COVID-19 effects on zoos and animal conservation

According to the article linked below, the Covid-19 pandemic has unfortunately led to an increase in wildlife poaching in several locations in the world. Very disturbing I would say.

Wildlife Poaching Surges Across The World As The COVID-19 Pandemic Rages On

Disturbing but not at all suprising. As there will be limited patrols of National parks and reserves due to social distancing and staff lay offs it is only natural that poachers and loggers are going to be emboldened and come out of the shadows.

I fully expect that there will be far more environmental crime this year here in Brazil and in fact the statistics on deforestation in Amazonia are already proving this point.
 
Czech Zoos are preliminarily scheduled to open again on 25th May,

Some questions, please - as we are watching your country closely!..
Do you know if -
Is this their own choice, or a Government Directive?
As this is 5-6 weeks away, what has to happen in that time to allow the plans to go ahead?
Will visitation be restricted or un-restricted, and if the former - how?
 
According to a BirdLife article there have been reports from across the world, but I could only find two report after some quick Googling, and they came from Indonesia and Mauritius.

Sadly neither really come as a suprise , particularly considering that a couple of years ago Mauritius were going ahead and "culling" fruitbats anyway despite opposition from the IUCN and several NGO's.
 
Some questions, please - as we are watching your country closely!..
Do you know if -
Is this their own choice, or a Government Directive?
As this is 5-6 weeks away, what has to happen in that time to allow the plans to go ahead?
Will visitation be restricted or un-restricted, and if the former - how?

It's part of the Government plan of easing restrictions starting on 20th April with each week some easements being made. They didn't specify much (as they probably don't know themselves), but I would say for this going ahead, it would need no significant rise in active cases in the coming days. We are now awaiting a rise in cases after Easter holidays when a lot of people let themselves go a bit, we just don't know how big rise will it be. If the rise will be major, this plan will be certainly postponed.

I would guess that the zoos will probably try to restrict it a bit at least at the start, as some visitors are already calling for it on Zoo's Facebook pages.
 
Although the lockdown in Germany has been extended through early May, zoos are one of the only groups profiting of the first relaxations. From April 20 onwards zoos (as well as museums and smaller shops) are allowed to open again, as long as they observe the usual hygiene standards. Schools and sporting venues will remain closed. For everyone not coming from Belgium or the Netherlands the cross-border checks will remain in place though and even then foreigners are supposed to go into a 14 day quarantaine.

It is important to note that this is the federal proposal, the individual states (Bundesländer) have the final say in what to do, though they generally go along with federal proposals.

Von Autohaus bis Zoo: Bund will nur wenige Corona-Auflagen zum 20. April lockern

I am curious whether zoos will self-limit their visitor numbers or whether it will be a free for all?
 
Although the lockdown in Germany has been extended through early May, zoos are one of the only groups profiting of the first relaxations. From April 20 onwards zoos (as well as museums and smaller shops) are allowed to open again, as long as they observe the usual hygiene standards. Schools and sporting venues will remain closed. For everyone not coming from Belgium or the Netherlands the cross-border checks will remain in place though and even then foreigners are supposed to go into a 14 day quarantaine.

It is important to note that this is the federal proposal, the individual states (Bundesländer) have the final say in what to do, though they generally go along with federal proposals.

Von Autohaus bis Zoo: Bund will nur wenige Corona-Auflagen zum 20. April lockern

I am curious whether zoos will self-limit their visitor numbers or whether it will be a free for all?

Presumably, this is instead of the 100,000,000 Euros the zoos were asking for.
It is very surprising that the Government has not imposed some kind of site limit.
We watch with great interest, and hope.

Although the lockdown in Germany has been extended through early May, zoos are one of the only groups profiting of the first relaxations.
From April 20 onwards zoos (as well as museums and smaller shops) are allowed to open again,


Edit - just re-read this:
The zoos will re-open on 20 April, but the public (their visitors) are still on lock-down till early/mid-May?
How does that work?
The zoos will technically be open, but people wont be able to visit - so still no income...?
How can there be a free-for-all if people are still locked down...?
 
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Just re-read this:
The zoos will re-open on 20 April, but the public (their visitors) are still on lock-down till early/mid-May?
How does that work?
The zoos will technically be open, but people wont be able to visit - so still no income...?
How can there be a free-for-all if people are still locked down...?

The Lockdown in Germany is not as strict as in other countries - it says in principle that people should not meet with more than 1 person that does not live with them and that you need to keep at least 1.5m distance from others when you're outside (excpet of people you live with).

When considering what I mentioned above you're allowed to go out to walk in a park or do some sport - so opening zoos (at least the outdoor parts and without restaurants) would not contradict to that.
 
The Lockdown in Germany is not as strict as in other countries - it says in principle that people should not meet with more than 1 person that does not live with them and that you need to keep at least 1.5m distance from others when you're outside (excpet of people you live with).

When considering what I mentioned above you're allowed to go out to walk in a park or do some sport - so opening zoos (at least the outdoor parts and without restaurants) would not contradict to that.

Thank you Jogy.
There is little comparison we may make then, and it is difficult to see how one country's experience can be used for planning by another.
In England lock-down means one of our fellow ZooChatters being followed and questioned by two Police motorcycles when buying a bottle of milk...
 
Neumünster IS in Germany, right?
If you spell it correctly, then yes. ;)

Afaik, it was suggested, yet not officially confirmed that zoos in parts of Germany are going to be allowed to re-open again on the 20th of April.

Other German zoos have already distanced themselves from Neumünster (sic) and stated that their colleague jumped the gun.
 
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The german government has postponed the decision about a potential opening of zoos to their next review of the Corona measures april 30th. So the zoos would be earliest opened at the beginning of may again ....
 
If you spell it correctly, then yes. ;)

Afaik, it was suggested, yet not officially confirmed that zoos in parts of Germany are going to be allowed to re-open again on the 20th of April.

Other German zoos have already distanced themselves from Neumünster (sic) and stated that their colleague jumped the gun.

Sorry Batto, my English keyboard doesn't do German, that was as near as I could get.
Mixed messages all round from Germany then - that wont help...
 
Sorry Batto, my English keyboard doesn't do German
No worries, there's always the good old c & p for those pesky ä, ö and ü umlauts. Not to mention for æ, ø, ě, ô etc if you head to Scandinavia or to the slavic neighbours. :D

The German federalism is indeed a bit of a bother these days when it comes to finding practical solutions.:rolleyes:
 
Article published in Australia today: Staff, volunteers pay for zoo animals' food as coronavirus cripples wildlife parks, sanctuaries

Wildlife sanctuaries, zoos and animal hospitals are being crippled by the coronavirus, with the ban on gatherings robbing them of the funds needed to feed the animals and retain staff.

The Fraser Coast Wildlife Sanctuary in Queensland's Wide Bay region is run by volunteers, cares for 300 animals and now has no way to pay for their food, in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic restrictions.

Sanctuary liaison officer David Trigg told ABC Wide Bay the sanctuary was "doing it pretty tough".

...

The Darling Downs Zoo has also been forced to close and is reportedly considering having to offload animals unless there is some sort of lifeline.

With big carnivores such as lions and many other large so-called "game" animals, the zoo was struggling to feed them.

The operators set up a crowdfunding page which had raised more than $9,000 out of a target of $60,000.

... read more
 
Daegu INI Theme Park, an indoor zoo established in Daegu by the animal trading company INI Group, which has set up and operated indoor zoos throughout Korea and considers animals strictly only commercial, is reported to be hit hard by the COVID-19 outbreak that has centered on the Daegu city.


Media reports said, while they were closing their zoo, the amount of food provided to their white lions decreased from 15 chickens to five a day, while 13 animals, including an Asian small-clawed otter, died.

b489736481153592854700.jpg
The white lion cage at Daegu Ini Theme Park. As you can see in the picture, there are no outside facilities.
This Korean shopping mall site is the source of the photo.​


I don't, never feel any sympathy for InI Group. Given the way they kept animals locked up and displayed, they deserve to be punished, but it's a pity their animals are suffering the more damage then INI group.

Given the way they've run the zoo so far, the head of the INI Group may be thinking that if an animal dies, it will just have to buy a new one. They're undoubtedly bad guys. But this contradictory situation is just so absurd...
 

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