As rules about sheltering in place relax, zoos are reopening to the public with modified visiting arrangements. With drive-thru routes, scheduled visits and a virtual tour, here’s a look at some of the zoos in Canada and around the world that are reopening their doors to visitors.
Touring, safari style
Members of the media take a safari-style driving tour of the Toronto Zoo prior to its reopening on Saturday. “The prebooked driving route would allow guests to see the zoo’s animals from the comfort and safety of their own vehicle,” spokesperson Amanda Chambers told CBC News, adding the zoo’s 3.4-kilometre route goes above and beyond the Ontario government’s framework to reopen the province as the spread of COVID-19 slows.
(Evan Mitsui/CBC)
(Evan Mitsui/CBC)
Advance planning
While the Berlin Zoo closed to guests March 17 because of coronavirus-related restrictions, visiting the zoo is now possible with pre-booked, scheduled tickets.
(Tobias Schwarz/AFP/Getty Images)
Questions and answers
Zookeeper Kim Richards answers questions and displays Monty the ball python to guests at the Cruise the Zoo drive-thru program at the Phoenix Zoo in Phoenix, Ariz., on Monday.
(Caitlin O’Hara/Reuters)
Eye of the tiger
Chiafa, a white Bengal tiger, made his first public appearance on May 14 at the Sofia Zoo in Sofia, Bulgaria. The zoo reopened this week after being closed for two months because of the pandemic.
(Stoyan Nenov/Reuters)
Safety first
An employee, wearing a vest depicting physical distancing measures, looks at giraffes during the reopening of Blijdorp Zoo in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, on May 20. To avoid crowding, the zoo will first open for season ticket holders, then daily visitors.
(Marco de Swart/ANP/AFP/Getty Images)
People visit the Bordeaux-Pessac Zoo in Pessac, France on Wednesday. Placards warn that face masks are mandatory and ask visitors to maintain distance from each other.
(Mehdi Fedouach/AFP/Getty Images)
Drive-thru
Guests drive their vehicles through the Phoenix Zoo, in Phoenix, Ariz., on May 9. The zoo has lost over $4 million since closing in March due to the pandemic. In an effort to generate revenue to feed and care for the animals, the zoo began allowing people to drive through the park to view the animals from their own vehicles. The “Cruise the Zoo” is scheduled to run through May.
(Matt York/The Associated Press)
Virtual tours
Robot-maker ZMP and Chiba Zoological Park, which temporarily closed due to the pandemic, will allow children quarantined at home to virtually tour the zoo through a remote controlled robot with a 360-degree camera in Chiba, Japan.
(Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images)
Feeding time
A zookeeper wearing a protective face mask feeds a giraffe in its enclosure on the reopening day of Pairi Daiza animal park in Brugelette on Monday.
(Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP/Getty Images)
Still closed
Many other zoos around the world remain closed. Bandung zoo in West Java, Indonesia, which shut on March 23, needs more than 400 kilograms of fruit per day and 120 kilograms of meat every other day, zoo spokesman Sulhan Syafi’i told Reuters. The zoo relies on donations to keep its animals alive and says it may resort to culling some to feed others. The Indonesia Zoo Association estimates 92 per cent of that country’s 60 closed zoos can only feed their animals until the end of May.
Source: CBC Canada
