Visitor-deprived zoos face doom
Layoffs, pay cuts as attendance diving
SAN FRANCISCO — Since the coronavirus pandemic began keeping visitors at home, the jaguars and chimpanzees at the Oakland Zoo have enjoyed the quiet, venturing out to areas of their exhibits they usually avoid.
The bears and petting pigs miss the children, though, and are seeking more attention from zookeepers.
Some things, however, haven’t changed. The $55,000 in monthly animal food costs have put the nearly 100-year-old zoo in a dire financial situation.
“We have already lost the bulk of our summer revenue and are living off whatever reserves we have left, but they are going to run out at some point,” said Joel Parrott, president of the Oakland Zoo, home to 750 large animals.
The zoo and hundreds of others across the country were ordered to close in March — the start of the busiest season for most animal parks — forcing administrators to deal with the pandemic’s financial impact through layoffs and pay cuts. Even as they reopen, zoos and aquariums from Alaska to Florida are seeing few visitors.
The Oakland Zoo has laid off more than 100 employees, primarily those who work with guests. Another 200 who care for animals and provide
veterinary services and safety for the public and animals are still working and represent part of the zoo’s $1.2 million a month in costs, Parrott said.
California officials this month allowed the zoo to reopen its outdoor areas Wednesday, but the animal park still faces a big challenge. Attendance and revenue in Oakland — and around the country — are falling short.
“Members are hitting 20 percent to 50 percent of their normal revenue targets,” said Dan Ashe, president of the national Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
About 75 percent of the 220 U.S. zoos and aquariums represented
by the association have reopened, but without additional aid, they’re facing “very difficult decisions about further furloughs or layoffs and then ultimately about their survival,” Ashe said.
“People are afraid,” Ferri said.
“We expected a boom from people who are not traveling and are doing staycations, but the uptick in cases in the state of Florida and all the stuff on the news are keeping people at home.”
As a result, he has laid off 40 percent of staff, cut leadership team salaries, including his own, and launched a campaign to raise $1.5 million by December to restore the zoo’s operating budget to pre-virus levels.