NAPLES, Fla. — The Naples Zoo is planning to reopen phase one of their park on Friday.
It comes with new safety and social distancing measures.
They say tickets are sold online and assigned a specific timed entry to prevent large gatherings.
The new guidelines will only allow 300-400 visitors inside at a time. People are also required to use a one-way path to get through the park.
"The biggest and most important thing is the distancing. We’re going to have signs all over the zoo. We have markers all over the zoo. We’ve established what we are calling a zebra zone. A zebra is about 6 feet in length so they’ll be sensitive to keeping about a zebra-length away from the person or group ahead of them," said Naples Zoo CEO Jack Mulvena.
To prevent crowds, several shows, tours, and playgrounds in the park are temporarily closed.
The zoo is also encouraging all visitors to wear face masks while inside the park.
The CEO says it took a lot of planning to finally reopen, so the new safety rules are to keep staff, animals, and families safe.
“You can tell our animals know somethings going on and they’ve become really attentive to anybody in and around the exhibits. I think from a staff standpoint we are certainly looking forward to our guests coming back and I think our animals would say the same thing," said Mulvena.
Right now, he says tickets are temporarily half of their original cost to help local families.
To purchase Naples Zoo tickets and find more details, click here.
