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The Zoo reopens but reduces its capacity by 50%

The Barcelona Zoo has reopened its doors this Thursday, after being closed since last March 14, when the Government declared the state of alarm. The reopening to the public does not imply, however, that the activity of the venue returns to its pre-pandemic rhythm. Those responsible for the zoo have decided to reduce 50% the maximum capacity allowed for security reasons. The use of masks to prevent the spread of covid-19 will be obligatory in the event that in any part of the visit it is not possible to maintain the minimum distance of two meters between people. That is, to access the park it will be necessary to have a mask in case you have to use it.

Within the so-called new stage of normality, the zoo management has started the process to obtain the Global Safe Site and the Safe Tourism Certified, two official seals that guarantee that an enclosure complies with the highest security protocols to prevent the spread of the pandemic. While waiting for these certificates, the zoo has installed in different areas hydroalcoholic gel dispensers, It has installed information panels on the necessary precautions to be taken and has organized a series of mobile restoration points to avoid the concentration of visitors in those that existed before the pandemic.

The reopening of the Barcelona Zoo has also allowed the retaking of the traditional ‘casals d’estiu’, which will take place between June 29 and September 10, and which, according to the park’s press release, have registered more than 500 children under 16 years of age, the maximum age allowed to access them.

Solidarity programs

One of the negative consequences of the pandemic has been that the zoo solidarity programs, such as those intended to organize visits for children suffering from serious illnesses or disabilities. This is a project that is carried out jointly with hospitals and foundations in the metropolitan area. The purpose is to reschedule whenever possible all the visits of this type that were canceled by the covid-19.

During the harshest phases of the pandemic, zoo workers organized themselves into two teams without contact with each other to prevent a possible contagion and its subsequent quarantine leaving the animals unattended. That circumstance did not finally occur and, except for the absence of the public, the activity in the animal enclosure of Ciutadella continued normally. The pandemic coincided in its most severe phase with the time of year when the highest number of deliveries is recorded, sometimes of species with which the zoo works to someday proceed to their reintroduction into their original habitats. This was the case, for example, with the delivery of a young white oryx, an extinct animal in the Sahel, from where it originated, and where it is intended that it live again in freedom.

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