Visitors are no longer allowed to wear animal print clothing to a zoo in England. Apparently, the clothing scares and confuses the animals.
In order to ensure the safety of its visitors, the Chessington World of Adventures theme park and zoo in Surrey, England has banned any clothing featuring zebra, giraffe, leopard, cheetah, tiger, spotted and striped hyena and African wild dog patterns, according to Yahoo. Bouncers will stand at the zoo's entrance to enforce the new clothing policy.
The zoo features an exhibit called “Zufari: Ride Into Africa!” where visitors can can ride through a reserve where the animals are allowed to roam freely. However, spokeswoman Natalie Dilloway told The Guardian that the "animals are getting confused when they see what looks like zebras and giraffes driving across the terrain in a 7.5 tonne truck."
Mail Online further reports that the zookeepers noticed a tendency in the animals to either approach people wearing animal print clothing, or run away scared. When someone wears a similar pattern to the animal's coat, the animals became curious and walked up to the person. On the other hand, if they wore a pattern of one of its predators, the animals became afraid and either ran away or displayed aggressive behaviors.
Any zoo attendees who come to the zoo in animal print clothing will be forced to wear grey boiler suits for the duration of their visit.
Will other zoos begin to follow suit?
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
