Staff at Dudley Zoo and Castle have been left dismayed after discovering a graffiti tag scratched into the glass of many of their animal enclosure windows, including the brand new Southern Cassowary exhibit.

The incident is thought to have happened late on Saturday afternoon when the 40-acre charitable zoo site was still busy with visitors who were celebrating the start of ‘Love Your Zoo Week’, a BIAZA initiative aimed at encouraging people to find out more about the work of their local animal attraction during half term.
 
Zoo Director Derek Grove said: “This is simply mindless vandalism which is utterly disheartening and which is set to cost thousands of pounds to replace or repair, following the difficult last 12 months we’ve endured.
 
“Like all zoos around the country, we were closed for the majority of the past year and managed to carry on thanks to the generosity of our visitors donating to our online fundraising page and halting our development plans so we could continue caring and feeding for our animals.
 
“Thankfully we’ve come out of the pandemic on the other side with some financial losses, but now we’re going to have to waste money repairing this damage, which only reduces the funds we have available for the care of the animals.”
 
Anyone wishing to donate to the zoo’s Animal Care Fund can do so by visiting their JustGiving page.
 
If you were on site on Saturday and witnessed any suspicious activity, please contact West Midlands Police by calling 101, quoting crime reference number 20/909587/21.