Wigan boy, 7, in walking challenge fundraiser for Chester Zoo

Although the zoo reopened on Monday bosses put out a plea to the public to support its fundraising campaign amid spiralling debts because of the lockdown.

As has been the case with many attractions across the country, its had to close its doors for months, and with more than 35,000 animals to take care of, chiefs say the lack of admissions has left them ‘fighting’ for their future and facing debts of £24m by the end of the year.

And thanks to the plea and support from more than 100,000 people, the zoo has managed to raise more than £2m in a matter of days.

That has been made possible by youngsters such as seven-year-old Lucas Malaki, from Ashton, who has done his bit to help.

After seeing the zoo was struggling, the animal fanatic decided to get sponsored to walk to his nan Christine Malaki’s house and back every day for a week.

His mum Samanthan Denton has done it with him too, pushing his younger brothers Isaac, one , and Oscar, 2, in a pram.

Over the week they covered about 35 miles walking from one end of Ashton where they live in Leacroft to the other end where his nan lives, and raised £1,300.

When they arrived back from their last walk, virtually the whole street came out to applaud their efforts.

Video footage was also taken of him walking, with a different animal mask on each day.

In total, Lucas walked around five miles each day and at times had to brave unsettled weather.

Mum Samantha, 33, said: “I’d been watching This Morning andit come up about Chester Zoo and I had to explain to Lucas about it being closed and struggling.

“He wasn’t impressed when I told him but he understood why it has had to close its doors.

“So he then decided he wanted to do the walk to raise money for the zoo. Lucas loves going to Chester Zoo and he has a season pass there.”

So Lucas went about completing his walking challenge, which saw him wear a special jumper designed for him with the words “I walked to save Chester Zoo, on the final day.

He will now be paying his first trip to the zoo in months on Thursday.

Samantha said: “Lucas has done so brilliantly and I couldn’t be more proud of him.

“He’s so looking forward to going to the zoo now and it will be a big day out for him.”