£20m mystery gift buys London Zoo new hospital where you can watch vets work

£20m mystery gift buys London Zoo new hospital where you can watch vets work36 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleJustin RowlattClimate Editor©ZSLVisitors to London zoo will soon be able to watch live veterinary procedures inside a state-of-the-art new animal hospital thanks to a mystery £20m donation.A viewing gallery will show everything from penguin health checks to ultrasounds on pregnant aardvarks and even porpoise post-mortems - things never before seen publicly in the UK.The health centre has been made possible by the zoo's largest ever gift - from an anonymous benefactor.With the keeping of animals in captivity increasingly questioned, the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), which manages the zoo and marks its 200th anniversary today, hopes the new centre will help demonstrate the enduring value of its conservation work.©ZSLA western lowland silverback gorilla getting a CT scan - the kind of procedure the public may be able to watchAccording to ZSL, the Wildlife Health Centre facility aims to bring together advanced veterinary care, scientific research, professional training, and public engagement under one roof. It will also investigate how diseases could spread from animals to humansZSL says it will build on a long-established record of veterinary innovation, which began with employing the world's first zoo vet in 1829, a year after opening London Zoo, and later included Europe's first purpose-built zoo veterinary hospital in the 1950s.Alongside delivering world-class care for zoo animals, the centre is intended to bring veterinary science closer to the public, offering visitors a rare opportunity to watch live procedures. It is envisioned as a centre of expertise for zoo medicine and serve as a global training hub for wildlife vets.Kathryn England, ZSL's chief executive, said: "Our history has shaped how wildlife is studied, treated and protected. Now, that legacy becomes a platform for action."©ZSLThe Zoological S...