Chessington Zoo Zoo tells visitors what to wear

Arizona Docent

Arizona Docent

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
This has got to be the most bizarre zoo story I have heard. Chessington is telling visitors they cannot wear animal print clothing because it confuses the animals! :eek:
British Zoo Bans Guests From Wearing Animal Prints - ABC News

However, the article does state that if you wear animal print you will be supplied with Chessington clothing. When I go back to England, I will wear a zebra shirt just to get a free Chessington souvenir shirt. :p
 
How ridiculous! And surely if the animals were actually being confused, that would count as enrichment right? As long as the confusion wasn't causing massive stress.
 
isn't Chessington the zoo that's inside an amusement park? Sounds like a fishy story to me. I call hoax.
 
Chlidonias said:
isn't Chessington the zoo that's inside an amusement park? Sounds like a fishy story to me. I call hoax.
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Yes it is, although the new Zoofari(it seems to be a sort of very down-scaled version of Disney Animal Kingdom?) is further away from the amusement park area. I suspect its been done chiefly for publicity reasons, rather than any proof that animals are really confused or frightened by such clothing. I would dispute whether animals even recognise animal prints on peoples' clothing.
 
Pertinax said:
I suspect its been done chiefly for publicity reasons, rather than any proof that animals are really confused or frightened by such clothing. I would dispute whether animals even recognise animal prints on peoples' clothing.
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yes, I suspect animals aren't that stupid. They can recognise people with guns versus people without, can recognise the vets, can recognise predators versus non-predators. I don't think they are going to be confused by a woman wearing leopard-print tights.....
 
Its just another stupid publicity stunt. The Merlin group has done many stupid ones over the past few years. One about banning people from raising their arms on roller coasters due to BO. Another one about a ride being haunted. Must be hard times for them...
 
Stupid by your measure maybe. The aim of any publicity is to get people talking, to perpetuate consciousness of the brand. This story may be an unlikely one/hoax but it has achieved exactly what it set out to do: gain massive media coverage. By all accounts, Chessington has enjoyed very good visitor figures this year - no doubt helped by 'stupid' stories like this.
 
Well hopefully with those good figures they will invest in the park which is a right mess at the moment.
 
My guess is that if you went there in six months time wearing an animal patterned item of clothing, nobody would take any notice or ask you to exchange it. These sort of publicity fads tend to have a short life and then get forgotten about.
 
Paradoxurus said:
What do you mean by 'mess'?
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I read both zoo and theme park forums and have seen nothing but bad comments about the park. Due to the accident on the tomb ride they have cladded that area with tall fences to avoid anyone ever falling from the queue again. The runaway train has had all of the rockwork removed and looks awful now, and also the log flume has also had some stuff removed making it look tacky now. This season has been one of its worst from what I've heard, including the ride that got stuck and the girl falling from the queue both gaining it bad publicity too. In general people who have been visiting for some time have said the park looks a mess this year.
 
JamesB said:
In general people who have been visiting for some time have said the park looks a mess this year.
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Unfortunately it always seems like that to me on the rare occassions I visit. Its the nature of the place really- massive themepark with all that concrete/tarmac/rides/amusements etc and the hordes of non-animal orientated visitors who go there. The older animal exhibits are very much the poor relation, being sandwiched in amongst everything else. They have potentially one of the best Gorilla groups in a UK zoo yet they don't seem to value them that highly if their accomodation is any reflection. Its rundown and scruffy and there seem to be no plans now to do anything more about it.
 
I am sure it's a hoax, fed to the media to publicise the new "Zoofari" at Chessington. A half-page advert in a newspaper costs a hell of a lot of money, a "news story" is free to the organisation but has the same result in generating interest.

Whilst on the subject of a zoo dictating what visitors can and cannot wear, some while ago I read that South Lakes Wild Animal Park does not admit men who are not wearing a shirt. Not sure if this is true, but I wouldn't be surprised if it is.
 
zooman64 said:
Whilst on the subject of a zoo dictating what visitors can and cannot wear, some while ago I read that South Lakes Wild Animal Park does not admit men who are not wearing a shirt. Not sure if this is true, but I wouldn't be surprised if it is.
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While much of what goes on in Dalton is bonkers, this is excellent practice! The habit of the British male removing his shirt at the first glimmer of sunshine is simply revolting.

Interestingly, on trips to the Czech Republic over the years I have noticed that men there simply lift up their shirts, leaving their shoulders covered but revealing their bellies to the world. Which is nice.
 
sooty mangabey said:
While much of what goes on in Dalton is bonkers, this is excellent practice! The habit of the British male removing his shirt at the first glimmer of sunshine is simply revolting.
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I'm glad I'm not the only one that dreads seeing the land whales getting their bellies out whenever it reaches 15C or more!

As people have said its a publicity stunt that brings in free newspaper space, and everyone loves a publicity stunt don't they?!:D
 
sooty mangabey said:
While much of what goes on in Dalton is bonkers, this is excellent practice! The habit of the British male removing his shirt at the first glimmer of sunshine is simply revolting.

Interestingly, on trips to the Czech Republic over the years I have noticed that men there simply lift up their shirts, leaving their shoulders covered but revealing their bellies to the world. Which is nice.
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Colchester Zoo has similar signs :p
 
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