One of the many things that viewers of Netflix’s quarantine-era hit documentary “Tiger King” know is that it costs a lot of money to run a zoo. There was a reason why Joe Exotic had his workers load up dead horses and roadkills while they ate expired food from Walmart.
As the global pandemic continues to rage on, much more established zoos are facing financial problems. Most zoos around the world have been temporarily closed as they have been deemed non-essential by most of the governments.
Chris Pfefferkorn is the President of Birmingham Zoo, Alabama. According to him, the daily costs for running a zoo is around $30,000. This includes the fees that goes into animals, zookeepers and other various maintenance costs.
With admission costs and gift shop sales accounting for nearly 90% of total revenue, Birmingham Zoo is facing an unprecedented financial crisis. Pfefferkorn states that zoos are inherently reliant on the community and visitors in order to stay in business.
The Birmingham Zoo has asked financial aid from the federal government. Many zoos around the US have done the same as they all face the same problem. However, other zoos and aquariums have been turning their focus online, much like other entertainment and culture sectors.
Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium and their rockhopper penguins have become global internet superstars. The penguins’ excursion around the empty aquarium while meeting other species for the first time stole the hearts of many internet users.
Cincinnati Zoo has released a t-shirt with its star hippo that guests can purchase on its online gift shop. The zoo has also hosted numerous online fundraisers through which they have raised over $100,000.
Of course, less renowned zoos may have to resort to more extreme measures. A zoo in Germany said that it may have to kill some of its animals so that it could feed the predator animals. We recently wrote about this story here.
To many, that is an unlikely situation even in the worst of times. The CEO of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums mentioned that the worst thing he can think of is zoos selling their animals off to keep afloat.
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Replaced!