The weather had been forecast to be quite bad all day unfortunately with lots of rain and very strong winds predicted. But we were forewarned so we donned winter coats with hoods, no bags to get wet and I wore my wellington boots.
We got there about 2.10pm and headed straight for the penguin parade. There weren't too many people there so there were going to do just a short route, from one part of the enclosure to the next. At about 2.15pm it was announced that the zoo would be closing...after the penguin parade. Not urgent enough to close straight away of course but it would indeed be closing.
It wasn't announced that refunds would be given but certainly the people that did ask were told to go to the ticket office. I don't know if they were given refunds or tickets to come again another day - but either way I wonder if they will come back?
Did the zoo really need to close? Maybe so. Yes it's on a hill, yes the wind was very strong and yes there were trees knocked over in other areas of Scotland. I understand that it's not worth the risk. But the area surrounding the penguins, going about as far as the sun bears, wasn't too bad. Would it have be possible to barrier off the roads leading up the hill, citing it to be too dangerous to go up there? The zoo still may have had to compensate the guests but they'd be a lot more likely to come back knowing that the zoo had done it's best to keep them happy.
Surely not every visitor to the zoo is local and certainly not every visitor can easily come back another day.
I want to try to be fair to the zoo, they cannot afford to risk any sort of accident or any legal actions against them caused by an accident. Also, both the Edinburgh Castle and the Royal Botanic Gardens were reported to have shut due to the weather. I only wonder if there was anything else the zoo could have done to keep guests happy?
Maybe I'm wrong about the reason the zoo shut and it wasn't about accidents or falling tree's/branches, maybe it was somehow about the animals. Surely everyone would have been a lot more understanding if it was communicated more effectively. But then communication and Edinburgh Zoo don't usually go hand in hand.
Maybe there should be a way of checking the status of the zoo on their website, whether it's likely to be closed that day. Just one of the many things that it would be useful to have on the website. Althought that would require the website to be up to date and now I know I'm asking too much.
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