WHEN a popular attraction such as a zoo has been closed for a stretch of time, it is only natural for many to eagerly await its reopening.
As such, any news claiming to announce such a happy event tends to go viral rapidly online.
A claim was made recently on Instagram that the Johor Zoo would be reopening on Aug 29, and it rapidly went viral. However, is it true?
VERDICT:
FALSE
The Johor Zoo's management has denied that it will be reopening on Aug 29 as claimed in an Instagram post that has gone viral.
"The Johor Zoo would like to inform the public that the ticket prices and opening date information circulated on Aug 12 by the Instagram account owner named ‘Norhafzanora’ and subsequently reposted on other social media accounts is not accurate," it said.
It added that the details will be announced by the state government soon.
“All matters are still under discussion between the Zoo and the Johor government. We kindly request that no party disseminates unverified information,” it said in a statement here on Tuesday (Aug 13).
It added that all announcements regarding ticket prices and the opening date will be made by the state government.
Earlier, a picture went viral on social media claiming that the Johor Zoo will be reopened to the public on August 29.
In the post, it was claimed that the price of the ticket for adults is RM10, children at RM5, and RM30 for foreigners.
This comes after state housing and local government committee chairman Datuk Mohd Jafni Md Shukor was reported saying that the Johor Zoo - which has been closed since 2020 - is expected to be reopened by the end of August.
“Mentri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi is expected to visit the zoo and announce the official reopening date.
“In anticipation of a large crowd coming to the zoo on the first day of its reopening, we have set up a task force involving 15 agencies to manage the situation,” he said, adding that the agencies involved are the police and Tourism Johor.
The zoo, one of the oldest in the country, was closed for upgrading in 2020.
