Mowgli Street Food teams up with Chester Zoo to help prevent wildlife extinction

Celebrity chef and TV presenter Nisha Katona commits her much-loved Mowgli restaurant group to protecting endangered species and precious habitats in India and Borneo.

The UK’s biggest Indian restaurant chain, Mowgli Street Food, has teamed up with Chester Zoo to prevent wildlife extinction.

The new partnership, which is driven by a shared vision to address the survival challenges facing endangered species, is aiming to protect precious habitats and boost the conservation of elephants in India and orangutans in Borneo.

Drawing on inspiration from experiences working alongside the zoo’s conservationist in Assam in northeastern India, where vital efforts are already underway to protect species like endangered Asian elephants, Mowgli has committed to supporting wildlife recovery and thriving ecosystems.

The restaurant was created with charitable giving central to its values – with the key aims of enriching the lives of its teams and giving back to the communities it serves. The Mowgli Trust was set up in 2018 by Mowgli’s founder, Nisha Katona MBE, to specifically raise funds for local charities by inviting guests to voluntarily add a £1 donation onto their bill. Since the restaurant business opened in 2014, it has gone on to raise over £1.8million for both local and international charities.

Credit: Mowgli Street Food / Chester Zoo

Nisha Katona, founder and CEO of Mowgli Street Food, said:

“Mowgli exists to enrich lives in the places she goes. We love that our partnership with Chester Zoo lifts our ambitions from our high street communities and local charities, into the realms of preventing the extinction of species such as magnificent Asian elephants in India and orangutans in Borneo.

“Together we are proud to be building a sustainable future for our planet and protecting our world’s most vulnerable species.”

Wildlife experts are warning of a global extinction crisis with the UN estimating that more than one million species could become extinct in a generation.

In the case of the Asian elephant, recent estimates suggest fewer than 40,000 now remain. The species is listed as endangered on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List, threatened by habitat loss, poaching, disease and direct conflict with humans.

Jamie Christon, Chief Executive Officer at Chester Zoo, added:

“Right now we’re facing a global biodiversity crisis. Never before has nature been in need of more help. That’s why we must think outside of the box in order to make a real difference and ensure a greener, more sustainable and brighter future for our planet, both for people and wildlife.

“Unlikely collaborations, such as this one between Chester Zoo and Mowgli Street Food, can really make that difference and bring about positive change. Our new partnership will enable us to further our vital work in places such Assam in India where, for more than a decade, we’ve been working alongside our field conservation partners to successfully protect wild elephants and the people who live alongside them. Through combining our skills, resources and knowledge we can really have an impact on the global effort to protect and restore biodiversity.”