the years and the zoo has grown a lot since they first opened. If you are visiting Chester and a wildlife lover I can thoroughly recommend Chester Zoo, it is one of the largest zoos in the UK and was voted the third world's best zoo by TripAdvisor.

The past few years I have got attached to the Hi Way Elephant Family, I could spend all day with them especially the younger elephants who have such playful characters. One of my favourite young elephants Indali has such a lovely character, in April 2019 she was sadly diagnosed with the EEHV that affects young elephants in zoos and the wild. A year later Indali is doing well and enjoying life with the rest of the elephants, I am so pleased she has made a recovery. One of their campaigns We Never Forget is in memory of Bala and Hari who unfortunately passed away from the Elephant Endotheliotropic Herpes Virus, I was so saddened to read this as I had grown so fond of these 2 elephants. Through the campaign they are funding research to try and help elephants in zoos and the wild so less are affected by this devastating disease. In the future they hope to find a cure.

The Zoo's conservation organisation Act for Wildlife fund projects in the UK and overseas including teaching people how to live with elephants in their natural habitat. Due to things such as habitat loss, poaching and conflict with humans elephants are critcally endangered. Everyday 100 elephants loose their lives because there is still a demand for ivory tusks which is very sad and shocking. These are some of the reasons why these special mammals could become extinct. The EU have recently confirmed elephants could be extinct in only 25 years because of the ivory trade. For more information on their conservation projects please visit Chester's Zoo's website Act For Wildlife website www.actforwildlife.org.uk

Below are some of my favourite photos of the elephant family. For any elephant lovers I have a selection of elephant photography prints available on my online Etsy Shop. From any sales 10% of profits goes towards wildlife conservation charities and from any elephant sale a percentage is donated to Chester Zoo's Never Forget campaign, helping them find a vaccine is one of the causes that is close to my heart since getting attached to the elephants from Chester Zoo www.etsy.com/shop/natashaballetta