Taoiseach Micheál Martin had a fortunate escape on his visit to Dublin Zoo to mark the first day of the reopening of outdoor attractions nationwide.
The Taoiseach was accompanied by the zoo's director Dr Christoph Schwitzer on a short photo opportunity to see how it will manage after having been closed for 244 days during several lockdowns.
They passed under the high ropes which cross the enclosure for the four Bornean orangutans and three Sumatran Siamang gibbons. In normal circumstances these separate species would not mingle in the wild together, but, like the parties in the Coalition, they co-exist in these unprecedented times.
As they walked under the high rope, Cahaya (10), the female gibbon urinated on the crowd underneath, narrowly missing the Taoiseach.
“She did that deliberately. They know very well underneath that the public will show a reaction when they observe us. The Taoiseach had a lucky escape. He was wearing a good suit,” said Dr Schwitzer, who was less fortunate.
Staff and visitors have missed Dublin Zoo since it was closed on New Year’s Eve at the start of the third wave. So too have many of the more social animals, particularly primates such as the gibbons, which are the closest thing in the animal kingdom to human beings.
Dublin Zoo is one of the most popular visitor attractions in the country with 1.3 million visitors in 2019, the last year before the pandemic. It is also one of the best loved judging by the almost €3 million donated by the public through the Save Dublin Zoo campaign. The Government contributed a further €2.5 million. The money has allowed it to retain its full complement of zookeepers but the retail and cafes remain closed for the time being.
Such has been the demand for tickets that 33,000 people were waiting to log on last Thursday when the website was opened up to visitors. "It was huge," says zoo marketing manager Emma Kiernan. The next batch of tickets are due to be available for pre-booking online next Thursday.
The zoo is starting off slowly at 20 per cent capacity and is allowing only 60 visitors in at a time. All visitors have to follow the same circular path around the zoo and some of the indoor enclosures, such as the reptile house, are still closed.
Zoo management hopes to build up capacity through the summer as the vaccine rollout allows the country to return to normal.
A large and excited queue had formed when the gates opened at 9.30am. It was fortunate that the zoo opened on what has been the hottest day of the year to date.
There was a procession of buggies through the entrance, with most older children in school.
"It's about time," said Ciara Kelly, echoing a sentiment that must surely be universal across the country. She brought her three-year-old son Rocco, who had been to the zoo before. But lockdown has been an eternity in his short life, so it was as if it was his first time there. "The older ones have gone to school under protest. We sneaked this one in," she said.
"It's huge for us to be open again. It's our garden," said Nicola Williams who lives in Christchurch and brought her two-year-old daughter Eve along for the day. "We have been waiting for this since the day it closed."
