REJOICE AS UK ZOOS RE-OPEN!

Despite a plethora of challenges, UK zoos are now fully open and their invaluable education can start to flow again.

Zoos play a pivotal roll in conservation. By inspiring young people to love exotic animals and giving them access to zoological education otherwise omitted in our national curriculum, zoos are the catalyst for creating generations of zoologists, conservationists, scientists, and keepers alike. Aside from their dedicated global conservation efforts and scientific research, having an open door has immense ripples in the way we view wildlife. Therefore, the closure of many zoos in the UK over the last 12 months has been challenging to say the least. Upkeeping animal welfare without consistent income has been a main priority for many zoos, but with doors now open, we have spoken to just some of the zoos who have rejoiced as lockdown is lifted.

A picture of recovery

Tropiquaria Zoo in West Somerset was closed for a total of 267 days throughout the three lockdowns. Only one government grant provided relief for the zoo causing great tension. However, they are now open once again.

Chris Moiser at Tropiquaria Zoo said: “We knew from the start that it was going to be long (and might not be over now). So, our strategy was loving our staff and our visitors and trust in fate, but to communicate all the time. We went public with our fears, set up donation sites for cash and food, and later building materials, realising people would be cleaning out their garages. Ultimately, we received over £3,000 worth of materials which we could use. I did a daily blog on Facebook; the rule was always something positive, always a pic of our animals, always a piece of music suggested and a list of what people could donate that would be of most use over the next few days. We took every media opportunity we could - hence we appeared on “Mary Berry saves Christmas” a wonderful experience that brought the staff even closer together.”

Now we approach the end of lockdown, Chris explained: “Re-opening went well, we re-opened on 17th May. For first half term our visitor numbers were great despite the local holiday camps operating at less than normal capacity due to staff shortages. We have done a lot through our volunteers whilst closed. We now have 2 new displays at the front of the building, guinea pigs and ferrets. Not too adventurous, but research during lockdown showed that some of the biggest zoos in the world had these two species listed as favourites even when they were competing with giant pandas etc. The cages were built from recycled play equipment.”

A similar air of optimism and community support happened at Ark Wildlife Park in Lincolnshire. Like many others, this zoo created a wish list to upkeep the zoo. Jamie Mintram at Ark Wildlife Park said: “We were blown away with the public support we received, as with many zoos we set up a crowdfunder page and the response was amazing as well as the Buy a bag scheme where people could purchase food for the animals. We had items from our Amazon wish list delivered daily from our supporters with everything from enrichment items for the animals to wheelbarrows and tools to help make our work easier, this support certainly kept us going both financially but also boosted our moral on the most difficult days knowing people were thinking about us.”

“We were finally able to re-open on May 17th, having to wait until then due to large areas of the site being indoors, re-opeing even with limiting the daily number of tickets for social distancing reasons has gone extremely well and the site is now fully open, with our work alongside various welfare organisations now starting to get into full swing again. We have a number of exciting new projects in the pipework for this year working with primates and some unusual wildcats, we’re hoping to put 2020 and the first half of 2021 behind us as I’m sure most people are and now concentrate on the exciting developments in the future.”

For some zoos that rely on visitors from across the country, rallying support from the local community could have proven much more difficult. However, this was not the case down in Shaldon.

Zac Showell at Shaldon Wildlife Trust said: “As a zoo based in a seaside tourist-driven area, being shut during main holiday periods was a real worry. Another worry was how we’d deal with covid-19 as such as small team, fortunately we didn’t have to explore that, but it made for some sleepless nights. The reopening has gone brilliantly, we have been thoroughly supported by locals and tourists alike.”

“As one of the smallest collections in the UK, it made it easier for us to fit the very rigid constraints the Government placed on the zoo-specific funding, and we felt a higher benefit from the small businesses grants than others because of our size. Engaging with the media absolutely helped, getting a shout out from a social media influencer and a short spot on our local news meant we fundraised nearly £8000 in a week and received huge donations of food for our animals.”

“During lockdown we managed to build a new lemur enclosure! We also undertook a very large project of rebuilding our raised pathways during the latest lockdown to make them easier to access. And whats next? Well, there’s going to be a very interesting South-east Asian carnivore hopefully joining our collection this summer.”

Seasonal and travelling zoos

With many collections also encompassing outdoor play areas, seasonality is an important factor. Whilst there may be positive stories of community support, the lockdown restrictions stretching over almost two summers is bound to have had an effect.

Dawn Gilbert at Comb Martin Wildlife and Dinosaur Park said: “As a seasonal business we close throughout the winter which we have to fund with money taken during the season. When the government announced closure in March we had no funds left to fall back on. My only criticism is that it took too long to get help and when the government finally helped in May the grant did not cover the previous months we had been closed.”

“At the moment we are finishing projects we had started already but had to stop because of Lockdown. This includes our new primate enclosures. Our main focus is catching up on all essential maintenance so support from our visitors is much appreciated.”

Other exotic animal education facilities have also felt the pinch. Unable to reach their usual planned events, The Reptile House had to adapt to a new way of working. However, with things opening again they’re on track to return bigger than ever. Mitch Walker at The Reptile House said: “After the first lockdown we were able to open outside but could not offer any animal experiences as this is all we do. We offered private tours for a donation which worked well but did not cover the running costs.”

“We were grateful for the government grants which helped with some of the running costs, but we also sold one of our work vans, have a large bounce back loan and used all our personal savings to keep going.”

“Now we are open - and being small and only open for experiences means there are never any large crowds. We offer a keeper to everyone who comes who will guide them through their experience whether it be handling and learning about many of our reptiles.”