Germany: Zoos & Animal Parks Reopen with Extended Covid-19 Protection Measures

While the perspective for a soon start into this year’s season for amusement and theme parks in Germany still remains unclear – with the exception of Heide Park, which will open its gates this Saturday (1 May) after a successful lawsuit against the operating ban (cf. EAP news of 21 Apr 2021) – many zoos in the country are now allowed to reopen their outdoor areas for guests. As a supplementary measure to the Covid-19 protection concepts that have already been in place the last months, visitors must now present a negative Covid-19 quick test result issued by an official testing centre and not older than 24 hours. Guests from the age of six need to show such a test, which can often be carried out directly in specially set up testing stations located directly at the zoos. Alternatively, a proof of two Covid-19 vaccinations can be presented for a visit, whereby the date of the second vaccination must be dated back at least 15 days.

Zoos and animal parks already welcoming guests again include Hagenbeck Zoo in Hamburg (reopening from today, 28 April), Wildparadies Tripsdrill, Osnabrueck Zoo, Wilhelma in Stuttgart and Wuppertal Zoo. The latter recently completed construction works on ist new large walk-in aviary dubbed “Aralandia” (cf. EAP 6/2020), which, however, is not yet open to visitors due to the pandemic protection measures in place. Leipzig Zoo, among others, will remain closed for the time being – the city of Leipzig is still refraining from opening the zoo in order to, according to its own statements, “not create any visitor incentives beyond the city”. (eap)