Zoos in the UK have been forced to close their doors because of another UK lockdown that was announced last night.
The UK prime minister Boris Johnson announced that England would have another lockdown; while Scotland's first minister Sturgeon announced a lockdown for Scotland yesterday too. The lockdowns mean that zoos are forced to close their doors to the public again, which could see zoos financially struggling again because they can't have visitor's through their doors, and therefore, won't earn money.
This is a concern for the jobs at zoos and for the animals within the zoos. The lockdowns last year took a terrible toll on zoos, as Europe's zoos faced financial ruin. Many different zoos asked the public for donations so that the zoos could continue to feed the animals in their care during lockdown.
Lockdowns are taking a toll on many different industries - including industries that involves animals: like zoos. If zoos can't welcome visitors into their premises, it means that they financially suffer. In turn, that harms animals - as a lack of funds can mean zoos struggle to feed their animals.
The inability to feed animals in zoos is just one of the harms that lockdowns are causing, another harm that lockdowns causes zoos is that lockdowns can cause damage to conservation efforts of zoos. Many zoos do conservation work, which includes helping to save endangered species. If zoos that try and help save endangered species take a damaging financial hit, then that could result in harming conservation efforts to save endangered species.
We have already seen the damaging effects that lockdowns are having on zoos who are trying to help animals that are endangered and vulnerable to extinction. For example, recently it has been revealed that Edinburgh Zoo has lost âŹ2.2 million euros because of the lockdowns. This could result in Edinburgh Zoo having to give the pandas that they received back to China.
Just before the lockdowns, conservation work was starting to pay off with pandas, as they were no longer classified as an endangered species, but downgraded to a vulnerable species. With places like zoos being harmed and some wildlife conservation stopped because of lockdowns, perhaps it could result in pandas becoming an endangered species again too?
The harms the lockdowns are doing to animals, zoos and animal charities are not making as many headlines as other things right now.
The plight of animals during these lockdowns have been flying under the radar. It's not just zoos that are being harmed by lockdowns, it's also animal charities and pet Charites that are being harmed because of lockdowns too. There are several animal and pet charities which have an emergency financial appeal right now, these charities include the PDSA and the RSPCA.
There are several zoos and wildlife parks asking the public for donations to help them get through the lockdowns and support their animals.
You can support your own local zoo or wildlife park to help them survive.
One of the zoos asking for help is Chester Zoo. You can find the link to help Chester Zoo in the tweet below. Thank you.
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