A statewide COVID-19 lockdown may have closed the gates on one of Illawarra's most popular attractions.
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But the team at Symbio Wildlife Park are working on a first of its kind initiative to keep animal lovers engaged from Monday.
Children who are social distancing at home during the school holidays will be the specific target of a world first next week. But other initiatives are being rolled out for people of all ages.
Marketing manager Kevin Fallon said the idea is for the animals at Symbio to spread some happiness during the coronavirus crisis.
The family run zoo at Helensburgh has twice been named Illawarra Business of the Year in recent years but that could not prevent it closing to the public more than a week ago.
Mr Fallon said the Radnidge family decided to do that before they had to because the health and safety of everyone in the community is important to them.. While some members of the Symbio workforce were temporarily been stood down the zookeepers are still busy every day providing love, care and food for the wildlife.
The business welcomed the $130 billion stimulus package announced on Monday by the Federal Government and is presently looking at what that means for it and its staff.
Mr Fallon said the Symbio team sees their role looking after all the animals at the park, which also helps ensure the survival of endangered species, is an essential service.
"Our keepers treat the animals like their own babies".
Mr Fallon said Symbio's general manager Matt Radnidge had well positioned the business to get through the global coronavirus pandemic and come out strong on the other side. Under his management the family run zoo was named Illawarra Business of the Year in 2017 and 2019.
"We are really fortunate. Matt's leadership put us in a strong business position and better able to scale back in times such as this. Not many businesses have someone like that who can make such calculated decisions that can benefit the business for the long term as well as the short term.
"Matt has invested so much time, money and resources into business processes that we are in a more comfortable position to be able to weather this storm. And use this time to refine our processes.so when people come back they will find that Symbio is better than ever".
As far as the interactive plan for online connection is concerned Mr Fallon said all will be revealed on Monday. He said now was not the time to flood social media with videos because that is not sustainable. So Symbio is getting creative. "We are implementing a whole schedule of live and educational".
Mr Fallon said Symbio's Facebook page will be where announcements will be made about the original ideas the team has been working on in recent weeks.
The Illawarra Mercury has launched a Taking Care of Business campaign.
Each day we will highlight a local business who is adapting or evolving to be able to keep operating under these trying times.
If you know of a business adapting, please send us an email titled Taking Care of Business to cos@illawarramercury.com.au.
We have also put a call out and will run a list of cafes, restaurants and clubs who are offering takeaway or delivery on our Facebook page. If you know of an outlet now offering home delivery or takeaway, please let us know and add it to the list.
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