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Dublin Zoo

Dublin Zoo to reopen to public tomorrow with reduced capacity and new health protocols

Tickets to attend Dublin Zoo must now be pre-booked online in advance, solely via its website.

DUBLIN ZOO HAS confirmed that it will reopen to the public tomorrow in a reduced capacity and under new strict health and safety protocols. 

Tickets to attend Dublin Zoo must now be pre-booked online in advance, solely via its website. Tickets will not be sold at the gate. 

Visits will be divided into two daily sessions, one morning and one afternoon, with a maximum of 500 people in for each initial trial period. This is less than 10% of the usual capacity at any one time. 

The morning session will run from 9.30am to 1pm and the afternoon session will run from 2pm to 5.30pm. 

Visitors will travel through Dublin Zoo by following a new outdoor, one-way walking route which reinforces strict social distancing.

The outdoor route, also known as the Dublin Zoo Outdoor Safari Trail, will be noted on a map which will be available to all visitors.

Hand sanitiser stations will be available and there will be visible signage reinforcing physical distancing, hand-hygiene, coughing/sneezing etiquette.

A new, enhanced cleaning regime has also been implemented and all Dublin Zoo personnel will be provided with, and trained in the safe and appropriate use of, relevant PPE.

“As we approach this new chapter of our history with cautious optimism, our priority during this reopening phase will be to ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of our staff, visitors and the continued provision of world-class animal care,” Dublin Zoo director Leo Oosterweghel said.

“This will be a careful, phased reopening where we limit the number of entrants at any given time whilst establishing strict social distancing and hygiene measures, to protect both Dublin Zoo visitors and staff,” he said. 

We have received numerous queries regarding our reopening date and while we are pleased to announce it will be June 2nd, it is important to stress that this is a trial period for Dublin Zoo and patience and understanding will be required from visitors as we navigate our new pre-booking system, two daily opening sessions and one-way walking route.
We have worked hard to ensure Dublin Zoo can once again reopen to the public, but health and safety come first, and we ask all visitors to bear that in mind when coming to see us.
We would also like to strongly advise anyone considering a visit to Dublin Zoo that they check current government travel restrictions to ensure they are abiding by them. We look forward to welcoming visitors once again to Dublin Zoo.”

To ensure strict social distancing and new public health guidelines can always be adhered to at all times in Dublin Zoo, internal animal houses and enclosed habitat viewing areas, retail units and playgrounds will be closed until further notice. 

Due to enclosed habitat viewing areas, visitors will not be able to see the wolves, hippo, Waldrapp ibis, Amur tigers and the red pandas.

However, visitors will be able to see the majority of the animals including the herd of Asian elephants, chimpanzees, the Western lowland gorillas, giraffe, rhino, zebra, sealions, penguins, lemurs, orangutans, and lions.

Educational tours and classes will also not take place during this time.

To book your tickets, or for further details on how visitors can prepare themselves for their visit to Dublin Zoo and what to expect, please visit www.dublinzoo.ie.

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    Mute Brendan Brennan
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    Nov 5th 2020, 10:40 PM

    I seen Barnardos run a fantastic online safety programme for kids. They do it with schools and with parents, which I believe parents need to know more about this also. Here’s a link to it on their website…. http://www.barnardos.ie/osp

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    Mute Billy
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    Nov 6th 2020, 3:58 AM

    The Journal is one to talk about cyberbullying. If someone disagrees with you here they can call you every name under the sun, as long as their views are ‘liberal’. I’ve seen people here wish death on others for not wearing a face mask or for perceived ‘racism’ and getting hundreds of likes.

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    Mute Mark Walsh
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    Nov 6th 2020, 6:59 AM

    @Billy: You’re spot on Billy, people just come here to abuse people, I’m sure of it. There is no way they would open their mouths in the street. Children aren’t learning Online Bullying from themselves.

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    Mute thesaltyurchin
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    Nov 6th 2020, 1:27 PM

    @Billy: Right or left it’s all just shouting into the back of digital cupboard, the type of country we’re building is one of chips on shoulders, resent everyone, sue where you can, blame game, remember when the ‘Irish were a friendly, welcoming people?’ well that is clearly not what the majority of us want anymore.

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    Mute Amiga Ireland
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    Nov 5th 2020, 10:52 PM

    Bullying can be absolutely crushing and even moreso when the victim doesn’t have solid support at home and among other friends. Parents aren’t familiar with each other like we used to be. Devices create even more opportunities for bullys where the victims most private spaces at home are no longer a sanctuary.

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    Mute WCS
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    Nov 5th 2020, 10:40 PM

    Cyber everything increased during lockdown

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    Mute Vanessa
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    Nov 5th 2020, 11:10 PM

    Just sad to see that the bullying rates of the reviewed countries are the highest over here.

    I’m just wondering if parents are aware what their children doing online.

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    Mute David Connell
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    Nov 6th 2020, 12:46 AM

    Just block them or take the phones off the kids.

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    Mute hasnooneasked
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    Nov 6th 2020, 3:15 AM

    Why does it take Facebook so long to remove hateful and vile comments and videos. What is wrong with them and when you do report something that goes against community standards they than tell you it doesnt. So a video of someone being hateful and using absolute obscene laungauge to another person and being a bully seems to be ok in FB eyes

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    Mute thesaltyurchin
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    Nov 6th 2020, 1:27 PM

    Feel the hate.

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