Kansas City Zoo welcomes back visitors during reopening, keeping a llama-length apart
As visitors with timed tickets waited to enter the Kansas City Zoo on Saturday, a staff member waved.
“Welcome back to the zoo,” she said. “We’re happy to see you again.”
The zoo, closed for eight weeks, reopened Saturday morning with a list of new safety precautions to keep visitors and staff safe amid the coronavirus pandemic. At least 3,259 cases have been reported in the metro area — about a quarter of those in Kansas City.
One of the main concerns for reopening, said Kansas City Zoo CEO Randy Wisthoff, was social distancing.
The zoo sold timed tickets on Saturday. Every 15 minutes, Wisthoff said, 150 people could enter. The total number of visitors was capped at 4,500 people for the day. May is one of the busiest months. The zoo usually sees between 12,000-15,000 people a day in May, he said.
“Our assumption is its going to be this way for a while,” Wisthoff said, so they are working to get both visitors and staff members adjusted to the new normal.
Signs and sidewalk chalk throughout the zoo reminded visitors to be socially distant. Staff wore masks and protective plexiglass barriers were placed at ticket counters.
For the only open ride, the tram that goes to the African Market and back, the zoo is limiting the number of people onboard at a time and is disinfecting between rides.
“We’ve got signage everywhere telling people to social distance,” Wisthoff said. “Pretend there’s a llama in between you. Llamas are 6 feet long. We’ve said ... stand an elephant trunk away from the closest people.”
The animals are also glad to have visitors again, Wisthoff said, particularly the North American river otters.
“Everybody says what’s the new normal? I think we’re going to find out,” Wisthoff said. “I think people are just really happy to have some place to go to. There’s a lot of smiling faces, a lot of energized kids here today.”
This story was originally published May 16, 2020 at 6:06 PM.
