CLEVELAND, Ohio ― After almost three months of being closed to the public due to the coronavirus, the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo has reopened its gates.

The zoo's executive director, Dr. Chris Kuhar, says welcoming guests back into the zoo is the start of the financial recovery process. 

“We lost probably close to $2 million in revenue to this point, so we're really looking at trying to bring folks back and then when we open in a reduced capacity, we're going to have reduced revenue even moving forward. So, just because we're open, that doesn't mean everything's all better now,” Kuhar said.

Kuhar says now that the zoo is open, keeping staff and visitors safe is a priority. Not only is the zoo operating at 25 percent capacity as a safety measure, but the visitor experience will feel and look a little different. 

“In addition to the capacity measures, we're doing a number of things," said Kuhar. "You’ll see barriers here and try to enforce the social distancing. Most of our paths are really wide in areas where the paths are a little bit narrower. We have one way directional traffic in there. We have the dots on the ground. We have rhino footprints all over the place to really remind people about maintaining that six foot short social distancing. When you're in the zoo, all of our staff will be wearing masks and we're encouraging our guests to wear masks."

The zoo’s staff is also sanitizing of all the high-touch surfaces hourly. Most animal exhibits are open, like the new Daniel Maltz Rhino Reserve, which opened on June 9.

Kuhar says despite financial challenges, they are dedicated to giving visitors a great experience without increasing the cost. 

“We’ve had some generous support from donors that have helped really support us through this downtime, but we have not added increased ticket pricing or anything like that. We just want to provide that experience to folks as they come back to the zoo,” he said.

Kuhar says the zoo will not be hosting summer camps this year, but as he looks ahead, he hopes Cleveland Metroparks Zoo can continue to take advantage of virtual platforms to connect with their community. 

“We’re looking at new options moving forward, we're looking at different ways to engage the schools next year because we don't know what field trips will look like and things like that. So, we're really adapting our education programs to be able to really help people in a post-COVID world. So we're still trying to figure out what that looks like.”