Even as they reopen, zoos and aquariums from Alaska to Florida are seeing few visitors, prompting administrators to plead for support.
SAN FRANCISCO — Since the coronavirus pandemic began keeping visitors at home, the jaguars and chimpanzees at the Oakland Zoo have enjoyed the quiet, venturing out to areas of their exhibits they usually avoid.
The zoo and hundreds of others across the country were ordered to close in March — the start of the busiest season for most animal parks — forcing administrators to deal with the pandemic’s financial impact through layoffs and pay cuts. Even as they reopen, zoos and aquariums from Alaska to Florida are seeing few visitors, prompting administrators to plead for support from their communities to avoid permanent closure.
About 75% of the 220 U.S. zoos and aquariums represented by the association have reopened, but without additional assistance, they’re facing “very difficult decisions about further furloughs or layoffs and then ultimately about their survival,” Ashe said. Six in 10 members applied for assistance from the federal government’s coronavirus relief package, but that financial support runs out this month.
“People are afraid,” Ferri said. “We expected a boom from people who are not traveling and are doing staycations, but the uptick in cases in the state of Florida and all the stuff on the news are keeping people at home.”
Deutschland Neuesten Nachrichten, Deutschland Schlagzeilen
Similar News:Sie können auch ähnliche Nachrichten wie diese lesen, die wir aus anderen Nachrichtenquellen gesammelt haben.
Financially struggling zoos could be latest pandemic victimsZoos and aquariums from Florida to Alaska are struggling financially because of closures due to the coronavirus pandemic. Even after many parks reopened, attendance has remained low as people choose to stay home and avoid crowds.
Weiterlesen »
‘I have nightmares all the time’: Nurses speak out about the mental toll of COVID-19'When all this is over, whenever that is, I'll have some serious healing to do,' Krista Perry, an ICU nurse in Arizona, told TODAY.
Weiterlesen »
Coronavirus updates: Dozens of fraternity members test positive for COVID-19, officials sayA pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now killed more than 673,000 people worldwide.
Weiterlesen »