Latest news with #BristolZoo
Yahoo
11-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Hospital trials virtual reality breaks for patients
Patients who spend a long time in hospital will be able to virtually visit some well-known Gloucestershire landmarks thanks to a new trial aiming to improve wellbeing. The project has been launched to allow some patients to "visit" places like Gloucester Cathedral, Puzzlewood or Symonds Yat through immersive 360 video headsets. Currently, the trial is available to patients in oncology and the department of critical care across both Gloucestershire Hospitals. "We look forward to partnering with more locations including Gloucester Cathedral and Gloucester Rugby, to enhance this offering further in the coming months," a Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust spokesperson said. More news stories for Gloucestershire Listen to the latest news for Gloucestershire Some patients struggle with long periods in hospital and its thought that having a break through virtual reality will help, reports the Local Democracy Reporting Service. "We have already curated a collection of stunning local hotspots and we are collaborating with businesses and organisations across the county to expand our library of content," a trust spokesperson said. "So far, we have had the privilege of working with Puzzlewood, Dean Forest Railway and Bristol Zoo Project to capture some breathtaking footage." Gloucester and Cheltenham hospital staff said they are excited to see the impact this initiative will have on patients' well-being. Patient consent is required to use the headsets. Follow BBC Gloucestershire on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630. NHS staff to strike over pay and grading NHS phlebotomists six weeks into strikes over pay Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Local Democracy Reporting Service
BBC News
11-05-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Gloucestershire Hospital trials virtual reality breaks for patients
Patients who spend a long time in hospital will be able to virtually visit some well-known Gloucestershire landmarks thanks to a new trial aiming to improve project has been launched to allow some patients to "visit" places like Gloucester Cathedral, Puzzlewood or Symonds Yat through immersive 360 video the trial is available to patients in oncology and the department of critical care across both Gloucestershire Hospitals. "We look forward to partnering with more locations including Gloucester Cathedral and Gloucester Rugby, to enhance this offering further in the coming months," a Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust spokesperson said. Some patients struggle with long periods in hospital and its thought that having a break through virtual reality will help, reports the Local Democracy Reporting Service. "We have already curated a collection of stunning local hotspots and we are collaborating with businesses and organisations across the county to expand our library of content," a trust spokesperson said."So far, we have had the privilege of working with Puzzlewood, Dean Forest Railway and Bristol Zoo Project to capture some breathtaking footage."Gloucester and Cheltenham hospital staff said they are excited to see the impact this initiative will have on patients' consent is required to use the headsets.
BBC News
07-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Review into plans to redevelop Bristol zoo site
Judicial review into zoo redevelopment begins 10 minutes ago Share Save Joe Skirkowski BBC News, Bristol Share Save PA Media The site has been vacant since the zoo closed in 2022 A review has begun looking at a council's decision to approve plans to redevelop the site of a former zoo. Bristol City Council approved the plans to build 196 homes, a café, playground and conservation hub on Bristol Zoo's Clifton site after it closed in 2022. A group of residents have opposed the plans - citing concerns over a potential loss of bio-diversity and green space - and fears that public access to the site's historic gardens are not guaranteed. "We really need spaces where people can enjoy and take a respite from the city and there are vanishingly few of them," said Carrie Sage, founder of Save Bristol Gardens Alliance. "It's completely the wrong plan for the wrong site and many trees will be cut down as a result as they add car parking and a road through the gardens as a result," she added. "The importance of green spaces in cities will become ever more relevant in the years to come and having a 12 acre walled garden with so many amazing trees and herbaceous borders is just wrong," said fellow member of Save Bristol Gardens Alliance, Bill Ray. Under the current proposals - 80 of the 218 trees currently on the site would be removed - with 44 of those replanted and 470 new ones planted. Bristol Zoo originally opened in 1836 and was one of the oldest in the world at the time of closing in September 2022. The zoo maintains that it needed to relocate to a larger site on the outskirts of the city to meet modern standards and enable it to care for larger animals. "It was clear that it wasn't fit for purpose and when you look at the new Bristol Zoo Project, not only is it much larger than the Clifton site but its also got a lovely variety of different habitats which are more suitable for the different animals," said Dr Justin Morris, CEO of Bristol Zoo Project. They also state that the new development would allow access to the site's gardens for free for the first time and say that this is legally binding. "We really wanted to ensure that the gardens continued to be a public space for the people of Bristol and that's something we're really proud of in the scheme that's been consented," said Dr Morris. "For the first time in its history, it's a space that people can go into for free. "That's guaranteed because it's enshrined in a legal contract called a section 106 agreement and any planning application has to be backed up by an agreement like that and the developer will have to abide by those terms," he added. The review into the planning application will conclude on 7 May but a result may not be immediately available. Follow BBC Bristol on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630.
BBC News
20-04-2025
- General
- BBC News
Bristol Zoo: Raising baby gorillas at home an 'amazing experience'
A zookeeper has described what it felt like to hand-rear two baby gorillas who were rejected by their mothers. Alan Toyne, who spent 14 years working at Bristol Zoo, raised two infant gorillas - including one in his own home. He has now published a memoir, Gorillas in Our Midst, about the "amazing" experience. "[They're] just very hairy versions" of human children," Mr Toyne told BBC Radio Bristol. Starting out as a volunteer keeper, Mr Toyne eventually became the leader of the team looking after mammals at the the zoo, caring for "everything from a naked mole rat" to the western lowland gorillas. While most of his work revolved around the Clifton site where Bristol Zoo was based, he found himself faced with bringing up a baby gorilla at his home after four-week old Alfia was rejected by her mother Kera following a difficult birth."Hand-rearing is quite a rare thing to do," he said. "It means that the zoo keeper has to feed that animal milk until it is capable of eating solid food and feeding itself." But what does hand-rearing a gorilla really look like in practice? "Afia had to come home with me in a car seat, I parked outside the house luckily [and] took her in," Mr Toyne explained. "She was pretty tiny but they grow and get pretty mobile quite quickly," he added. Eventually, he added: "She was running around the house, yanking the wi-fi router out of the wall, jumping off tables."We taught them to walk, to play and to feed - and spent a long time wearing a string vest which kind of replicates the fur of the animals - so they cling onto you wherever you go." As "incredibly intelligent animals" with "really complex" social hierarchies, it was important that Mr Toyne and his family recreated a similar environment to the one Afia and Hasani - another gorilla who was also later hand-reared by the zookeeper - would live in once they returned to the zoo. "We used to eat all at the same time because it's quite important for them to eat at the same time as the other gorillas," he said. "We'd sit around the table having our tea and she'd be eating veg, lettuce and cucumber. I say eating, she would be chucking a load of it on the floor." Both Afia and Hasani grew strong enough to return to their own species and live at the zoo with surrogate mothers. Bristol Zoo Project, which has reopened on a new site on the northern outskirts of the city, has come under recent scrutiny for keeping some of its animals - including gorillas - on the closed Clifton site while construction is under way on their new enclosures. Trespassing incidents have been reported at the former zoo site, which Mr Toyne said could have an impact on the gorillas."You've got Jock, the silverback, whose job it is to protect his family group, he's really elderly now. The stress that puts on him, with people crashing around in the middle of the night, is awful," he said. Director of conservation and science at Bristol Zoological Society, Brian Zimmerman, has previously said the incidents were being taken "extremely seriously", adding the "care and welfare" of animals was "top priority". Zookeepers also took part in a Facebook livestream where they explained that they still work at the Clifton site to provide the same level of support and care to the animals."The animal's requirements haven't changed. They still eat the same food, they still need the same enrichment and the same training," they said.
