Big Bug Bonanza at Lakeland Zoo

The zoo is championing the event, and manager Jack Williams says the message cannot be overstated.

“With a third of insect species already endangered, overall they are declining by 2.5% a year.

“If that doesn’t sound much, in just 10 years we will have a quarter fewer insects, in 50 years only half left and in 100 years none, precipitating a catastrophic collapse of nature’s ecosystems long before then.”

Factors behind the decline include climate change, habitat loss, intensive agriculture and chemical pesticides.

However, we can all take simple action to help halt the decline, and the Oasis will be showing visitors how to become insect conservation champions in their own homes and gardens.

Across ‘Big Bug Bonanza’ week, Saturday August 3 - Sunday August 11, visitors will have the chance to handle, learn about, and make friends with the zoo’s tropical insect heroes, with keepers introducing exotic new six-legged acquisitions.

The whole family can get hands-on collecting data for a site-wide census of insect species onsite, and see how the zoo is developing habitats to support insect abundance and diversity.

Jack said: “Our ecosystems can repair, but only if we act now to safeguard these unsung heroes workers who support everything else on earth.”