Closed since October 29, 2020, while being subject to very high fixed and incompressible costs, zoos survive thanks to state aid.
The reopening is still pending while the return of good weather only increases the shortfall.
Rodolphe Delord, president of the French Association of Zoological Parks (AFdPZ), and of Beauval ZooParc in Loir-et-Cher explains that obviously, while the park is closed, “
our animals continue to eat, the animal keepers and veterinarians are working, and important maintenance services are being maintained
”.
While the park usually receives 1.6 million visitors per year, it made 1.2 million admissions in 2020 and none so far in 2021. “
Our priority is to maintain the same level of animal care and ensure health security to reopen as soon as possible
”.
The financial balance is therefore impossible to maintain a priori, without State aid.
Read also: Beauval ZooParc heated by its animals
At the Bioparc de Doué-la-Fontaine in Anjou, which lost 20% of visitors over the entire season last year, François Gay makes a similar observation: "
whether closed or open to the public, the the activity of the animal and technical team is the same
”.
Apart from the food service teams, and the seasonal workers waiting to be employed for the summer, the zoo employees are all in place.
"
We had less than 5% short-time working at the first confinement, yet we have zero revenue, so we live with the cash flow from loans guaranteed by the state (PGE), and the revenue from last year
."
François Gay does not however intend to reduce aid spending for conservation projects and local animal support associations around the world, which were to represent 4% of the zoo's turnover in 2021.
Germany and Belgium have authorized the opening of zoos.
Bioparc - Sébastien Gaudard
The La Boissière-du-Doré zoo near Nantes, for its part, had to launch a Leetchi fund to cope with its financial difficulties when it closed in March 2020. Its president Sébastien Laurent says: “
when we closed on the 17th March, we were at the worst of the worst, the month of March is difficult every year, but there we had just made the biggest investment in the history of the park, to extend the lion park and build new lodges, and we had closed two weekends in February for flooding
”.
A successful operation since it raised € 50,000 through 715 donors, "
more than half of whom had left a message, we received lots of children's drawings, a little girl gave her piggy bank twice ...
" .
Misunderstandings about the reopening
In addition to emergency aid from the State, through solidarity funds and PGEs, without which these private zoos could not have survived, all feel supported by a public waiting for the reopening: "
we miss the public, we miss it too,
”sighs François Gay.
“
We are bombarded with emails and people asking why we are closed,
” says Sébastien Laurent.
A situation which seems as incomprehensible for the two presidents as for the visitors.
When he learned that the closure was maintained for the third current confinement, the president of the La Boissière zoo testified: "
personally I took it very badly, we are outdoor establishments, we have implemented protocols. , validated by the prefectures, last year we welcomed 120,000 visitors from May 17 to October 29, without any problem, people respected very well
", he underlines that"
in Germany and Belgium, zoos are open , we know that there are no risks, but here the government does not want to send positive signs, so we are collateral damage
”.
Frustration is also felt at the Doué-la-Fontaine Bioparc: “
we fought to communicate about the opening, we had organized all the protocols to receive the public, but everything stopped a few hours from the fire. green to reopen in March
”.
He nevertheless underlines that "
95% of the parks are only in the open air, we can close the vivarium, and suspend the animations
".
"
I understood the government decisions over the past year, but today I am very tired of the bias that I share much less
", adds François Gay.
Recovery expectations
The President of ZooParc de Beauval nevertheless wants to be optimistic: "
from the moment we can reopen, our establishments will be visited, because the French will stay in France, so we are waiting
".
Indeed in Doué-la-Fontaine too, the aftermath of the first confinement had been encouraging: "
last summer, visitors were back
", with an attendance rate of "
10 to 15% higher
"
than
in previous years on the same period.
During this time, animals deprived of their public have not changed their habits much, "
apart from the orangutans who like visitors, therefore who ask that we spend more time with them
", and "
birds that can extend their nesting ground in large aviaries
”.
Large primates and felines, in which a few cases of Covid had been detected in the United States, receive special attention, but which does not differ much from the health precautions usually taken by animal staff.
The 1400 animals of the Bioparc de Doué-la-Fontaine are doing well, "
we are not in time of war, we have not eaten them
", ironically its president, with the certainty that "
life will resume
".