I decided to make a comprehensive thread on how COVID19 precautions limit different zoos in the Czech republic and Slovakia. As I know, some of you already had plans to visit our country this year, so this might come in handy when will you be deciding if it is actually worth it. So far, most zoos still didn't announce anything about the current situation, but from those who did: Czech Republic: Olomouc - closed completely Prague - all pavilions are closed, the opening of the Tasmanian exhibit was moved to 30th May, subject to change, depending on the situation. Chomutov - public events won't happen, but the zoo is opened without limits Brno - same as Chomutov Slovakia: Bratislava - closed completely Will add updates as more zoos will make announcements.
Well, this is subject to change as you said? If not well, I’ll do Plzen and maybe Jihlava or Dvur Kralove instead of Prague
It is subject to change but it all depends on how will the virus spread, I expect it to stay like this at least to mid-April and then will the situation be assesed again.
Plzen - all pavilions are closed now Zlin - closed Yucatan house and cownose ray's exhibit Hluboka - opened without limits Jihlava - opened without limits
Our government just declared an emergency that will last 30 days. People from 13 "countries of risk" are banned from entering the country along with stricter rules on public events and other stuff being enforced. With this in place, I expect more zoos to be closed for the duration of the emergency.
Yeah, there have been couple more announcements already, so I am now waiting for others so I can put it together.
I guess 100% of Czech zoos will be closed from Friday/tommorow. Goverment has ordered all leisure organisations to close shop for next 30 days. All tourist spots are closed, castles, swimming pools, restaurants in shopping centers etc so while zoos were not mentioned directly, it is clear they fall under scope of non-essencial services and will be closed.
Well it won't be that as Ostrava and Brno confirmed that they are staying open (just with closed houses)
So after stricter rules were enforced and Zoos had time to react, the situation looks like this: Closed - Prague, Olomouc, Liberec, Hluboká, Ústi, Chleby, Bratislava, Košice, Bojnice Others are opened with restrictions (closed houses, no events,...)
Couple more zoos closed completely since my last post (Plzen, Dvur). In next days, the Czech Republic is expected to go in full quarantine (hinted by our PM today) and that would mean closing 100% of zoos as @Jana predicted.
Current situation: All Czech and Slovak zoos are open without any limits or measures. Daily attendance is unlimited, indoor spaces open. Everything is running as usual - restaurants, commented feeding, special events for public. No masks required or social distancing in the Czech republic (exception is Prague subway system and Karviná county). Restaurants and bars have no curfew. Cultural events up to 1000 people allowed. Foreign tourists from following countries can come visit Czechia without any hassle - the whole EU/EEA (prohibited are only Swedes and Portuguese), the UK, Serbia and Montenegro. Swedes and Portuguese can visit for tourism reasons but must undergo PCR test (and pay for it), testing spot is available at Prague airport.
@Jana That is fantastic news and the Czech zoos being fully open will be great for the busy summer months. Does anyone have a definitive list of Czech zoos? I don't think that the ZooChat gallery covers all of them. How many zoos in the country are there?
Around 29 licensed, list can be found here (Terarium Praha is closed and Exotika Bítovany is not there yet but they are licensed) This can be also useful to you, as this site is operated by Czech person and there are basically all public institutions keeping animals, existing or closed (but there is an option to display existing only)
I´m not sure how up-to-date that map is. For example in Litvínov, in museum of old cars, they have a petting farm with domestics +emu, turtles and some parrots, not on map. Or in Prague, several small petting zoos are run by city forestry, also not on map.
I guess it is up to some point on the decision of the author and his definition of "zoo", although, knowing him personally, his definition of the zoo is very...broad I would say
