The boss of two of East Anglia’s biggest zoos has quit after claiming she has received “widespread abuse” following staff redundancies. 

Around 10pc of staff at Banham Zoo and Africa Alive lost their jobs last week as the charity behind the parks, the Zoological Society of East Anglia (ZSEA), said it faced  “significant cost increases”. 

Claudia Roberts, who had been director of the organisation for four years, announced her resignation Tuesday morning. 

The ZSEA claimed Ms Roberts made the decision after receiving “unacceptable” abuse.

Gerard Smith, ZSEA chair of trustees, said: “Last week, the charity announced a small number of redundancies to ensure long term financial stability. 

“This decision was not taken lightly, and we thank the whole team for continuing to be so resilient through difficult times. 

“Following this news, Claudia received widespread abuse. This behaviour is wholly unacceptable, and it is, in part because of this, Claudia is resigning.”

He added that the board had not asked her to leave, and still had “full faith in her leadership”.

Ms Roberts is due to remain in post “for the short term” while a new CEO is found.