Speaker Series: Help Build a Regional Home for Wildlife Recovery
We warmly invite you to register for this free event launching Zoos Victoria’s End of Financial Year Campaign: Help Build a Regional Home for Wildlife Recovery.
Zoos Victoria operates an extensive wildlife hospital network across the state, offering care, comfort and hope to injured animals and the people who devote themselves to their recovery. Until now, northern Victoria has long gone without a dedicated facility, leaving a significant gap.
This year, we invite you to work with us to change that.
Join us for an inspiring evening as our specialists reveal the vision for the new Kyabram Fauna Park Wildlife Hospital — Victoria’s first purpose-built regional wildlife hospital. Learn how wildlife-centric design will transform recovery for injured animals and strengthen support for carers across the region.
Register today to help build a regional home for wildlife recovery.
Can’t make it in person? Register for the online stream
Meet Your Host
Dr Mark Pilgrim OBE | Acting CEO, Zoos Victoria
Dr Mark Pilgrim joined Werribee Open Range Zoo in 2022 as Director, becoming Acting CEO Zoos Victoria in April 2026; after 33 years at the North of England Zoological Society’s, Chester Zoo. He’s held many roles during this time, being everything from a Keeper, Curator and Director to finally being CEO, the post he held for more than a decade.
Dr Pilgrim has a lifelong fascination with elephants. He was appointed the first chair of the UK Government’s British & Irish Association of Zoos & Aquariums Elephant Welfare Group, ensuring significant improvements in the welfare of zoo elephants in the UK over a ten-year period.
As Werribee Open Range Zoo moves through the various phases of the expansion Masterplan, Dr Mark Pilgrim and his team will be working towards expanded facilities and landscapes for priority conservation species and a new 21-hectare habitat to welcome Melbourne Zoo’s elephant herd in 2024.