Citizen Zoo graduated from Cambridge Social Ventures in June 2017.
Idea
Citizen Zoo will be a network of people throughout the country who breed native endangered species in their homes or in an empty facility. Citizens will support us in rewilding natural landscapes, with an emphasis on the process being citizen-led and species-focused. We will provide skills and knowledge training to people and work with local conservation groups who will supply expertise on different species and their conservation needs. Citizen Zoo will push for an approach to conservation which promotes collective action and responsibility, and support people through the process of conserving and restoring their native wildlife and habitats.
People
Lead entrepreneur: Lucas Ruzo (Cambridge)
Lucas Ruzo is a social entrepreneur and conservationist, who has previously worked for an NGO which implemented nature-based solutions to mitigating climate change, by using natural capital to promote local buyin. After finishing his degree in Zoology and later Conservation Science from Imperial College London, Lucas became very interested in the underlying human systems which make the conservation sector ineffective, one of which was captive breeding in zoos. This interest led him to the idea of Citizen Zoo, which he is now working towards making a reality.
Impact
We are now living through the sixth mass extinction, a loss of species worldwide that is unparalleled to previous extinction events which have occurred in the last 65 million years. Citizen Zoo’s approach to solving this will be to allow citizens to take a proactive approach to conserving and restoring the natural world, so that solutions can be scalable and more wide spread. This idea will be purposeful, goal oriented and fun, giving citizens the opportunity to become intimately involved and invested in the future existence of their collective natural heritage, and in turn promote wellbeing and mental health as people become more connected to nature.
Get in touch
Lucas is currently researching options for a pilot project and is looking to find a species of herbivorous invertebrate (bug) not scheduled under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. In the meantime he’s working to test the wider public appeal of this concept, so please share your thoughts with him!
News about Citizen Zoo
Student and alumni news
Citizen Zoo: empowering people to restore wildlife
An organisation supported by Cambridge Judge Business School is on a mission to reintroduce wildlife back into nature with help from non-expert Citizen Keepers in the community.
Social impact
Sustainable ventures
Ventures associated with Cambridge Judge Business School programmes are involved in many areas of sustainability, from food production to aviation.