Lately I have begun to see more and more zoos on social media and in news media articles asking for public donations to help them through this crisis. And while it still is mostly smaller facilities that are asking for donations, I have now also seen several larger and well-established zoological facilities doing so.
While I think the smaller institutions are likely already in trouble or getting there, I don't know why the larger facilities are starting to ask for money also. Not all large zoological organizations are in good financial shape and not all of them have large reserves, however, so some of them might also be getting in trouble soon. And if this crisis lasts much longer I'm afraid we'll be seeing even the largest and richest institutions getting in trouble economically.
Each day it also becomes clearer that the summer of 2020 will not be a normal summer. It will not be possible to roll back all containment measures by summer, even if countries succeed in containing the epidemic by that time and are on the tail end of the epidemic curve. There still will be restrictions to avoid a resurgence of Covid-19. Large, tightly packed crowds will still have to be avoided. The roll-back of the lock-down will only happen gradually. Even in the Western countries that have begun to implement roll-back plans (Austria and Denmark) there is so far no information on the reopening of zoos and the come-back of tourism. In China it took three to four months I believe for zoos to reopen, but I'm not sure if China is a good example for how things could work out in the West.
In several countries large events during the summer months (like music festivals) are now already being cancelled or banned (or there are calls to do so). That is understandable and likely necessary. However what is less clear is what these remaining restrictions will mean for tourist attractions like zoos. They are not like music festivals with huge densely packed international crowds, but they can still draw in fairly large crowds that will not always be able to practice social distancing. Will any of them be open in any form, will there be any possibilities for recreation, leisure and tourism this summer? I don't think anyone knows at this point, but unfortunately it doesn't seem like recreational business will be anywhere near first on the list to be allowed to reopen. In part also because people will likely flock to them in droves once they do (and as is now happening in China), and that poses a big risk for new outbreak clusters.
I fear there is a very good chance that even this summer we still will not be able to do zoo visits, or to travel to other countries to visit zoos. I think there is a good chance zoos will be required to remain closed for another 4 to 6 months or more. I'm not sanguine about the chances of even large institutions with substantial reserves surviving that long with little or no revenue. We are also seeing that very few governments seem to realize the importance of zoos in terms of education, conservation, science and recreation and are willing to come to their aid to help them through this crisis, despite several pleas for help from the sector. Zoos and conservation also are definitely not going to be priorities anywhere in these hard times. And I don't think public donations will be sufficient in the mid to long term, especially as more and more individuals, families and companies begin to suffer financially and can no longer contribute to charities.
Even if zoos survive this crisis their investments in animal welfare, conservation, education and scientific endeavors are likely to suffer for years to come, undermining the stated mission of zoos, hampering wildlife conservation and probably also making zoos more vulnerable to attacks from their detractors. Those detractors are probably also going to use the Bronx zoo tiger case as an argument. Zoos are in a very vulnerable and distressing position right now and if the opponents wanted to kick zoos down for good right now they have a bigger chance than ever before. Attacks using this crisis will come and they might be successful this time.
I really appreciate all the optimistic messages and the enjoyable animal content that zoos are posting on social media, YouTube et cetera lately of them continuing to care for their animals and to further their mission in these difficult times, but that will not be what saves them or keeps them going as this does not generate revenue, or at least very little. It also pains me to even think about what might happen to the animals in collections that do end up failing and no longer being able to provide for their inhabitants.
I really want to find some reasons to be optimistic and positive about the future of zoos despite this crisis, but I am just not seeing any right now and thus I have many fears and a bleak view of the future for zoos. I really hope we can visit zoos again in the future, but I am not sanguine about what will be left of the zoological world when the time after this crisis begins.
We all need some perspective on a better future after this crisis and some form of return to our lives as they were before, but the world after this crisis will be permanently changed in some ways from the world before. It only remains to be seen just how different it will be. And what that will mean for zoos.
I really want to believe in a good future for zoos after this crisis, but right now I am only seeing massive, potentially insurmountable challenges and enormous problems. I see a lot of zoo fans still being fairly optimistic and positive about the future of zoos, so perhaps they are seeing something I am not or know something that I do not. I welcome input from others on these matters.
