The Nashville Zoo will soon be open to visitors again! The attraction will open on June 15 to members, and on June 18 to the general public. The zoo originally closed in March due to the coronavirus pandemic, but will soon welcome guests.
“The wait is almost over!!” the Nashville Zoo announced on social media. “We are SO excited to announce our reopening dates, as well as the policies and procedures we’ll be implementing to keep our guests, staff and animals safe.”
“We understand some of you may not agree with our reopening policies,” the statement continued, “but we hope you recognize this is a temporary phase and we look forward to seeing EVERYONE at the Zoo as soon as they are comfortable visiting us.”
✨ The wait is ~almost~ over!! ✨ We are SO excited to announce our reopening dates, as well as the policies & procedures…
Posted by Nashville Zoo on Thursday, May 28, 2020
Part of the rules for guests wanting to visit the Nashville Zoo includes the need to purchase tickets in advance (for both members and guests), as well as credit card purchases only. In addition, everyone age four and older will be required to wear a face mask.
In an effort to keep people safe, the Nashville Zoo will now feature one-way paths. Some of the attractions will remain temporarily closed, including the Jungle Gym, Wilderness Express Train and animal shows. The Unseen New World, Kangaroo Kickabout and Lorikeet Landing are also temporarily closed.
The Nashville Zoo typically attracts more than a million guests a year, so their absence has been felt by both the staff and animals who have grown accustomed to human interaction.
“Our male giraffe seems to be very interested when someone comes around,” Jim Bartoo, Marketing and Public Relations Director at the Nashville Zoo told WKRN. “He’ll walk right up to the front area and stare right at you if he sees somebody over there. And normally that doesn’t happen, he’s used to crowds and crowds of people.
“Certainly, our primates are smart enough to understand someone’s around so they may come up and look at what’s going on and they may not always do that if there’s always a stream of people passing by,” he continued, adding that some animals seemed decidedly unaffected.
“And then there are other animals that just don’t care one way or another, mostly cats. Cats never care,” Jim noted.
No word yet when the Nashville Zoo will maintain regular operating practices. Find more information at NashvilleZoo.org.
