Lake District Wildlife Park gears up to welcome back visitors on June 15
With zoos and animal attractions in England getting the [**go\-ahead to reopen**](http://Coronavirus: Zoos among lockdown measures eased but schools reopening delayed) on 15 June, the Lake District Wildlife Park, at Bassenthwaite, is gearing up to welcome back visitors.
But social distancing restrictions mean it will be far from business as usual when the site opens again on Monday morning.
Richard Robinson has been the zoo manager for over 20 years and says the lockdown came at a the worst time. He said: "Having gone through winter, where the wildlife park just ticks along, a few local people were coming in and keeping us afloat.
"Ideally you make your money in Easter and May, and then coming into the summer time - so big hardships have fallen upon the park."
The Government announced on Wednesday that animal attractions can now reopen, and the staff have been working hard to meet new requirements on social distancing and health and safety.
Richard said: "Our main endeavour to protect our staff to make sure we can work effectively and protect our public from any risk from us to them and them to us and amongst each other. Obviously, the social distancing guidelines are starkly in place for the wildlife park.
"The two metre rule applies right through the entire visit. There are sneeze guards up to work around reception. Hand sanitises and hand washing -we've had much of that in place already being an animal attraction."
Richard says they hope to open the park on Monday: "We've been working closely with our health and safety advisers and with Allerdale [Borough Council] who issue our zoo licensing.
"They are happy with the measures we've put in place. All being well come Monday we'll be back open, and if we don't make it Monday it'll certainly be this coming week."
Normally they welcome up to 2,000 visitors, but when they open next week, it's likely they have to reduce those numbers.
"We need visitors. we need guests to come back to the park. But we do need people to do that in a respectful and curious and safe way", Richard said.
"It's not about lining the pockets, it's about making sure the park can survive through the next number of months.
"The season is now very short. If the weather is with us, great, we can have an extended season. But those winter months, they're not far away. We need to make our money during the summer months to simply be here for next year."
It's clear that making sure the animals and their human visitors are safe and healthy is a challenge for our regions zoos.
Lakeland Wildlife Oasis Park, near Milnthorpe, is the home to more than 100 species - some of which are critically endangered.
The animal park was forced to close in March due to increased government guidelines, and has been battling ever since to raise money to feed more than 2,000 animals.
Bosses have welcomes the Government announcement and intend to reopen their doors to visitors on July 4.