Gigit
Well-Known Member
Sigh
UK zoos & lockdown going forward...
- Thread starter TriUK
- Start date
Full Paignton Zoo post -
"The Government is expected to announce today that zoos and safari parks will be able to re-open from Monday 15th June. Wild Planet Trust is not in a position to open any of its zoos – Paignton Zoo, Newquay Zoo and Living Coasts – on Monday.
When we were forced to close on Monday 23rd March, we furloughed all non-essential staff in order to save costs so that we could be in a position to re-open when we were allowed later in the year. While the zoos have been closed we have had no income, apart from a small amount of funds kindly raised by our supporters through our fundraising campaign. This means that we have not had the staff working in order to the get the zoos ready to open earlier than we expected. We are already £3 million down on our expected financial position at this time of year.
It was announced on 11th May that outdoor ticketed venues would not be able to open until 4th July at the earliest. After recent lobbying from some of the larger UK zoos to be able to open earlier, on Monday 1st June Government responded by legally closing zoos, aquariums and safari parks indefinitely! So we were still working to a re-opening date in early July.
Whilst we have been planning for weeks for our re-opening, we have delayed implementing those plans because of the cost of bringing staff back from furlough. We were anticipating an announcement on or about 18th June allowing us to re-open in early July, that would give us the confidence to unfurlough essential staff. We will now do so but it will still take us some time to be ready.
When we are in a position to re-open, all of our indoor exhibits will be required to remain shut, so we will have to offer a discounted ticket price and restrict the number of guests coming through our doors. With the extra costs involved in implementing the required social distancing measures we have ongoing concerns about the longer term future of our zoos with fewer visitors, higher operating costs and the possibility of further ‘lockdowns’ in the future."
"The Government is expected to announce today that zoos and safari parks will be able to re-open from Monday 15th June. Wild Planet Trust is not in a position to open any of its zoos – Paignton Zoo, Newquay Zoo and Living Coasts – on Monday.
When we were forced to close on Monday 23rd March, we furloughed all non-essential staff in order to save costs so that we could be in a position to re-open when we were allowed later in the year. While the zoos have been closed we have had no income, apart from a small amount of funds kindly raised by our supporters through our fundraising campaign. This means that we have not had the staff working in order to the get the zoos ready to open earlier than we expected. We are already £3 million down on our expected financial position at this time of year.
It was announced on 11th May that outdoor ticketed venues would not be able to open until 4th July at the earliest. After recent lobbying from some of the larger UK zoos to be able to open earlier, on Monday 1st June Government responded by legally closing zoos, aquariums and safari parks indefinitely! So we were still working to a re-opening date in early July.
Whilst we have been planning for weeks for our re-opening, we have delayed implementing those plans because of the cost of bringing staff back from furlough. We were anticipating an announcement on or about 18th June allowing us to re-open in early July, that would give us the confidence to unfurlough essential staff. We will now do so but it will still take us some time to be ready.
When we are in a position to re-open, all of our indoor exhibits will be required to remain shut, so we will have to offer a discounted ticket price and restrict the number of guests coming through our doors. With the extra costs involved in implementing the required social distancing measures we have ongoing concerns about the longer term future of our zoos with fewer visitors, higher operating costs and the possibility of further ‘lockdowns’ in the future."
There is a BBC discussion site you may be interested in: Zoos and safari parks set to reopen from 15 June - PM. Unfortunately, some comments have nothing with zoos.
Yes - they're allowed to open from Monday, but not all are ready. Chester and ZSL seem to opening straight up, and Cotswold have said they'll open from the 17th. A lot of places are still to specify a date.
I think some of them must be unprepared for the speed of this ginormous U turn, from a few days ago when it was 'warned they may have to stay shut indefinately' to this.... I also wonder if there are any of the smaller ones perhaps which will have sadly reached the point of no return before this news came.
Bristol have announced that Wild Place will be opening first, with Bristol Zoo following at a later date
I'm not in the slightest bit surprised by that. Typical Boris - gives people no notice at all. Obviously its great that zoos can re-open so soon, I'm delighted, but those that couldn't afford to set up social distancing measures in case they were allowed to open soon are probably feeling quite miffed right now!
Which sounds like it's a lot of the collections from their statements. Hopefully once Boris officially announces at 5pm, less fortunate zoos will start to planned announce reopening dates.
Gigit
Well-Known Member
I love Paignton Zoo but don't feel that this makes it immune from criticism. Their last two or three announcements have been downbeat and uninspiring. I wish that as a company they could reflect the enthusiasm of their members of staff and supporters - eg a lot of people on their FB page have said they'd happily pay for full price tickets on re-opening. The 'small amount of funds' raised by their campaign stands at £92,316, if I'm reading their fundraising page correctly. Maybe a pittance to them, but not bad for a depressed area of the UK that relies heavily on tourism for its income. It's never going to reach Chester levels.
Andrew Swales
Well-Known Member
Very sorry about the failure last month... We have always processed and posted these manually in the past. Our secretary has been working from home as she has young children she cant find childminders for, and things have been a bit hit and miss I am afraid.
The new DigiTicket system should allow all tickets to be paid for and processed on-line. It is ready to roll and should (hic!) work from tomorrow morning - but please bear with us. There has been no real time to test it with such a sudden about-face, and such short notice.
We have not switched on the on-line system until we had the news from the horse's mouth as it were, rather than media reports...
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I'll be testng it for you tomorrow morning as hope to visit on a long weekend in July. Fingers crossed it all works as planned
littleRedPanda
Well-Known Member
Quite right. I for one feared peoples' excitement might be a little premature last night.
Andrew Swales
Well-Known Member
One thing I did check (following on from the point made by Taun about West Lodge Farm), is that our 'checkout' only keeps purchases in your basket for 15 minutes before automatically clearing it.I'll be testng it for you tomorrow morning as hope to visit on a long weekend in July. Fingers crossed it all works as planned
No problem, thanks for letting me know. I wasn't criticising, I thought it was probably something wrong my end, but at least that explains it, I will try again once the new system is working and hopefully visit soon, Hamerton was the first zoo I hoped to visit.