COVID reopening: Taronga Western Plains Zoo to check vaccination proof

The zoo is set to reopen to the public on October 18 after a two-month closure to the public amid the state's COVID outbreak.

Under the state government's reopening plan, only people who are fully vaccinated can attend venues including the zoo, as well as non-essential retail, hospitality venues and gyms, while the state is at the 70 per cent and 80 per cent double-dose vaccination levels.

Zoo director Steve Hinks said checking vaccination would be an extra step.

"...we'd certainly ask for visitors to the zoo to be patient with our staff as we go through the list of requirements that now we have to fulfill," he said.

Zoo staff had already previously been checking zoo tickets and that people had checked in through the Service NSW app.

"...in addition to that, we will be checking to make sure that people are vaccinated before they gain entry, and all of that's in line with the public health orders," Mr Hinks said.

"But it does create an extra task, which needs to be done for our staff, so undoubtedly that will take a little bit of extra time and we do certainly ask for patience because it does put pressure on the team to make sure they can manage that as efficiently and as well as possible.

"But definitely that's something we will be monitoring and making sure we are able to still operate with the levels of service people expect from us."

The zoo is taking an extra week to reopen to the public on October 18 for a few reasons.

"One of those is to make sure that we fully understand what our requirements are when we reopen," Mr Hinks said

"There's a lot of detail in the public health orders that we don't yet have, so we really want to give ourselves every chance to make sure our operation is absolutely compliant with the rules, and that we're doing all of the right things.

"So that's the main reason for that extra week."

The time would also allow the zoo to treat a group of strong supporters.

"...we will be inviting them [Zoo Friends] for a couple of days of sneak peek before we open to the general public, so we wanted to make sure we could do something nice for our Zoo Friends members as well," Mr Hinks said.

The state's move to reopening had brought "a huge sense of relief, that we've got that certainty around a date", the boss of the zoo said.

"The difficulty with these closures as we found last year is just not knowing how long the situation will last for," Mr Hinks said.

"So having some certainty, having the ability to plan and have a couple of weeks to make sure that everything is ready for reopening I think is really good.

"The team is very excited to welcome guests back on to the site, and I think as well, our animals are looking forward to seeing people back on site as well, they've certainly noticed the difference with nobody walking around the zoo.

"It's been very quiet, so we've been trying to walk around a little bit and continue to keep the routines as normal as possible so that nothing is too big a change when we do reopen."

New at the zoo are "beautiful little meerkat pups".

"[They] are just gaining confidence every day and are a fantastic display at the waterhole cafe, I think they will be incredibly popular with visitors," Mr Hinks said.

Also visible towards the end of the circuit is the new wildlife hospital coming to life.

"Construction has continued on that since we've been closed during the COVID closure," Mr Hinks said.

"David Payne has done a great job continuing to work through the closure and the slabs are now poured, the rammed earth walls have gone up, and people can start to see the size and scope of that project, which is not yet open to the public, but it's coming along ready for opening in the middle of next year."

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