Animal Adoptions FAQs

How many visits is the free e-ticket valid for?

I have an online adoption, how do I access my free ticket?

What should I do if I want to adopt an animal which you no longer offer an adoption for?

I am planning on visiting the zoo soon, will my adopted animal be on-show?

What does the purchaser receive?

The purchaser of the adoption will receive an email confirmation which should appear in their inbox shortly after the purchase has been made. If the purchaser has not received this email please contact us at adoptions@zsl.org so we can check whether your order has been successful.

The purchaser may choose to provide their address as the nominated delivery address. They should receive the adoption pack within 1 week.

How many visits is the free ticket valid for?

Your free ticket is for 1 visit, for 1 person but they are valid for 1 year. They can be used at the zoo where your adopted animal lives.

I have an online adoption (no longer available to purchase), how do I access my free ticket?

You should have received a welcome email when you were first given the adoption. The welcome email contains a link which you needed to have clicked on to activate your adoption. If you do not recall receiving this email, please email us adoptions@zsl.org so we can check the status of your adoption.

If you have successfully activated your adoption and have been able to watch the video about your animal and download your e-certificate, you will need to revisit the online adoption centre at zsl.org/adoption and log in with your details.

If you can not remember your password, please click on the 'forgotten password' option. You must log in with the email address that the welcome email was originally sent to.

What should I do if I want to adopt an animal which you no longer offer for adoption?

We would hope that even though you can not adopt your preferred animal you would still choose to support ZSL and we would encourage you to make a donation instead by visiting our donation page . Your donation will not go directly to your preferred animal but it will help us to continue the important work that ZSL does in over 50 countries around the world, as well as help towards the running costs of both ZSL London and ZSL Whipsnade Zoo.

I am planning on visiting the zoo, will my adopted animal be on-show?

We hope that all of the animals in the adoption scheme are on-show everyday however we can not make any guarantees. Our animals are sometimes visited by our Veterinary team at short notice so they may be off-show or we may have some maintenance work taking place which means that their enclosure may be closed or obscured. If the animal is likely to be off-show for a longer period of time ZSL will try and let adopters know as soon as possible via the email updates. Please ensure you are subscribed to them.

Any other questions?

If you have a question which is not covered in this list, please email adoptions@zsl.org and we will respond as soon as we can. If your enquiry is urgent please call 0207 449 6274.