Inside Te Nukuao Wellington Zoo: How Modern Zoos Actually Work (EP34 with Karen Fifield)
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Zoos haven’t always looked like they do today. The role of a "good zoo" is now about playing a crucial role in conservation and advocacy for animals - locally, nationally, and globally.
In this episode, we sit down with Karen Fifield, CEO of Te Nukuao Wellington Zoo and President of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA), to unpack what modern zoos do to protect wildlife beyond what you experience when visiting.
Karen shares how Te Nukuao Wellington Zoo contributes through wildlife hospital care, specialist breeding programmes, fieldwork, and community support - and why transparency, animal welfare, and long-term thinking are essential if zoos are to maintain public trust.
We explore how zoos work alongside community efforts, why some species are kept off display, how global animal welfare standards are set, and the role education plays in helping people take meaningful action for nature.
It’s a wide-ranging conversation about animals, people, ethics, and responsibility - and why good zoos are becoming more important, not less, in a changing world.
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The role of storytelling and experience design when building zoo habitats
What Wellington Zoo does to support local community conservation efforts
How Wellington Zoo funds their important work
The very real threat of wildlife trafficking and why working together is critical in addressing it
Why it’s important to ‘think before you like’ social media content about wild animals interacting with humans
How to avoid visiting a bad zoo
Why being more sustainabile in our everyday lives is a way that everyone can help wildlife conservation
And much more…
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Originally from Australia, Karen’s zoological career began at Taronga Conservation Society Australia and Zoos Victoria before she joined Te Nukuao Wellington Zoo in 2006. Alongside her Chief Executive role, she has also been the President of the Zoo and Aquarium Association Australasia (ZAA) and is currently the President of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA).
In 2023, Karen was recognised as one of the Power 10 Zoo and Aquarium Blooloop Top 50 Influencers internationally, and in 2016 became a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit MNZM for services to Business and Animal Welfare.
Under Karen’s leadership, Te Nukuao has celebrated many achievements. In 2009, Te Kōhanga The Nest, a state-of-the-art veterinary hospital, opened. The Zoo was the first Toitū carbon zero-certified zoo in the world in 2013 and won the inaugural WAZA Environmental Sustainability Award in 2018.
In 2024, Mana Whenua gifted the Zoo its te reo name, Te Nukuao Tūroa o Te Whanganui a Tara, which tells the story of the Zoo’s commitment to conservation and care for communities, wildlife and wild places.
🔗Learn more:
Website: www.wellingtonzoo.com
WAZA website: www.waza.org
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The People Helping Nature podcast is brought to you by Conservation Amplified, a registered New Zealand charity.
We are on a mission to help make conservation mainstream by amplifying the awesome stuff people are doing to help nature all around Aotearoa New Zealand.
Because when people are aware, connected to the ecosystems around them and care enough to take positive action, only then will we see lasting change.
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