2/5 Sam C. 3 years ago on Google
My
husband
and
I
visited
the
NC
Zoo
on
Sunday,
and
were
very
disappointed
in
the
complete
lack
of
enforcement
for
COVID
protocols.
It's
great
that
you
require
folks
to
wear
masks,
but
once
they
get
through
the
gates,
it
seems
like
all
bets
are
off.
We
noted
that
there
were
still
well
over
100
tickets
available
for
the
time
that
we
selected,
but
were
constantly
surrounded
by
large
groups
who
did
not
adhere
to
social
distancing,
wore
masks
around
their
chin
or
under
their
nose,
and
refused
to
keep
6
feet
away.
On
the
rare
occasion
that
an
employee
was
present
(e.g.,
the
entrance
to
the
Desert
Dome),
they
let
entirely
too
many
people
into
a
tight,
enclosed
area
at
once.
9
times
out
of
10,
we
had
to
move
in
less
than
10
seconds
to
accommodate
someone
else
pushing
up
behind
us.
In
addition,
there
were
occasional
signs
showing
that
there
were
limits
to
the
number
of
people
allowed
in
a
viewing
space
(i.e.,
to
view
the
chimpanzees),
but
no
one
to
enforce
that,
so
groups
of
20-30
were
coming
in
at
once.
I
get
that
it's
on
the
visitors
to
adhere
to
social
distancing
policies,
but
without
someone
there
to
kindly
remind
people
that
there
is
a
pandemic,
and
that
we
can
enjoy
the
outdoors,
but
that
life
is
not
normal
right
now,
people
were
quick
to
do
whatever
they
wanted.
The
only
place
I
felt
remotely
safe
was
in
the
aviary,
and
I
believe
that's
only
because
we
were
close
to
closing
time
by
the
time
we
arrived
in
that
section
of
the
park.
It
seems
like
zoo
management
is
more
concerned
with
getting
more
bodies
into
the
zoo
than
with
considering
that
most
people
will
spend
their
entire
day
here,
and
we
weren't
exactly
slow.
Having
someone
every
1000
feet
or
so,
or
at
least
an
employee
monitoring
each
viewing
station
to
remind
people
to
stand
in
the
marked
areas
to
keep
far
enough
apart,
would
have
been
worlds
better
than
what
we
experienced.
At
least
there
were
plastic
dividers
on
the
tram
to
get
us
back
to
the
front
of
the
park
near
closing
time.
Additionally,
many
animals
were
very
stressed
(especially
the
sand
cats
and
lions,
who
were
showing
extreme
pacing
behaviors
within
their
enclosures).
Children
were
screaming
at
the
polar
and
grizzly
bears,
children
were
knocking
on
glass
enclosures
for
the
bats,
and
people
were
thumping
their
chest
in
front
of
the
gorillas.
With
all
of
the
land
between
exhibits,
it
was
surprising
to
see
that
so
many
large
animals
had
such
small
spaces.
The
cougars
had
little
to
no
space
to
run
(and
were
in
very
muddy
conditions
-
are
cougars
not
arid
land
animals?).
The
antelopes
and
rhinos
had
a
huge
space,
while
the
predators
were
stuck
in
small
spaces
with
little
to
nothing
to
entertain
them.
The
only
reason
I'm
giving
one
more
star
is
that
most
of
the
park
was
well
kept
and
the
long
walk
on
our
first
outing
since
the
pandemic
began
was
nice,
but
most
of
our
time
was
stressful,
frustrating,
and
uncomfortable.
I
hoped
that
the
zoo
would
do
better.