MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Memphis Zoo is empty due to coronavirus, it’s been losing money every day, and that’s got zoo leaders bracing for some changes.
The four-month period of March through June accounts for about half the zoo’s revenue each year, about $9 million. This year, the zoo has been closed since March 19.
None of the money is coming in, but the zoo is still spending about $16,000 per day to care for its more than 4,500 animals.
Nick Harmeier, the Memphis Zoo’s chief marketing officer, said zoo officials will have to get “creative” to make up for the lost profits, so the zoo doesn’t have any disruptions in operations.
“Really right now, we’ve still operated inside the zoo just as if we were open,” Harmeier said. “We still have all of our full-time staff there. We’re just hopeful the reopening is happening here soon.”
Though more than 100 full-time staff members are still working to ensure animal care is completely unaffected by the shutdown, Harmeier said another roughly 100 part-time seasonal staffers were laid off.
The mayors of Memphis and Shelby County announced Monday their guidelines to reopening the city and county.
That Back to Business plan contains three phases of reopening. Harmeier said zoo officials do not know what phase the zoo falls under.
“We’re confident their team of experts will put us in the best phase that’s going to be most suitable for our guests, our team and our animals,” Harmeier said.
In hopes to lessen the impact of coronavirus on the zoo, Memphis Zoo leaders submitted their own reopening proposal to the city.
Harmeier said the zoo’s reopening plan is still being tweaked, but its phase one would consist of the zoo opening at half its 10,000-person capacity without opening any indoor exhibits. The zoo would also encourage visitors to practice social distancing.
“We would try to minimize high-traffic areas and touching as much as possible,” Harmeier said. “A lot of it would be similar to how we closed down—just in reverse.”
Harmeier said while officials want to reopen the zoo as soon as possible to give residents something to do outside as the weather warms up, they want to be safe.
“We don’t want to push it,” Harmeier said. “At the same time, we want to make sure we’re good stewards of the community.”
Harmeier said the zoo has been through times of hardship in the past, and its longstanding institution will allow the zoo to thrive after coronavirus.
“We’ve been around since 1906,” Harmeier said. “We’ve gone through the Depression. We’ve gone through the Spanish Flu. The zoo’s been though quite a bit. We’re confident we can stick it out through this one.”
Harmeier said zoo officials are still waiting to hear back from the City of Memphis about their proposed reopening process.
Memphis Zoo officials do not have a date in mind of when they want to, or can, reopen the zoo.
“It just depends how long this goes on,” Harmeier said. “That’s really the factor on when we open back up.”
