BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Buffalo Zoo has been back open for about a month. Now, they're thanking the workers fighting on the frontlines of the pandemic who helped them get to the point of where they could welcome visitors back.
Summer is the usually the busiest time of year for the zoo, and they were hurting without guests from mid-March to the end of June. Officials say about 40,000 people have visited since they reopened at the beginning of July. It's a number they're happy with, considering they're operating at a reduced capacity.
Every Sunday in August, the zoo is honoring a different group of essential workers with free admission and half price for up to four guests.
"Next Sunday, August 9, is going to be our educators, and then after that it will be first responders, and we'll finish it off with our service workers," Communications Manager Christian Dobosiewicz told 2 On Your Side. "The zoo's for everybody, we want to say thank you. We couldn't say thank you enough, but this is just a little small thing that we could do for those people."
A reminder if you do head to the zoo, you need to purchase tickets ahead of time. You can do that by clicking here.
The zoo is open Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sundays from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. for general admission. Zoo members can also visit Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sundays from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. The zoo is closed every Tuesday for cleaning and disinfection.