Free zoo entry for zoo employees?

nanoboy

nanoboy

Well-Known Member
I went to a zoo the other day, and the guy in front of us flashed his employee identification card from another zoo, and got free entry. Well, based on the conversation that I overhead, that is what I suspect transpired.

Do zoo employees get free entry to wildlife establishments when they flash their ID cards? (If so, that must be a pretty cool perk!)

Is it just nationally, or internationally? Large establishments only, or even small, family-run parks? Do they get a free tour too, and free encounters? (OK, that latter question was just me daydreaming a bit about how lucky they must be. :D)
 
it depends on the zoo, the country, and the organisation. In Australasia members of ARAZPA (now ZAA of course but I like the former acronym better) get free entry to ARAZPA institutions, and staff at ARAZPA zoos can usually easily arrange free entry at other ARAZPA zoos as a matter of courtesy. Most zoos/aquariums (ARAZPA or not) will let staff from other institutions in free if it is arranged prior. It is of course very rude to just turn up unannounced and expect to get in free at Zoo X just because you work at Zoo Y. If going to other countries it is a different matter. I can get in free pretty much anywhere in Australasia but there's no way I'd get in to any zoo in Asia free (except probably Singapore if it was organised in advance but I've never tried that). Having said that, most zoos are happy to have other zoos' staff visit, so a German zookeeper coming to NZ or Australia could usually arrange free entry without much trouble (depending on the zoo of course).

Free tours? Depends on the situation and zoo. Free "encounters", sometimes, again it depends on the situation.
 
The employee from the other zoo might not have been there as a visitor. Usually there is a separate staff entrance that they would use, but some people might just go to the main entrance - he could have had a meeting with a member of staff there, or he could have been there on any other business IMO :)
 
Free entry

In days gone past a letter of introduction, from your zoo director,or curator to the zoo you were visiting,generely got you free entry. Certain collections in the U.K. and Europe have system in place where even zoo members get free addmission, not just zoo staff.
 
Is it just nationally, or internationally? Large establishments only, or even small, family-run parks? Do they get a free tour too, and free encounters? (OK, that latter question was just me daydreaming a bit about how lucky they must be. :D)[/QUOTE]

I have friends who are zoo keepers and whenever we have travelled together, they have notified their department manger or curator and have had these people contact the zoos we were planing to visit in advance and provided us with a point of contact at the zoo for us to connect with.

On arrival we have gone through the general admission area and then had our contact notified by radio of our arrival.

You are going to love this nanoboy, what happens next is that we are given a behind the scenes tour of the zoo including animal encounters.

These encounters are very random and dependant on many many things including my friends speciality [usually Gorillas]area department staffing levels, wether or not an animal is new or recently placed into an enclosure, if an area was being cleaned ect ect ect.

I actually had no idea how sensitive many animals were to having behind the scenes visitors, it seems some animals could not care less and others it was out of the question.

It seems that the communication between zoos on husbandry and experience is actually not as free flowing as you might expect. The conversations l have listened to [so rarely been actively involved in] have always surprised me. l would have thought that communication between zoos, and or specific staff managing specific species were talking all the time i get the idea that they are not!

I was once listening to a very interesting conversation about the extra benefits of keepers travelling with animals in relocations, that yes most of the animals appreciated the consistency of contact, however the sharing of experiences between keepers was actually considered to equally or more important.

To be clear on just how much of a zoo geek l am, l can honestly say that the days spent going behind the scenes of a zoo with a zoo keeper friend and the assorted staff of a visited zoo [ btw you get passed around different keepers rarely staying with any one person ] have been the best days of my life.

Some highlights,

Dinner with the owners and a private tour of Gorilla Haven
Patting a baby Giraffe at Taronga Zoo.
Bottle feeding a baby gorilla at Columbus zoo.
Feeding penguins at Sea World Orlando
 
This also applies not only to Keepers but all family members of staff working at zoos.............not really helping with conservation also,Teachers with school groups are allowed in free and they are deemed as carers but do not look after the children just let them run riot around the zoo.Thankfully there are a few schools that educate those in their care. It amazes me to see people who work in and for zoos break all the rules. And they should be paying the highest price... Remember ITS NOT WHAT YOU KNOW BUT WHOM YOU KNOW..that opens doors.
Thank goodness they do not work in an MI5 situation..............:eek::eek::eek:
 
kkkp said:
This also applies not only to Keepers but all family members of staff working at zoos.............not really helping with conservation also,Teachers with school groups are allowed in free and they are deemed as carers but do not look after the children just let them run riot around the zoo.Thankfully there are a few schools that educate those in their care. It amazes me to see people who work in and for zoos break all the rules. And they should be paying the highest price... Remember ITS NOT WHAT YOU KNOW BUT WHOM YOU KNOW..that opens doors.
Thank goodness they do not work in an MI5 situation..............:eek::eek::eek:
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I am a teacher and feel your comment about school groups and teachers is grossly unfair. Unfortunately people only remember the poorly behaved groups and don't notice the ones that are well behaved.

Also what exactly do you mean about people who work in and for zoos breaking the rules?

Who should be paying the highest price?

I have found this post very hard to follow.
 
What do you mean as a teacher you did not understand the points made I said not all schools are bad but the majority are terrible..
The highest price will be paid by us as we will lose the zoos.
 
London Zoo used to have an arrangement with other zoos, so employees and volunteers at London Zoo could gain access at other zoos and London Zoo would give free entry to employees and volunteers at other zoos. I visited a few zoos in Europe and showed my volunteer card. Sometimes the cashier would make a phone call to check, but I never had any problems and was treated courteously. Several years ago, I met a group of workers from Frankfurt Zoo and took them round London Zoo. I feel this was beneficial to all.

A few years ago, ZSL stopped this reciprocal arrangement, as it lost money from keepers gaining free entry. I feel this was a false economy. Many zoo employees are not highly paid, but would probably spend some money when they visited other zoos and could also share information about the animals and how they are kept. I have found that some zoo cashiers are now hostile when I show my volunteer card and the courtesy I got before has gone. Occasionally, I may get a group discount, but Arnhem Zoo is the only one that has given me free entry as a zoo volunteer and I wish to show my appreciation of this. I think ZSL should reintroduce the reciprocal agreement, as the money lost from the entry fee could be repaid by zoo employees and volunteers visiting shops, cafes etc, as well as from providing information that could improve London and Whipsnade Zoos.
 
to be clearer, perhaps you could explain the following points you made kkkp?
kkkp said:
This also applies not only to Keepers but all family members of staff working at zoos.............not really helping with conservation also,Teachers with school groups are allowed in free and they are deemed as carers but do not look after the children just let them run riot around the zoo.Thankfully there are a few schools that educate those in their care.
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this one is clear enough. Family of staff are usually allowed in free, and while some schools don't control their students others do.
kkkp said:
It amazes me to see people who work in and for zoos break all the rules. And they should be paying the highest price... Remember ITS NOT WHAT YOU KNOW BUT WHOM YOU KNOW..that opens doors.
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I have no idea what this means at all. Zoo staff are breaking "all the rules" in which fashion, and with regards to which "rules"? And what highest price and why?
Thank goodness they do not work in an MI5 situation..............
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again I don't really understand the point you're making. The MI5 reference has what to do with zoos exactly?

and the follow-up sentence "The highest price will be paid by us as we will lose the zoos" means what? How will "we" lose the zoos? Who is "we"? Is this something to do with noisy school groups somehow? I can't follow your thought processes at all!
 
In Australia there used to be a lot of reciprocation between establishments, if you belonged to ASZK (the Australasian Society of Zoo Keepers) you just showed your card at the gate. A couple of years ago while on holidays I found some places were still happy to accept it (Adelaide and Monarto - no problems), some smaller family run places only gave me a discount (which is understandable), and other places - including one major institution that had recently hosted the ASZK conference - charged me full price.

I've been out of the zoo industry for just over ten years now, but I know if keepers were travelling around and contacted the right people beforehand, they shouldn't have any problems getting into most places in Australia.

:p

Hix
 
Our policy at the Darling Downs Zoo is that any bona-fide keeper from any zoo anywhere in the world is given free admission. We gain from this policy inasmuch as we pick their brains mercilessly!

However, we find that this policy is not a universal one. Although we were only charged admission by one zoo in NZ [out of the eleven that we visited] some of the major zoos in Australia still try to charge us admission. This, in spite of the fact that we are now ZAA Associate Members and these zoos profess to offer free admission to members. We have found that, almost universally, front of house staff have little or no knowledge of who is entitled to a discount or free entry. Unlike Hix's experience, we have found that the smaller, family owned parks are usually the better ones in this regard.

As most of our visits are at curatorial level, we tend to bypass the general admission staff nowadays. As Chlidonias and zooman have pointed out, it is a basic courtesy to notify the zoo in advance of your intended visit.

BTW - we also offer free admission for ZooChatters - well, most of you!
 
Steve Robinson said:
This, in spite of the fact that we are now ZAA Associate Members and these zoos profess to offer free admission to members. We have found that, almost universally, front of house staff have little or no knowledge of who is entitled to a discount or free entry. Unlike Hix's experience, we have found that the smaller, family owned parks are usually the better ones in this regard.
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(as far as I'm aware) it is a stipulated condition of ZAA that members of the association receive free entry to all ZAA establishments. I'm not sure how Associate Member fits with that but I don't see why it should be different. However, as you say, this doesn't always happen in practice! And yes very often the front line have absolutely no clue what is going on.

For myself, when I'm travelling I tend to pay for entry at smaller and private establishments because they need the money after all, but I usually let them know who I am. If they insist on letting me in for free then I'll make a donation. But if I'm going to be visiting several zoos I'll try and arrange free entry beforehand for cost-saving reasons (e.g. when I went over to Sydney I was visiting Taronga Zoo, the Sydney Aquarium, Manly aquarium and Wildlife Sydney or whatever it was called then, so I sorted out entry for all of them). For local zoos if I'm visiting them regularly, as I was for Willowbank in Chch and Wellington Zoo, then I'll just get a year-pass same as anyone else because its so much easier than otherwise. Over in Asia I don't even try. If I went to USA or Europe though I'd see about sorting out some complimentary visits, partly to save on money and partly for the benefits that can be gained from both sides.

Steve Robinson said:
BTW - we also offer free admission for ZooChatters - well, most of you!
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be prepared for an influx of Zoochatters!!
 
In the US it varies from institution to institution. AZA members generally are admitted at no cost. AAZK members--many offer them free admission but not all. I've found that as long as arrangements are made ahead of time with the appropriate supervisors, most places will be happy to set up a behind-the-scenes visit to many areas. Keepers generally won't ask for special treatment in sensitive areas or parts of the zoo where there might be health issues or new animals. I like having keepers from other institutions here--we all can learn from each other! This is a giving profession and most keepers love to share!
 
Rookeyper said:
I've found that as long as arrangements are made ahead of time with the appropriate supervisors, most places will be happy to set up a behind-the-scenes visit to many areas.
Click to expand...

One of the benefits of attending the annual AAZK conference - networking!

:p

Hix
 
Are these courtesies only extended to employees who are keepers, or to zoo employees in general (e.g. grounds staff, catering, ticketing, retail, guides, corporate etc)?
 
Guides, corporate and zoo horticulturists should get the same treatment. Most of the other staff just aren't interested in visiting other zoos (in my experience, anyway).

:p

Hix
 
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