Kids’ zoo boost Elly from Kallista and Amy from Berwick with Boomer.

CHILDREN under 16 years of age will get free admission to Victoria’s three zoos, including Healesville Sanctuary.
From 1 July those under 16 can enter Melbourne Zoo, Healesville Sanctuary and Werribee Open Range Zoo on weekends, Victorian school holidays and public holidays for free.
A family ticket will be reduced from $58 to $50.80.
Children under 15 years of age must always be accompanied by an adult for safety considerations.
The Victorian Government has provided a $10.7 million subsidy to Zoos Victoria to implement the kids go free initiative.
Healesville Sanctuary’s new director Glen Holland said it was a great opportunity to engage more people in conservation actions that help wildlife.
“As we have seen with conservation campaigns like Wipe for Wildlife, the more people that our zoos come in contact with, the more people can be inspired to help save wildlife,” he said.
Mr Holland said since the announcement was made they had been preparing for the initiative so it doesn’t negatively impact the financial sustainability of their operations.
“As a not-for-profit conservation organisation, we rely on philanthropic donations and so we have been putting forward a business case to potential donors to make sure our zoos continue to run to their world-class standard,” he said.
Mr Holland encouraged people to maintain their membership or further support the zoos by adopting an animal.
“Our zoo membership and our adopt-an-animal programs have always been very important for generating funds for the care of our animals and for the continuation of our conservation work,” he said.