City's favourite zoo to reopen

Published: 03 Jul 2020 3:19pm

School holiday fun begins on Saturday 4 July when Wagga Wagga City Council opens the Botanic Gardens Zoo and Aviary gates to the community.

The zoo and aviary precinct has been closed as a result of the pandemic but that’s also given Council a chance to spruce up the much-loved facility.

Visitors will notice some big changes as they stroll through the zoo’s maze of paths with a number of fresh enclosures ready for new residents to join the regular favourites at the Gardens.

Council’s Henry Pavitt said the project is almost complete and visitors will still see some signs of continued works in the area.

“We’ve been working extremely hard over the past eight weeks especially and overall the freshness of the spaces will be visually evident to visitors,” Mr Pavitt said.

“The initial heavy earthworks was achieved in the first weeks of the shutdown and that has allowed us an opportunity to finish off a lot of the landscaping and enclosures, so the facility is looking bigger and brighter for our reopening day.

“We’re not quite there with a few parts of the project still to be finished, but the experience for families and young children will be worthwhile.”

Mr Pavitt said Council staff will encourage all visitors to maintain social distancing and good hygiene in line with the Public Health Order to ensure the health and safety of all staff and community members.

“We want people to visit … we also want everyone to stay safe and follow the rules so we can all go home happy,” he said.

The zoo is open daily from 9am-4pm.