Zoos that close in bad weather

Yorkshire Wildlife Park has been closed all this week, but according to their website is due to reopen this Saturday.

I must admit the one problem I have with YWP is their pathways, they are all gravel, which I know from working their over the parks building period (winter 2008) freezes over something rotten and makes it impossible to walk on safely.

I would have thought concrete or tarmac might have been a better option, but I guess gravel is cheaper. Do most zoos do this or do you think it is simply a temporary measure on YWP's part?
 
LemurMan said:
Yorkshire Wildlife Park has been closed all this week, but according to their website is due to reopen this Saturday.

I must admit the one problem I have with YWP is their pathways, they are all gravel, which I know from working their over the parks building period (winter 2008) freezes over something rotten and makes it impossible to walk on safely.

I would have thought concrete or tarmac might have been a better option, but I guess gravel is cheaper. Do most zoos do this or do you think it is simply a temporary measure on YWP's part?
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From my own experience of walking round many zoo`s over the last few frozen winters we have had over here Tarmac and concrete paths are far more of a hazard to walk on than gravel paths,as they are alot smoother and become a skating rink far quicker!
 
LemurMan said:
Yorkshire Wildlife Park has been closed all this week, but according to their website is due to reopen this Saturday.

I must admit the one problem I have with YWP is their pathways, they are all gravel, which I know from working their over the parks building period (winter 2008) freezes over something rotten and makes it impossible to walk on safely.

I would have thought concrete or tarmac might have been a better option, but I guess gravel is cheaper. Do most zoos do this or do you think it is simply a temporary measure on YWP's part?
Click to expand...

Surfacing over gravel paths for even a small zoo is horribly expensive (in the hundreds of thousand £s).
 
London Zoo is closed today. The man on the gate said it's "just too dangerous". Really not sure what is so much more dangerous than conditions on the streets of St Johns Wood or the paths of Regents Park which remain open, 'buried' under a few centimetres of snow. Think it's a bit rubbish actually.
 
I guess its because you are paying to go into a private area and so the Zoo Authorities could be liable for accidents on their land. Whereas if people fall over in the street or in a park there is less chance of redress. (I suppose you could try suing the local council but they'd have a way out)

This bad weather if it continues could hit a lot of our zoos if they have to keep closing on and off. Visiting zoos in Winter isn't that popular but the regular trickle of visitors in the bad months could temporarily dry up.
 
On Friday it snowed blizzards actually and I went to Paignton as usual no problems.
Saturday same but no blizzards but was not allowed in but visitors who were visiting father christmas were!!!!!!!! If it was sooooo bad I would have signed a waiver saying I would take no action If I fell, but no .It seemed like it was a joke to tell me no. snow is snow and if anyone could see where I walked from it was farcicle. Who desides which snow is worst?.Lots of people were turned away shame loss of money Bah Humbug. Also I didnt think of suing them when I had an accident in the Gorilla house when a family parked a push chair behind me and i fell over it, thank goodness the baby was not in it. as I lay on the floor flat out people were actually climbing over me until I was resued by a nurse.but hey accidents do happen.
 
Suprisingly for Marwell (given their location) they've been open all weekend so I went down there today for a bit of photography. Only people there were several small families already booked on to see Santa and a few others who came for the photography, meaning a very pleasant environment and some fantastic shots of tigers, snow leopards, cheetahs, etc enjoying the white stuff. :)
 
The thing that annoys me is that London is a small, flat zoo. There hasn't been any snow since yesterday lunchtime. They should be able to clear paths and make the zoo accessible. The snow is unlikely to melt even if there are no further snow falls so what will they do, close for a week? There needs to be a better response than shut the gates at the first sign of snow, especially as we are clearly now in a cycle of colder, snowier winters.
 
Monkey World has been open all weekend and the grounds staff were doing a fab job at clearing and gritting paths. My friend and I were the only 2 people there for most of yesterday (2 other people first thing but had gone by lunch time) and today (2 adults with a child were there at lunch time). The roads around MW were all ok, apart from the hill as you leave Bere Regis, which I managed to beat but it took a while!
 
London Zoo may be small but it isn't flat. There are slopes and steps around the big cats, Mappin terraces and elsewhere that can be very slippery, and of course the two tunnels under the road where the approaches are quite steep. They don't close "at the first sign of snow". Last year it was open and beautiful (as photos on here prove) for the first day of snow; it's after that when it gets compacted that it gets hazardous. I'm sure they will open as soon as humanly possible – they have to, otherwise they lose money!
 
I guess it must be difficult as I reckon alot of staff must commute in from around London so maybe it was staffing that was the issue rather than the snow and the ice! Whipsnade was open and is today although they do say they aren't letting cars drive round, at risk of causing an argument i would guess that Whipsnade staff are perhaps more used to snow what with the zoo being on the top of a hill and all!
 
I disagree with volvox, apart from the tunnels which could easily be cleared the zoo is overwhelmingly flat. Fair enough if it's an issue with lack of staff but I was told that it was "just too dangerous" and that simply shouldn't be the case 24 hours after a snowfall of a few inches or centimetres.
 
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