Things people do that irritate you when you go to the zoo? #2

Let's not forget about the people who tap on the glass at aquariums...

 

On quiet weekdays with few other visitors, large school groups can be an important source of income for zoos. They may be a bit annoying, but they contribute their fair share to keep the zoo open and financially healthy.

 

School groups provide an increasingly poor source of income. Due to Health+Safety issues and the cripplingly high cost of coach-hire their numbers decrease annually. Their entry fees are heavily discounted, and very, very few bring spending money now, so any possibility of secondary spend has effectively evaporated. Were it not for the advertising potential of the children returning home and telling their parents where they have been (IF they remember); and for the legal requirement for Zoos in the UK to provide an educational programme (which competing attractions, like farm-parks and museums are not obliged to do) - then we are fast approaching a point where they are more bother than they are worth.

 

That they might be a source of income - but probably only a pretty modest one, as Andrew Swales explained above - does not mean that they should go unregulated or should be allowed to make a nuissance of themselves. If they enter the zoo they still have to abide by the rules that exist to ensure the safety of visitors, animals and staff. And given the chance of misbehavior with these kinds of groups I believe should reserve themselves the right to be strict with these groups.

And should not part of schooling be for children and young people to learn discipline, respect and appropriate behavior? Sure, that may be lacking in today's education, and sure, I may be old-fashioned and conservative in this respect, but I still believe in such values.

I have unfortunately heard of cases of quite egregious misbehavior by school groups - the worst I've heard of was graffitti on historical buildings with permanent makers and drawing a swastika on a babirussa with a permanent marker and also poking said babirussa with a pocket knife - and such groups have negatively impacted some of my visits, so my tolerance for these groups is pretty low. They're not all bad, probably, but those that are should not be in zoos IMHO.

 

I wonder how many of them I know personally

If it is really this way, I think there would be no harm in posting them. Zoochat is not that much big of a platform so I think it will be ok. Also as bad as it sounds, the people on those pictures won't care about it at all. They will continue in their doings until they are expelled from the zoo, it's always the same, you can see it pretty much every time when bad behavior of visitors is discussed on Facebook of some Czech zoo. We Czechs are a special bunch in this.

Anyways, if you wouldn't mind, could you send me some of the pictures in private message or through e-mail? If persons in question are those who I think they are, it would be useful for me to have those just so I can keep an eye on them whenever we meet in zoo I work in and/or they have some special requests.

Anyways, I messaged another member of said group just to confirm it, his view is a bit different than yours, but those are just some minor details that will always be different, the general notion of his report is the same.

 

I think the way @Andrew Swales describes it, isn't applicable in Europe as a whole. In Czechia, school groups are still important part of visitors demography. We have cheap and easily accessible public transport network school groups can use, even renting coaches is cheap, especially when you split the cost between all kids on the trip. Also, every kid brings good chunk of money to spend, and boy, they do spend it...food, souveniers...not all of those money goes directly to zoo of course, but it's still good to have it.

 

What you describe was the case in England decades ago; save the cheap and accessible public transport, as none has ever existed in rural England. The coach will now cost three times the zoo entry fee, maybe even more; and of the 100+ school trips we had this year, just two had spending money. This is not generally a financial decision on the part of the parents, it is the schools which usually specifically forbid pocket money, presumably because they cannot control the children in the shops.

 

Yeah I thought it would be something like that, as the education systems in UK and Czechia are very different.

 

Yh, I mean the uniform thing is just a bit annoying tho in summer... button-up shirt, tie and suit jacket as well as thick trousers in 30 degrees isn't my idea of fun...

Most schools allow presents bc the teachers want all them chocolates

 

Yes, I am sure you are right and that it is easier to 'forbid', as it levels everyone down, and some parents inevitably would slip their child more than the allowance, if it were allowed.
Our feeling is that given the relative affluence of our catchment area it is more down to the ease of managing the children, and the shop is seen as just a hassle. A cynic might even suggest, that given the level of mental arithmetic of the average modern school child (and possibly even some of their teachers), that avoiding the shop also avoids any embarrassment in this area - but we couldn't possibly comment...

 

I agree in principle with all of that. That said, my first visit to a 'proper' zoo was a 1985 school trip to Chester. At the time my experience of zoos was limited to the horrible Scarborough Zoo & Marineland, the very commercial Flamnigoland, and the tiny collection at Hornsea Potteries, with an annual visit to the then-privately owned HWP. That trip to Chester was my first experience of what a zoo ought to be like, and it started a love affair which has lasted every since.

We also travelled from Scarborough to Chester on a specially chartered train, which in itself was pretty cool.

 

People who bring their dogs into the park where I volunteer. One even had the audacity to argue with me about it, using "there was no sign". We have a sign saying we don't accept dogs except guide dogs.

 

People who tap on glass anywhere are a big annoyance at zoos.

I still don't get why people do that. They wouldn't like it if someone can banging on the windows of their home, would they?

 

They are trying to attract attention from the animal so they can get a good photo or pose to bring home and show rather than just admiring the animal and its characteristics.

 

An animal that responded to banging on windows in any way other than a lack of reaction/contempt would be very unusual, in my experience. (Feeling very jaded after a morning at my very busy local zoo)

 

Yeah, but they still do it....
I mean, do they really have the experience to realise that it won't change anything?
I bet most snakes in zoos wish that they could make the glass between them and the tappers disappear for a few seconds - just long enough to deal a nasty nip...

 

They would have to wait for Harry Potter to visit them.

 

Say it isn't so!

 

(It might help folks to know that the Central Park Zoo has no lions or zebras on its its meager six acres)