This is brilliant! I have never seen that before; I wonder if any other zoos use this?
I have seen the typical double door system in zoo aviaries, where the sign tells visitors to wait until inside door is closed before opening, but of course most people ignore it.
@Arizona Docent I've seen it a few times - I seem to recall ZSL Whipsnade has electromagnetic door locks in their lemur walk-through to prevent both sides being open at the same time.
Is this a rare feature then? I've seen it regularly in zoos and fenced sanctuaries ("mainland islands") in New Zealand - I assumed it was pretty standard.
Well then it looks like this is one area where American zoos are lagging. I mean maybe some zoos here do it, but I don't recall seeing it myself (and I have been to around one hundred American zoos).
This was exactly the system we had planned for our first walk-through aviary opened last year, as we have successfully used magnetic locks elsewhere. The advice was that as it had no panic button to allow free exit (which of course who have rendered the principle useless) it would have health and safety issues, and therefore would/could fail a UK Zoo Licence inspection. As it was also extremely expensive we could not risk the investment, and opted for a manual system with darkened porches - which is working well, so far. Maybe Chester intend to man it permanently to overcome this issue..?
@Andrew Swales There was someone in each airlock (entry and exit) at all times on Tuesday. The zoo has a lot of volunteers who are likely to be given the task.
