COVID-19 effects on zoos and animal conservation

The Calgary Zoo has been forced to make the difficult decision to send its panda pair back to China due to disruptions in the supply chain of bamboo from China resulting from the Covid-19 crisis.

Canada's Calgary Zoo to return two pandas to China - CNN
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/giant-pandas-calgary-zoo-1.5566027

This has me wondering: do other zoos in Western countries housing pandas also import their bamboo from China, and are they facing similar issues?

 

I doubt that European zoos import bamboo from that far. A huge range of bamboo spp do very well in Europe.

 

I believe Memphis, Atlanta, and San Diego grew their own.

 

I remember reading (I think at the Natural History Museum in London) that the famous Chi Chi at London zoo for many years had her bamboo shipped in weekly by train from the garden of a pensioner in Cornwall.

 

Chapultepec zoo in Mexico City also grew bamboo on site and in the nearby botanical garden for the purpose of feeding the several pandas they housed from the 70's onwards.

 

I did a little digging last night on the pandas in the low countries. The information that I found from three years or so ago (so I can only assume it is still that way) said that the bamboo for Ouwehands in the Netherlands (and for Berlin) is grown by a Dutch company, while Pairi Daiza imports bamboo grown in France.

 

Do they define 'Longer' distance more precisely i.e. is there an exact restriction on distance that can be travelled?

As Maguari mentioned above, any requirement that people keep moving seems ridiculous in a Zoo, people need to stop to look at the animals, even if only for short periods. That's what a zoo is, not a walking tour...I find this idea very confusing but maybe its not still in force now.

 

The new ministerial decree published on Friday following the decisions of the Belgian National Security Council of May 13th explicitly says that travel to visit places allowed to be open, like zoos, is allowed. So there shouldn't be any worry about being fined for going to the zoo anymore, luckily.

With regards to the distance, no limits were ever set, leaving a lot open to interpretation for both citizens and law enforcement, leading to uneven enforcement in some cases. At some point there was talk of imposing limits, and the Minister of the Interior stated finding cycling 50 kilometers from home as exercise to be unreasonable in these times, but after discussion no limits were ever set.

We have however decided for the time being to not yet risk going to the zoos in Wallonia, like Pairi Daiza. We have however made reservations for Antwerp and Planckendael. Hopefully later this year we can visit some of the places in Wallonia (and maybe even go ahead with our multiple day trip to Pairi Daiza?), as it seems highly unlikely we'll be able to travel to the Netherlands or Germany any time soon.

 

I'm just so pleased I managed to go to Paira Daiza last year as it seems impossible anytime soon again from the UK. I would have liked to see the new Polar/Walrus exhibits though. Maybe next year...

 

RyanAir are offering flights to lots of mainland destinations for £19.99 from 1st July...
Also, just spoken to someone who drove from the UK to his holiday home in the Med, just this week. Straight through no problems.

 

All Danish zoos have, as of last night, finally been allowed to reopen by the government. One place (Nordsjællands Fuglepark) has already opened, and a few more (Munkholm Zoo and Jyllands Park Zoo) are following suit tomorrow. Most of the other zoos have chosen to open next week.

Randers Regnskov (and probably a few more indoor zoos and aquaria) have chosen not to open until June 8th when the ban of gatherings of more than 10 people is lifted to a higher number. They have estimated that it isn't feasible yet to only let in guests with their fairly cramped hallways. Den Blå Planet is opening this Sunday, though.

 

Some news here: Lions, bats, and pangolins have now been banned in Wuhan's wet markets:

Lion, bat and pangolin off the menu as Chinese city of Wuhan bans consumption of wild animals

NZP also grows its own bamboo with about 20 private growers plus SCBI (the zoo's off-campus research facility) providing quite a number of varieties.

 

Starting on Monday 25th May, people don´t need to wear masks while outside. Restaurants, hotels, shopping malls, all other indoor facilities or entertainment venues can open again in CZ. Some limitations like closing of bars between 23:00 and 6:00 continue. Cultural and sport events can happen again with limitation of 300 people (it will be up to 1000 starting June 22th). Mass transport schedules inland returned almost to normal regime, foreign travel is still possible only with negative PCR test (or quarantine) and thus scarce. Czech airlines started first regular lines (Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Paris) again this week and it should expand with growing demand. Most probably latest on 15th June our border controls with other Schengen countries will disappear and no quarantine or testing will be requested. Relaxation of rules for non-Schengen visitors is unclear and probably will be country of origin -specific.

This has positive impact on CZ zoos. On Monday, all their indoor spaces including restaurants will be accessible again. People can now freely travel (within country) for tourism and leisure, all tourist attractions open, trains, buses and taxi back on normal, hotels open. However, I haven´t found date when current limit number of visitors in zoos will be lifted.

Prague zoo seems to get now up to 3000 people on working day, last Saturday 6000, next weekend could see testing of set limit of 8500 for the first time. The zoo has ca 3/4 of normal attendance back. The missing 1/4 is probably due to lack of foreign tourists.

 

Short adendum to my last post - limitation of maximum daily number of visitors in zoos (150 per hectare) is being lifted on Monday 25th May. Also on same date, tickets can be purchased at entrance in person again. It will be business as usual from now on, just with emphasis on increased hygiene and distancing.

Looking back, setting that limit was rather useless measure. Only Jihlava zoo reached it on nice sunny weekend days. Other CZ zoos came not even close.

 

Your updates are very interesting Jana, thank you. It gives us some hope at a time when we are still closed with no news of changes, help or information - that there might be better times ahead.

 

Zoos in the Australian states of Victoria and New South Wales will be able to reopen with restrictions from the 1st June.

 

Most zoos in Belgium have partially reopened since the beginning of this week. There are restriction in that you can only visit if you make online reservations to assure limited visitor numbers for social distancing purposes (and several zoos have started with only allowing membership holders), that there is a circulation plans with more or less mandatory routes, that playgrounds and restaurants remain closed (although there is take-away food sold and there are some areas where sitting down with attention to social distancing is allowed), that social distancing has to be maintained and that face masks are mandatory in buildings and walk-through exhibits, and strongly recommended in busier areas.

I visited Zoo Planckendael and Zoo Antwerpen this weekend and things seem to be going relatively well. The majority of people seem to be relatively disciplined with the safety and hygiene measures.

 

Apparently the limit is still in place according to Prague's director.

 

Yaa in Calgary, they can't get enough bamboo shipments so they have to sent the pandas back to China.

 

Combination of nice weather, easment of restrictions and Tasmanian exhibit being open resulted in what exactly was feared - Prague reached its daily limit of visitors around 1pm and had to close for the rest of the day.

Prague's mayor already announced that they are negotiating with the secretary of health to lift the limit as soon as possible.