Sioux Falls' Great Plains Zoo set to re-open Wednesday

Leadership with Sioux Falls' zoo have announced plans to re-open Wednesday. 

The Great Plains Zoo and Delbridge Museum of Natural History are working with the city and a national trade group on plans to get back into business with required social distance measures and efforts to reduce contact.

In the announcement posted on the zoo's website, leadership said a successful re-opening of the zoo will come down to efforts on behalf of both staff and visitors, who will be asked to follow federal public health guidelines and will have sanitize stations available to them along with face masks for purchase.

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“While some areas are still closed to the public, we will be offering an outdoor experience for our guests that includes their favorite animals,” zoo CEO Suzie O’Meara Hernes said in an online statement. “We will continue to adjust our plan as the situation changes, but our main focus now is re-opening the areas that are safe to open and allowing our guests to continue building those relationships with the natural world."

Zoo leadership will use time ticketing for morning and afternoon visits booked and tracked on Great Plains' website. The Delbridge museum and other enclosed exhibits remain closed.

“Our top priority throughout this crisis has been the health and safety of our animals, guests, and staff and that continues into our re-opening plan," O’Meara Hernes said in an online statement.