Zoo Numbers Down, Optimism Up

Visitor numbers at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo have been down since the Waldo Canyon Fire.

Zoo officials said they have been down some 20,000 visitors compared to this time last year.

“Summer is the busiest time. That is a big chunk of people. We rely on the summer season from tourists and kids being out of school, so 20,000 is a big chunk of people,” said Kaite Borremans, a spokes person with the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.

That 20,000 person drop is about three percent of visitors compared to this time last year, but there are some real reasons zoo officials are being cautiously optimistic.

The zoo’s new attraction, Encounter Africa, will be ready in the fall and is expected to draw large numbers of kids and adults alike.

Zoo officials also said that their budget always plans for uncontrollable weather events.

“We are always aware it could be a monsoon summer and we could get rained out a lot of the days. In this instance it happened to be a wildfire. When we budget we do take those kinds of things into account,” said Borremans.

The Cheyenne Mountain Zoo also has yearly events during the summer that bolster visitor numbers. Moonlight on the Mountain is next Thursday.