Louisville Zoo feels financial impact of pandemic shutdown; reopening date uncertain

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — The Louisville Zoo has been closed to the public since March 17 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The animals are receiving care from staff, but no guests are allowed inside the gates.

"All the animals and staff are healthy," Director John Walczak said. "No one has shown any signs, and we're keeping up with all the literature."

Without usual ticket sales and with the cancellation of the Wild Lights Asian Lantern Festival, however, the zoo's budget is taking a hit. This closure came at a time when Walczak said things were moving in the right direction.

"To see this beautiful weather come and pass and not be able to open, it was a hurt," he said. "We were having our best year ever financially, in attendance. We were on pace to have record attendance."

In a matter of weeks, Walczak said the zoo's financial situation changed drastically.

"At the end of February, were were a million dollars ahead," he said. "Now, by the end of April, that surplus is exhausted, and we're now going into deficit spending."

A chunk of the zoo's funding comes from the city's general fund, which has also been impacted by the economic shutdown. District 9 Metro Councilman Bill Hollander said the city's upcoming budget still has several questions that will need to be answered before it's finalized.

"It's a very unknown situation right now," Hollander said. "And we won't know until we know what our revenue will be at the end of the year.

"We will pass a budget at the end of June," he added, "and the current proposal is for about a $5.4 million general fund appropriation to the zoo."

Despite cancelled events and loss of ticket sales, Walczak said zoo members' continued donations have been a big help.

"It truly breaks our hearts that we can't be open right now for everyone to come and just decompress, and we all know everyone needs decompression right now," he said.

For most animals, life is normal, but Walczak said he can tell others are missing the visitors.

"A lot of the animals like the orangutans, the gorillas, some of the bears and tigers — some of the animals that are a little more intellectual — you can tell they miss the engagement," he said.

A reopening date has yet to be determined, but Walczak said there is a plan in place to open little by little while practicing social-distancing guidelines. That plan will include things like timed tickets, Walczak said, so too many guests are not in the zoo at once.

The health and safety of people and animals is the zoo's main concern, Walczak added.

"Whatever month — June, July, August, whatever it is — we'll be able to plug this model in, which would allow us to ramp up starting with very, very small visitation and then hitting a level where we feel like we can manage the social distancing very, very well," he said.

"We know one thing that is not in our future are the 10,000-, 15,000-person days like we've had in the past," he added. "We will not be able to have crowds that large for social distancing."

Until then, the zookeepers will continue their work with the animals, follow procedures and wear PPE, until the zoo can once again open to the public.

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