Gerr innnn! What a place! Those spider monkeys best get ready to party, because we’ll be hitting up Yorkshire Wildlife Park as soon as we can! After the government (finally) confirmed that zoos and wildlife parks could reopen their doors from June 15, Yorkshire Wildlife has announced that its much awaited re-opening will take place next week.
In light of the current pandemic, the venue will be restricting visitor numbers with tickets available on a pre-booked basis only. To keep in line with social distancing measures, play areas and indoor spaces will also be closed, with only takeaway food will be being served across the park.
It’s great news for families with kids who have been so well behaved during what has to be the most difficult time we’ve all had to deal with in our lifetimes. The little bits of normality that are creeping back in will be cherished now that we’ve had to endure three months locked inside. And I don’t know about anyone else, but it’s definitely felt like living with little monkeys at some points!
The park, which was forced to close during the COVID-19 outbreak, has taken a big hit financially. It costs around £300,000 per month to maintain the park and feed the animals, and with 70% of its staff on furlough, it’s been a tough few months keeping the animals entertained. In total, the lockdown has cost the park around £5 million in lost revenue.
John Minion, chief executive of the park said: “We now aim to open next Monday June 15 with restrictions in place in line with government guidance. The safety and health of our staff team, our visitors and our animals are paramount.
“We have carried out detailed planning to look at how we can control numbers through only selling advance tickets with time slots and how we needed to adapt the site and our protocols for visitor management and cleaning in line with government guidance. Many zoos have already opened up in Europe, Ireland and on Jersey and we have been learning from their experience,”
“Seeing the park open again will be morale-boosting for the local community and our visitors from around the region. It will be a boost for local businesses too as we have over 980 suppliers that have been impacted by our closure. We are grateful for the support so far, and we hope that this will be sustained by people visiting the park to help us through the coming months as it will take a long time to recover financially from this enforced shutdown.”
Tickets are being released this weekend, however the numbers will be limited, so keep checking the website www.yorkshirewildlifepark.com to get yours.
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[Featured image: Yorkshire Wildlife Park]
