I am Running For The Animal World

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I am running the 2026 London Marathon in support of the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), the charity that runs the London Zoo and a range of amazing international conservation programmes. The adult in me – and hopefully those of you who want to support my 42 km of sweat and tears – is proud to support the conservation charity, but I would be lying if I did not also acknowledge the child in me who still feels so excited at visiting the Zoo and seeing its spectacular creatures.

I have always loved animals. Their amazing looks, the vibrant sounds they produce, their idiosyncratic behaviours and their weird names. I was an obsessive collector of animal stickers in my colourful albums at age 6, with the pages reproducing fascinating landscapes with empty spots where the relevant animal images were missing. With plenty of knowledge on the page, this is where I learnt my platypuses and my echidnas, my pangolins and my tigers.

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And as a child so enthused with animals - and admittedly, 50 years ago, when the debate on animal welfare was less sophisticated, or perhaps I was too young to understand it – I felt touched every time I had the opportunity to see animals alive in a zoo, especially the more mysterious, rare and majestic. Of course, I was, even then as a child, sad for the cages, and I understood that these were not the conditions in which such proud and independent beings should spend their lives. Yet, I found a profound love and joy in my proximity to them.

As I grew up – and as an adult without kids - the occasions to visit a zoo decreased drastically, although I occasionally visited Rome Zoo and London Zoo with my nephews when they were kids, probably me more spellbound than them by the animals.

I do not need to do PR for ZSL, they have much more famous advocates like Sir David Attenborough. But, as I am putting my name and my face next to their logo, and asking my friends and relatives for donations to support them, I am aware of the potentially controversial nature of such an alliance, with the intense ongoing debate on whether zoos are sources of education or outdated relics. Thus, I wanted to look personally at what ZSL is doing, beyond the Zoo.

If you do not have the time to go through their extensive website, here are some interesting highlights. For a start, ZSL (as other modern and conservation-focused zoos) does not capture animals from the wild and put them in their zoos, unless it is for protection and conservation reasons. While I was visiting the zoo recently for an event organised for their running team (including me), they explained that the animals that we see are either born in captivity or have been moved from another zoo, to facilitate conservation breeding programmes, meaning the animals are part of a concerted effort with a population that could eventually be released back into the wild.

Often animals are born in the zoo, like the two incredible baby gorillas that were born just two years ago and that I recently saw climbing on their mothers’ backs and playing together in the large garden and the indoor gymnasium.

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Interestingly, ZSL is not only the famous London Zoo in Regent’s Park, with its beautiful 19^th century architecture that, even if a listed historical site, was not certainly planned for the best experience of the animals inside. It is also tiny: 36 acres, or 25 football fields. There is another ZSL Zoo in Whipsnade, on a 600-acre site: the space for 10,000 average suburban homes. As I write, they have baby rhinos and baby giraffes.

With a decrease of 70% in animal population over the last 50 years, ZSL is busy protecting close to 200 endangered species. Of course, we all cheer for cheetahs, but did you know that the Mexican pupfish now only lives in zoos and aquariums? Or that they work to support 16 species that are extinct in the wild, and 10 species that are threatened in the UK?

But what really surprised me was the work that ZSL does on protecting natural habitats - forests, seabeds, rivers, wetlands – which are continuously desecrated by pollution, greed, or the need for human consumption. So, they are replanting mangrove trees, restoring Sumatran forests and rebuilding oyster beds.

As an academic – and Inspire the Mind is an academic publication – I am very proud of the educational work that ZSL does, not only for school children but up to Master’s and PhD, with a program for students from less privileged backgrounds.

But most importantly – and I experience this myself – zoos can offer an experience that is mentally refreshing and can improve our wellbeing. We know that more frequent contact with the green space (forest, countryside) or the blue space (rivers, lakes, sea) can improve mental health, and so it is connecting with nature in any possible way. So much so that zoos and aquariums have been proposed as places where well-being can be improved by the connection with the animal world and the active engagement with a novel environment. 

So, if you are interested in reading more about my running, you can read these previous pieces in Inspire the Mind, including three things I have learnt from running the London Marathon, running during COVID, five groups of people I am smiling at when I am running, and whether training is good for my mental health.

And here you will have the opportunity to support my efforts for ZSL and to be updated on the progress of my campaign.