COVID-19 effects on zoos and animal conservation

[KevinB]

Belgium is currently struggling with a rapidly escalating second wave of Covid-19. Our new federal government that went into office earlier this month, with prime minister Alexander De Croo and federal public health minister Frank Vandenbroucke as spokesmen, tonight announced new measures after a conference with the regional governments. Belgium is now on the highest alert level (alert level 4) below full-on lockdown. This means, amongst others, a midnight to 5 AM curfew, tight limits on family and social contacts, mandatory teleworking for those who can, a ban on alcohol sales after 8 PM and the closure of all restaurants, cafés, bars and clubs starting Monday.

The most important change for zoos is that their restaurants and associated terraces will have to be closed again starting Monday October 18th. Only take-away for food and drinks will still be allowed.

There are still some uncertainties. During tonight's press conferences the ministers only mentioned a review of the protocols for sports and the cultural sector, so it is unclear what will happen to the tourist sector protocol. Our government is also continuing to work on our national Covid-19 barometer, partially based on those protocols, and will be updating that next Friday. So it still remains to be seen whether next week there could be different measures implemented for the tourist sector under the highest alert level.

The Netherlands are now also on the highest alert level and under what prime minister Mark Rutte earlier this week called partial lock-down. Dutch zoos are still allowed to be open, but they have had to close their restaurants and can only offer take-away food and drinks. Face masks in indoor areas (a measure that in Belgium was already implemented upon the post-lockdown reopening of zoos in May) are now also strongly recommended or mandatory in Dutch zoos.

I hope the Belgian government will take a similar route to the Dutch government and only close zoos and tourist attractions under a full-on lockdown scenario, and hopefully that is something our government will never have to implement again, and people and companies will never have to experience again.

With regards to safety measures there are I think some things they could still do to improve safety, such as again making reservations mandatory for all visitors (some parks like Antwerp and Planckendael currently do not have mandatory reservations for membership card holders), making face masks mandatory everywhere in zoos (except when sitting down to eat or drink), perhaps further lowering the visitor capacity, closing certain indoor areas and increased supervision and enforcement.

It does remain to be seen whether some planned events, such as the light festivals at Antwerp and Planckendael, will be able to take place at all. They won't start until late November and the measures have been implemented for 4 weeks, but some of them will likely have to be extended. It will all depend on what will be possible for events, but I don't think it will be much at all. I think those events will likely have to be cancelled, unfortunately.

I really, really hope that the very necessary measures our government has taken will be observed well by the people and will help to get this second wave under control so that the situation improves and we can avoid at all cost the horror scenario of a second lockdown.

One week and one Consultative Committee between the federal government and regionals goverments of Belgium later.

The restrictions have been tightened further as the Covid-19 cases and hospital admissions have kept increasing and as the situation in the hospitals has further escalated.

For zoos the biggest changes are they will have to close all indoor animal spaces and animal houses and will no longer we able to sell any food or drinks, not even take-away, probably indicating face masks will be obligatory everywhere.

How the closure of indoor spaces will be worked out practically still remains to be seen and we will have to wait for zoos' communications on that.

I'm glad zoos don't have to close completely yet, but there is still a good chance that will happen. Belgium is right on the very brink of a second lockdown, and if there aren't any signs of improvement in the Covid-19 situtations over the next week or so I think a complete lockdown might well be announced next week.

Local and provincial governments can also issue even stronger restrictions, and they can close zoos if they see fit.

 

[Eric]

It must be scary for places such as Fenn Bell Inn Zoo,Essex,that are also dependant on their pub and restaurant to help financially suppliment their running of the zoo,and for smaller zoos such as Hanwell,Hemsley,Bugtopia,and such?

 

[DesertRhino150]

I'm not sure if this has been posted here or elsewhere on Zoochat, but I figured it was worth posting.

A study on the impacts upon wildlife conservation in Africa as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak has found that overall the impacts will be strongly negative, creating a perfect storm of reduced funding, restrictions on conservation activities and elevated human threats to nature.

In the paper is a map showing some of the potential or realised impacts in Africa, as of April 2020:
- Gashaka Gumti National Park, Nigeria: this park receives 40% of its funding from a single private donor that may have to reduce support due to the stock market crash
- SANParks, who manage South Africa's national parks, relies on tourists for almost 84% of their funding
- Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Tanzanian government degazetted hunting concessions perceived to have limited financial value; due to tourism reductions, more protected areas could be viewed as financial sinks and targeted for degazettement
-Ol Pejeta Conservancy, Kenya: (home of the last Northern white rhinos) expects a US$1.8 million (50%) shortfall in 2020 due to reduced tourism during lockdowns
- Reductions in tourist money in the Masai Mara could mean local landowners and communities have less incentive to manage land for wildlife, as the money goes toward community land leases
- Chinko National Park, Central African Republic: rotation of essential field staff and food and equipment resupplies has been made difficult due to lockdown restrictions
- In Malawi, criminal deemed to be at low risk to people or communities will be released to ease pressure on prisons - the concern is that this will include wildlife criminals, including a kingpin in remand, and so undermine years of effort to curb poaching

There are a number of other examples (fifteen in all) but the list above gives some idea of the range of threats facing African wildlife and protected areas.

The full paper is included here:
Conserving Africa’s wildlife and wildlands through the COVID-19 crisis and beyond | Nature Ecology & Evolution

 

[Simon Hampel]

One week and one Consultative Committee between the federal government and regionals goverments of Belgium later.

The restrictions have been tightened further as the Covid-19 cases and hospital admissions have kept increasing and as the situation in the hospitals has further escalated.

For zoos the biggest changes are they will have to close all indoor animal spaces and animal houses and will no longer we able to sell any food or drinks, not even take-away, probably indicating face masks will be obligatory everywhere.

How the closure of indoor spaces will be worked out practically still remains to be seen and we will have to wait for zoos' communications on that.

I'm glad zoos don't have to close completely yet, but there is still a good chance that will happen. Belgium is right on the very brink of a second lockdown, and if there aren't any signs of improvement in the Covid-19 situtations over the next week or so I think a complete lockdown might well be announced next week.

Local and provincial governments can also issue even stronger restrictions, and they can close zoos if they see fit.

Things are not looking great in Belgium and many other parts of Europe:

COVID-19 Report - Average daily new cases




COVID-19 charts for Belgium






I'm kind of surprised that zoos are still open to be honest?

 

[Pertinax]

I'm kind of surprised that zoos are still open to be honest?

I think being essentially outdoor attractions, many will prefer to stay open as long as people are still free to visit them, so those where full or higher level Lockdowns don't apply are staying open. But closure of at least some indoor areas seems par for the course in many still. Safari Parks are less affected, at least in their main drive through reserves.

 

[KevinB]

Things are not looking great in Belgium and many other parts of Europe:

COVID-19 Report - Average daily new cases

View attachment 465026


COVID-19 charts for Belgium

View attachment 465027

View attachment 465028


I'm kind of surprised that zoos are still open to be honest?

Yeah, things are absolutely not good here in Belgium. We are in a very scary situation. It looks likely at this point that the current wave is going to be worse than the first - and it only remains to be seen how much worse. We are certainly going to have more hospital and intensive care admissions than during the first wave. It still remains to be seen how bad the death toll will be this time. So far the situation in the old people nursing homes is not nearly as bad as during the first wave - although it is still not good at all.

I'm pretty dismayed that this second wave pretty much all across Europe was not able to prevented, whatever was tried to achieve that, so that we now have to go through this again. I am also very disappointed with the lack of observance of existing rules by far too many of my fellow citizens and the lack of government response to early warnings.

And that is as much as I'm willing to say about the current situation, as I am not dealing well with it mentally at all and cannot currently stand spending much time reading about or commenting on the Covid-19 stuff.

I really, really hope that this situation can still and will be turned around as soon as possible, although it will likely take many weeks if not months for things to really get better. It is difficult to be hopeful or optimistic in the current situation - not just for the future of zoos but also on a far more general level.

With regards to zoos still being open: I believe the reasoning of our government was that with limited visitor numbers and other safety measures and the closing of all indoor spaces, a zoo is not that much different from a busier park, forest or natural area, which in a highly urbanized area like Belgium are not entirely uncommon. I understand that reasoning, but we are at a point where any busier place or gathering of people, even outdoors and with social distancing, seems a bit risky. Hence why I don't really feel comfortable to the zoo myself right now.

The situation could also still change. Now that France has announced a second full lockdown the pressure will be even greater on and within the Belgian governments to go even further, especially in the French speaking south. There is another Consultative Committee between the federal and regional government on Friday, and they could implement rules similar to those in the spring, such as a limit or a ban on non-essential travel - which could affect zoos - or even more limits and closures.

During the Spring lockdown all non-essential travel by car was banned here in Belgium, but theoretically you were still allowed to walk or cycle for exercise or relaxation purposes on the streets to and from anywhere in the country, although self-evidently most people only did that in close proximity to their homes (especially since you were at the time not allowed to stand still or sit down anywhere to eat or drink). If our government again chooses to go that far, it will not be super useful to still allow zoos to be open.

 

[Simon Hampel]

It still remains to be seen how bad the death toll will be this time. So far the situation in the old people nursing homes is not nearly as bad as during the first wave - although it is still not good at all.

The fact that we know so much more about the virus and which treatments are effective and just how vulnerable the elderly are means that we should (in theory) see much lower death rates during these new waves.

 

[KevinB]

The fact that we know so much more about the virus and which treatments are effective and just how vulnerable the elderly are means that we should (in theory) see much lower death rates during these new waves.

That may be true, but we are again seeing death tolls of nearly 70 per day on average, with peaks day with well over 100 deaths, something not seen since April. So I am not sanguine about this - we are going to see a high death toll again. I hope it will not be another 10K or more deaths, but unfortunately it seems likely there will at least be a few thousand. If the impending overwhelming of our healthcare system by a Covid-19 peak much worse than the first occurs that will also unfortunately lead to a lot of preventable Covid-19 and non-Covid-19 related deaths. And a large percentage of the people in intensive care will not be making it out alive even with increased knowledge. I also hear that the patients are now on average substantially younger (50s, 60s) and whether that is a result of the current transmission of the virus in the population or if there are new virus strains around is unclear to me. And even those who survive are likely to never recover completely.

To be honest I think a new lockdown similar to or even stricter than the spring lockdown (including the closure of zoos) is at this point almost inevitable here in Belgium, and I think it probably should actually happen pretty much right now, as there does not seem to be any sign of a leveling off or turn-around with the current measures. Experts are calling for lockdown too now, and I am afraid they are right it is the only solution at this point. The current disastrous situation needs to be turned around as quickly as possible, and from what I gather from experts in the media stricter measures might be helpful to turn around bad situations and contain and beat down the virus to "acceptable" levels of transmission sooner - although admittedly there is still some room for uncertainty and debate there. But I think I would prefer a relatively short-term "firebreak" lockdown at this point to many more weeks and months of semi-lockdown - and I think that would also be better for both the economy and the mental welfare of the population. And the "firebreak" lockdown strategy is actually being used by some other countries.

Honestly I am really scared and upset about what is coming in the next few weeks here in my country. It is going to be a disaster and it only remains to be seen how big it will be.

That said, this discussion is probably more appropriate for the "Covid-19 around the world" thread so I am going to end it here.

With regards to zoos in Europe, I have gathered the following:

• France is again going into a full lockdown, very similar to the one in Spring, starting tomorrow. Given that all non-essential businesses will be closed and French people will only be allowed to leave their homes for essential reasons or for exercise within a limited distance. So all French zoos will again be closing.
• Germany is going into partial lockdown starting November 2nd. It is not yet clear what this means for zoos. The government order mentions the closure of leisure parks and leisure activities, but whether this also includes zoos is not yet clear. However given the broadness of the order and the explicit demand to avoid non-essential travel this is very likely.
• In Switzerland there will a strict face mask rule implemented at zoos.

 

[Jana]

The fact that we know so much more about the virus and which treatments are effective and just how vulnerable the elderly are means that we should (in theory) see much lower death rates during these new waves.

Not really true at least in my country. We have managed the first wave nicely, the second one is lethal to us due to our own stupidity. Mortality % is now not significantly better than in the spring and hospital capacities are stretched thin. Our healtcare system will collaps sometime in next 2 weeks and covid pneumonia cases will start to die home with just morfin (for those few happy ones) and no other care and that will mean 4% mortality of the covid ill (+ mortality of people with other problems who won´t get care). Cancer treatment got cancelled, all planned operations cancelled, whoever is not dieng has been kicked out from hospitals. Right now we have the worst cases per capita from the whole world and I live in a microregion (okres) which is the worst in my country. We have partial lockdown, not strict enough to slow down increase in cases. Czech zoos are closed indefinitely and maybe won´t open till next spring.

 

[KevinB]

Not really true at least in my country. We have managed the first wave nicely, the second one is lethal to us due to our own stupidity. Mortality % is now not significantly better than in the spring and hospital capacities are stretched thin. Our healtcare system will collaps sometime in next 2 weeks and covid pneumonia cases will start to die home with just morfin (for those few happy ones) and no other care and that will mean 4% mortality of the covid ill (+ mortality of people with other problems who won´t get care). Cancer treatment got cancelled, all planned operations cancelled, whoever is not dieng has been kicked out from hospitals. Right now we have the worst cases per capita from the whole world and I live in a microregion (okres) which is the worst in my country. We have partial lockdown, not strict enough to slow down increase in cases. Czech zoos are closed indefinitely and maybe won´t open till next spring.

Belgium and the Czech Republic have been jumping back and forth between first and second place in terms of Covid-19 case rates in Europe in the last few days, and I think the current second wave situations and the overwhelming of the healthcare and hospital systems are to an extent comparable.

I think the only thing that is currently still keeping the mortality comparably lower here is that currently the situation in the nursing homes is not nearly as bad as it was in spring, although still very worrisome.

Here in Belgium we expect the overwhelming of the healthcare system and especially of the intensive care capacity as early as late next week. Our hospitals are still trying to keep as much of the non-Covid-19 going as possible - which is different from the first wave, when all non-urgently essential care was stopped early on. But more and more of that care is now having to be stopped as Covid-19 takes up so much beds and staff. This and the expected overwhelming of the intensive care capacity will likely result in a lot of mortality that just did not need to happen.

Belgium too is already in partially lockdown (although zoos are still open right now) and the existing measures are already strict, but probably not strict enough, hence why experts are calling for a second full lockdown to be urgently implemented. It will likely be too late to prevent the overwhelming peak at this point, but it will needed to halt all non-avoidable chances for virus transmission, to flatten and drop the epidemic curve and to hopefully end the absolutely critical situation in the healthcare system as soon as possible.

At this point I am actually hoping the full lockdown will happen, it is our only remaining option now.

With regards to the effects on zoos, it will be very difficult and I really hope they will be able to reopen, if they have to close again or already have, as soon as possible (hopefully in late 2020 or early 2021) and will get at least some support to make it through.

To everyone in heavily affected countries and areas: my best wishes and thoughts, and good luck making it through. We all hope this gets better ASAP and will not have to happen again.

 

[KevinB]

As expected, due to the Covid-19 case rates and the hospital admissions that are still not showing any signs of slowing down or flattening, today's Consultative Committee has announced further restrictions, which our prime minister called a "tighter lockdown".

Aside from among others the closure of all-non essential shops and holiday resorts and further restrictions on contacts between different households, the restrictions also sadly include the closure of zoos and animal parks . As much as I had expected this restriction to occur, as any larger movement and gathering of people really to be avoided right now, it still saddens me. And it really angers me that it has gotten to this point due to stupidly irresponsible behavior and a lack of early action.

This closure will last at least six weeks, starting Sunday November 1st at Midnight and ending at the earliest on December 13rd. There will be an evaluation on December 1st, but given the current epidemic curve and the current Covid-19 rates it seems highly unlikely there will already be any room for relaxations at that time, or whether experts and/or the governments will be willing to make any such room. It will remain to be seen whether six weeks will be sufficient to substantially improve the situation, but unfortunately an extension is not at all unlikely.

Personally I really hope the current measures will work well and result in the current situation improving as soon as possible so that this second closure hopefully will not have to last too long beyond those six weeks. I also hope that zoos will get some substantial support from the government and the public to make it through these hard times. I myself am definitely going to make a substantial donation to my beloved local zoos, Antwerp and Planckendael.

I'm not getting my hopes up high on this one, but I am still holding out a tiny bit of hope that I will be able to visit a zoo again before the end of 2020. However difficult one has to try and retain some hope and optimism in these dark and miserable days.

 

[AWP]

Dutch zoos will close for (at least?) two weeks starting today. Daily case rates are getting a bit better, but it's not good enough for the government. So zoos, museums, fun parks, cinemas and theaters have to close as part of the partially lockdown.

 

[Orcinus Orca]

Haven’t posted here,nor anywhere else for that matter,but I thought it’d be interesting to just leave this here.

Over here in Ireland we’re in the middle of a “second lockdown”,with everything closed minus schools,airports and essential services to name a few. Zoos of course are also closed.

From what I’m aware,Zoos aren’t doing amazing here. Non-profit status means they aren’t receiving much support from the government. Today,one of two of our major zoos,Dublin Zoo,announced they were financially struggling due to the pandemic. Thankfully though,due to a fundraising campaign,they’ve raised over a million euro in a day. Plus the government has stated they aim to support the two major zoos in the country (Dublin and Fota Wildlife Park) to ensure they don’t close. It would be appreciated if the few smaller zoos and aquariums got some support as well though.

 

[KevinB]

As expected, due to the Covid-19 case rates and the hospital admissions that are still not showing any signs of slowing down or flattening, today's Consultative Committee has announced further restrictions, which our prime minister called a "tighter lockdown".

Aside from among others the closure of all-non essential shops and holiday resorts and further restrictions on contacts between different households, the restrictions also sadly include the closure of zoos and animal parks . As much as I had expected this restriction to occur, as any larger movement and gathering of people really to be avoided right now, it still saddens me. And it really angers me that it has gotten to this point due to stupidly irresponsible behavior and a lack of early action.

This closure will last at least six weeks, starting Sunday November 1st at Midnight and ending at the earliest on December 13rd. There will be an evaluation on December 1st, but given the current epidemic curve and the current Covid-19 rates it seems highly unlikely there will already be any room for relaxations at that time, or whether experts and/or the governments will be willing to make any such room. It will remain to be seen whether six weeks will be sufficient to substantially improve the situation, but unfortunately an extension is not at all unlikely.

Personally I really hope the current measures will work well and result in the current situation improving as soon as possible so that this second closure hopefully will not have to last too long beyond those six weeks. I also hope that zoos will get some substantial support from the government and the public to make it through these hard times. I myself am definitely going to make a substantial donation to my beloved local zoos, Antwerp and Planckendael.

I'm not getting my hopes up high on this one, but I am still holding out a tiny bit of hope that I will be able to visit a zoo again before the end of 2020. However difficult one has to try and retain some hope and optimism in these dark and miserable days.

Four weeks into the second lockdown and today the Consultative Committee of Belgium's federal and regional governments has done an evaluation of the epidemiological situation and of the lockdown measures.

Although the Covid-19 situation in Belgium has improved very substantially and Belgium is now no longer amongst the worst Covid-19 affected countries in Europe, there is still a heavy Covid-19 load in our hospitals and the case rates still have to decrease substantially further for the epidemic to be considered under control, which our prime minister said will hopefully be the case by mid-January 2021. So Belgium remains in the "descending phase" of the two-phase Covid-19 barometer or "corona switch" that was also discussed today. As a result there will be very few relaxations at this time. Non-essential shops, museums and swimming pools will be allowed to be reopen in the coming week, with strict protocols to prevent crowding and to ensure a minimal risk of Covid-19 transmission. And there will be a slightly looser contact restriction for single people on Christmas and Christmas Eve.

Guiding values of under 800 new daily infections and under 75 new daily hospital admissions were also mentioned as a first target for when further relaxations of the lockdown measures will be possible, although a further decrease beyond those rates is also absolutely necessary and intended. Reaching those first guiding values should be possible by Mid-January or potentially even sooner, if the current rate of decrease continues.

However it remains to be seen what the effects of reopening shops, museums and swimming pools will be - and we also are not yet seeing the full effect of schools reopening after the extended autumn break. Personally I think the reopening of shops probably comes too early for comfort - and I don't really understand the reasoning behind reopening swimming pools and museums at this time. Hopefully the Covid-19 rates will continue to decrease substantially, and these factors will not slow down that decrease too significantly.

Zoos will unfortunately remain closed until at least January 15th, 2021 under the newly announced - and mostly unchanged - rules. A new evaluation is planned in early January 2021, at which time it will be decided whether and for which sectors it is possible to enter the "control phase" of the "corona switch" and which sectors will be able to reopen with strict protocols.

I can't deny being disappointed by today's decisions, but I do understand the reasoning behind at least some of them, and unfortunately I can also understand why zoos cannot yet reopen, but I had still somewhat hoped there would be some perspective for a time sooner than January. I hope zoos will be able to reopen in January, but there is I think also a realistic chance they unfortunately will not reopen until February or March 2021. I really hope they will be able to survive these difficult months. Zoos here in Belgium are unfortunately getting little to no government support.

 

[Jana]

Czech republic will enter stage 3 of its lockdown plan next week on 3th December. It means all zoos can open to general public again. And because zoos were sort of forgotten by our health ministery, they get no special rules for reopening. It means they don´t need to implement any special measures like reducing their capacity or closing their inner spaces. Also restaurants, hotels and non-essential strores are going to open on the same time (those have rules decreasing their capacity etc.).

In reality, I ´m sure all our zoos will follow sensible approach and implement stricter internal rules aiming at reducing any possible danger to visitors, staff and animals. Monkey houses or walk-through exhibits with mammals will be closed, all petting or feeding oportunities prohibited, keeper talks and events cancelled.

With reopening during advent and Christmas, the zoos will be able to get some revenue and catch the most important part of the year for donations. At least some good news in this horrible year.

 

[KevinB]

Czech republic will enter stage 3 of its lockdown plan next week on 3th December. It means all zoos can open to general public again. And because zoos were sort of forgotten by our health ministery, they get no special rules for reopening. It means they don´t need to implement any special measures like reducing their capacity or closing their inner spaces. Also restaurants, hotels and non-essential strores are going to open on the same time (those have rules decreasing their capacity etc.).

In reality, I ´m sure all our zoos will follow sensible approach and implement stricter internal rules aiming at reducing any possible danger to visitors, staff and animals. Monkey houses or walk-through exhibits with mammals will be closed, all petting or feeding oportunities prohibited, keeper talks and events cancelled.

With reopening during advent and Christmas, the zoos will be able to get some revenue and catch the most important part of the year for donations. At least some good news in this horrible year.

To be honest I am surprised the Czech Republic is opening everything up this quickly and all at once. That seems pretty risky to me. Belgium, which had about the same case rate some weeks ago, is taking a much stricter, slower and more careful approach. We Belgians can only dream about our zoos reopening at this point - and our case rates are comparable too or lower than the Czech rates. A reopening of our zoos is happening at the very earliest after January 15th (and personally I think it won't happen until just before spring or even until summer approaches).

That said, I personally do agree with the cautious approach - and in fact I think our government is re-opening non-essential shops too early (we do not yet know the impact of the schools), and has not implemented rules strict enough to prevent family gatherings at Christmas. Therefore I think a resurgence in January is very likely, which will probably substantially delay the exit strategy towards the spring.

 

[MRJ]

The Victorian Chief Health Officer said that while they had many cases caught indoors, a number of cases that could have been caught indoors or out, they have not identified any cases that must have been caught outdoors. Suggests zoos outdoors may be safe. By the way it is now more than a month since our last new case, and there are no active cases at all here.

 

[HOMIN96]

Czech republic will enter stage 3 of its lockdown plan next week on 3th December.

Funnily enough, the number of cases rised a bit few days before reopening and it is entirely possible that we will be back in stage 4 after weekend which would close the zoos again...and make a lot of people very "happy"

 

[Batto]

A personal example of the confusing nature of national COVID-19 legislation regarding zoos:

According to the latest Austrian "Lockdown Light" guidelines, museums are allowed to open again on the 7th of December, while zoos are only allowed to re-open their outdoor exhibits on the 24th of December, with the rest closed till the 6th of January, 2021.
Since my very own WdG is both a museum and a zoo (like the closeby HdN that opens on the 7th), I'm a bit confused what applies to us. And so are the officials whom I've contacted for clearance...
After two months of decreed closure, I'd appreciate to be able to welcome visitors again instead of waiting another month.

 

[HOMIN96]

Czech zoos will close again on friday 18th December as our country is back in stage 4 of anti-epidemic system. The closure will last until at least 23rd December.