animal Parks is the land between the two chairs, when it comes to stimulus packages to the business community during the coronaviruskrisen.
Zoos and animal parks have no or very little benefit from the government’s stimulus packages to the industry.
This was stated by Helle Hegelund Knudsen, chairman of the board of the association Daza, which represents the country’s 15 largest zoos and aquariums.
It writes Kristeligt Dagblad.
It seems as if they are targeted to the cultural institutions where you can turn off the lights, turn down the heat and go home, but we have with live animals to make and can’t send our staff home, for the animals to be kept alive, even if we go on emergency preparedness, says Helle Hegelund Knudsen for the newspaper.
A few of the reasons why the economic stimulus does not fit into the industry, is that the lack of entréindtægter are not compensated, that the operation not be characterized as a fixed expense, and that only very little staff can be sent home, as the animals must be fed and cared for.
The final consequence can be that the dyreparkerne must cut their number of animals.
– In the worst case we have to turn animals down, for now, to say it directly, says Helle Hegelund Knudsen to Kristeligt Dagblad.
Helle Hegelund Knudsen is also director of the kattegat centre in Grenaa. As an example mention her, you have the cost of two million dollars a month mainly because of the extensive wastewater treatment plant, which requires daily operation.
– So it is quite big figures we are talking about, and there are none of us who have a high liquidity or something, we can pull out of the hat in a situation like this, she says.
It has not been possible for the Danish Newspaper to get a comment from the ministry of Culture.
/ritzau/