The way some animals look through their cages, it looks as if they are turning around looking for an answer to the question: Where did humans and visitors go?
Zoos around the world have been forced to close their doors, as a precautionary measure to counter the pandemic of the Corona virus, leaving its animal population wondering at the absence of visitors.
It is clear in the zoo in the German capital Berlin that the entire world surrounding the monkeys has been shaken by the silence in the vicinity of their cages. "Some animals miss visitors a little," says zoo spokeswoman Willen Hashmeister.
"Monkeys in particular used to enjoy watching people," Hashmeister adds, and this saying also applies to calves and parrots, for example, who are attracted by the crowds of visitors flowing next to their cages, and the spokeswoman notes that these animals are "somewhat bored". .
The director of the Heilabron Zoo in Munich, Rasim Baban, agrees with her, and says that many animals show great interest in interacting with their caregivers.
Baban adds that when he makes his daily trips across the park, at present times, the animals appear to be very surprised to see him.
"She feels fun when she sees a visitor," he explains, adding that this experience enriches her day. In the section for birds in the Berlin Zoo, her caregivers note that birds are more connected to each other, in the absence of visitors that make them in a state of mental distraction and lack of focus, and since the spring has come, the lack of visitors may become a blessing, and Hashimester says laughing: «Maybe after The Corona crisis will not see zoos alone. However, without visitors, the parks will face financial difficulties.
Baban says: "The matter could not be worse." The losses are estimated at $ 2.1 million, after he had to close the park for five weeks since the start of spring, when the peak season for zoos begins, and he adds: "You will not be able to compensate for these." Losses ».
In addition to the value of entry tickets, restaurant rental fees are the second major source of income for zoos, and at the present time there is no income from either. The German Zoological Association is calling on the government to approve a $ 109 million support package to help its 56 member gardens. In a letter requesting urgent financial assistance, the association's president, George Johnhold, wrote: "We are not like other institutions. We cannot simply shut down our activity as the animals we harbor need food and care." The owner of the largest zoo in the German state of Rhineland Platinate, Mirko Thiel, wrote a similar message in which he said: “Even in these difficult times, lions need their daily ration of meat, and tapir animals want their share of alfalfa, and every veal animal devours from "Three to four kilograms of fish a day." Thiel adds that working hours for animals cannot be reduced or sent on compulsory leave, and besides "there is a cost of electricity, as the reptile house needs to keep its temperature at 21 degrees Celsius, and from here it is not possible to save on this item."
Panda 'Paoli' is running
In spite of all these problems, the twin pandas of the Berlin Zoo are working to raise the morale of the workers, and if they had appeared to exist in normal conditions to call on visitors to watch them. "The twin pandas are glamorous, and we tell ourselves all the time that visitors should see them eye-to-eye and not on websites, and it will be unfortunate that when the zoo opens its doors again, they will have grown up," said Flynn Hachmeister, a zoo spokeswoman in Berlin.
The garden has resorted to the Internet so that the pandas will learn about the twin’s way of life, in an attempt to raise morale outside its walls. A video clip depicting the panda «Pauli» as he passes through his residence in the garden holds the following address: «Pauli is running, and this is the way that will make you all enjoy With high physical fitness.
$ 2.1 Million One Garden Loss Due to Five Weeks Closing.
Gardeners: «Lions need their daily ration of meat, and every one of the calves of the sea eats four kilograms of fish per day».