The Beckoning Gates

Across the world, the reaction to the novel coronavirus continues to play out.  In some parts of the world, it seems to be slightly loosening its stranglehold on the populace.  In other parts, it's only getting worse.  In plenty of places, wishful thinking can make it hard to tell the difference.

In the United States, each of the states seems to be going in its own direction.  Some states are beginning to open back up.  In some areas, the zoos are beginning to reopen too.

I am extremely ambivalent about this.  On one hand, yes, let's be honest, money is nice and we need more of it.  Caring for animals is expensive (to say nothing of funding conservation and research programs) and we can use all the help we can get.  Zoos are also probably a safer place than many essential areas.  Since COVID-19 began, I've had to go to the grocery store once every week or so, as well as two (non-coronavirus) hospital runs.  Each time I go, I get nervous as heck - both places were packed with people showing no common sense, getting way too close, and often taking their masks off as soon as they thought no one was looking.  Compared to that, a wide, spacious, outdoor zoo seems fairly safe.  It should be possible to meter the public, close off high-traffic areas (such as animal buildings), and enforce safety rules, such as social distancing and wearing masks.

Guidelines from the Red River Zoo in North Dakota for their pending reopening

That being said, a lifetime spent working with the public at zoos has kind of left me with the impression that they aren't always the best of rule-followers.  People break plenty of rules that are far less-irksome than wear a mask or keep your distance or washing your hands.  Salt Lake City's Hogle Zoo just announced that they were going to reopen, but recommended that visitors wear masks.  From the complaining in the comments section, you'd have thought that they were proposing spraying each visitor with mace as soon as they came in through the gate.

Zoos are spacious, but people often congregate in tight crowds, especially if an animal is being fed, playing with an enrichment object, or engaging in some other activity.  I've practically body-surfed on some weekends at work.  People have been cooped up for so long, I feel like plenty of them will be acting like dogs just let off a leash.

I really, really want us to be open again - and I also really, really want to go visit some more facilities.  But I also don't want to be responsible for another break out.  

And so, I'll be watching the next few weeks as a few zoos open, looking at them like a coal miner would watch a canary.  We're all in uncharted waters now... it's just time to see what happens next.