In the past two weeks alone, the world has changed drastically with the spread of COVID-19. Yet, as disruptive and even as largely ruinous as it has been, it has not stopped many companies that have continued to let the public experience their products in creative ways. All the while, zoos, in particular, have been using the internet to bring the fun of their attractions to people in quarantine, or shelter-in-place. Many zoos are creating live streams of animal enclosures to let the public experience the wonders of the animal kingdom from their own homes.
As of early March, more and more people have been told to start self-quarantining in their homes. The escape from the reality that zoos provide is needed now more than ever before for some people. Luckily for the public, many zoos are transforming their in-person exhibits into live-streams on platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.
The Oklahoma Zoo closed on March 18, and, under a week later, showcased a red panda camera on its site that allowed the public to view its red pandas from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The zoo explained on its website, “While the Oklahoma City Zoo is closed due to the unprecedented COVID-19 public health emergency, it remains committed to connecting people to its animals and expert caretakers, and creating moments of wild wonder for all to enjoy during these uncertain times.”
The Detroit Zoo has also gone online. It has five different animal cams that viewers can tune-in to. These range from penguin, otter, falcon, wolf and snow monkey live streams. The zoo also took advantage of the empty park and let its penguins walk around to different enclosures and see other animals in the area.
The San Francisco Zoo and Oakland Zoo harness a different approach by keeping their social media presence up during these times. They let the public see different animals everyday: from eating; to playing; to going to sleep; the public gets to experience every aspect of these zoos each day.
The efforts of zoos alike show that even though human life is on stand-still, the animal community is thriving. Quaritines around the world have allowed more animals to receive a surplus of one-on-one time with their trainers and owners.
Many zoos usually close down because of weather and other events throughout the year, so these closures are not as impactful as they are to some other facilities. The Oregon Zoo posted a video describing its situation, explaining, “The zoo does a lot of preparations for emergency situations or weather situations,” as the video goes on for it to say, “We have plenty of food, water, and medicine stocked up.”
With the uncharted territory that COVID-19 has brought to each community, everyone is doing their part so that, when the world is ready, it can move onto the next chapter and can resume life as it once was. The zoos are no exception and are taking care of all their animals daily to ensure that they are happy and that the public will get to see the animals in the future.
