Due to Covid, some zoos are barely scraping enough cash to feed their animals Credit: Getty The meerkats Mosegi and Kimbia are one of the most popular species with the children, so they definitely noticed when we closed and the zoo became quiet,’ says Jamie Baker, zookeeper at Battersea Park Children’s Zoo. ‘The otters, too. Usually, we open at 10 o’clock. They get fed shortly after, so they run to the front of their enclosure and look for people coming towards them. Over time, they realised no one was coming, so they stopped bothering. The donkeys and pigs were all waiting at the gate in the morning, because people would usually come past and pat them on the head. Our African grey parrots, Barry and Becky, are our oldest animals – they’re 22 years old – and chatting to visitors is something they’ve enjoyed all their lives. Usually, they don’t shut up… they don’t speak at all now. We think they miss that interaction, so we go and play them music, just so they’re hearing some hustle and bustle.’