Zoos Victoria restricts visitor access amid fears of potential foot-and-mouth disease outbreak 

Last night, Zoos Victoria which runs Melbourne Zoo, Werribee Open Range Zoo and Healesville Sanctuary announced restricting visitor access to Melbourne Zoo’s giraffes, elephants and kangaroos to reduce risk of potential foot-and-mouth disease outbreak following the outbreak in popular tourist destination Bali.

Zoos Victoria sent a message to members announcing the elephant enclosure's public pathway would be closed out of an "abundance of caution".

The message said the measures were intended to lower the risk of animals coming into contact with "soil that could have potentially been brought in from outside the zoo grounds".

Giraffe, kangaroo and elephant "animal encounters", where tourists and local visitors pay to spend time up close with certain animals, will be "temporality unavailable".

Zoos Victoria Chief Executive Jenny Gray told the ABC "we've been watching very closely the outbreak and … we've decided to increase some of the protection levels for our animals.

"We have a number of susceptible animals in our care."

Hoofed animals are most vulnerable and as such giraffe, kangaroo and elephant "animal encounters", where tourists and local visitors pay to spend time up close with certain animals, will be "temporality unavailable".

Dr Gray said staff were unsure about the impact FMD could have on native macropods like kangaroos, wallabies and quokkas, which led to restrictions being applied to them.

Zoos Victoria has also asked anyone who lives with livestock – except for horses – not to visit the zoo.

Anyone who has recently returned from Indonesia is asked to wait at least 48 hours until they visit the zoo.

Dr Gray said if there was an outbreak of FMD it would be up to government authorities to determine the fate of zoo animals adding "foot-and-mouth has been eradicated and kept out of Australia very successfully. I'm sure there will be strategies put in place that will limit the spread and [that it will be] eradicated in the eventuality that it occurs."

Image: The Trail of the Elephants at Melbourne Zoo will be closed to the public. Credit: Zoos Victoria