The Mogo Wildlife Park has reopened for a second time after bushfires and then the COVID-19 crisis.
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The park has only been open for four weeks this year, after relaunching with a community day at the end of February.
Director Chad Staples said although there were some restrictions at the June long weekend, the wildlife park was "packed".
"The amount of people who wanted to have a chat and say congratulations, it almost felt like a welcome to the area. Growing up in Sydney, I'm not used to that. It was great," Mr Staples said.
"I would love for everyone to feel connected to Mogo, to claim ownership of this place. It's got a great community feel.
"We want to strengthen that, bring in new species, keep people engaged and ensure they want to come back and enjoy their time."
Mr Staples said the pandemic unfortunately separated fire-affected people when they needed each other the most.
"The fires brought the community together but COVID seemed to separate us," he said.
"That's why it was so great to be open again, to bring everybody together."
In isolation, Mr Staples' team had been developing their social media presence, answering questions from the public, and working on a new on-site wildlife hospital - now 90 per cent complete.
"The wildlife hospital was a big initiative of ours straight after the fires," he said.
"It will be a project that's never completely finished because I want it to be the best animal hospital in the country. We've had a couple of big procedures happen there now."
Mr Staples said his "Zookeeper Chad" Facebook account was a behind-the-scenes version of Mogo and Featherdale zoos.
"(The public) is very appreciative of us sharing, because a lot of zoos aren't like that," he said.
There was sometimes an element of negativity on social media "because people can be anonymous".
"Ninety-nine per cent of the time, it's amazing, beautiful comments," he said.
"You always get the person who feels they're an expert even when they're not, but you just roll with that. It's part of what we do; it's how we educate."
The fire experience had thrown Mr Staples, who had only been in his position and moved to the coast for a little over a month, in the spotlight.
He said it was an honour to be the voice and conduit to connect the public to the animals.
He had the "best isolation place on the planet", but was glad to be around people again too.
"I was very fortunate I didn't have to separate from my loved ones - these amazing animals at Mogo," he said.
"I was spoiled. I got to spend all this time with Phoenix and focus on making sure every animal was OK.
"One of my favourite things used to be, when the zoo closed, going for a walk and spending time by myself," he said.
"But I didn't realise how much I was craving that energy that comes with people enjoying animals. I love nothing more than, at the busiest times, walking around and talking with people."
Mr Staples said the incident where Shoalhaven Zoo keeper Jennifer Brown was mauled by two lions, suffering head and neck injuries, was horrific.
"It is such a horrific incident," he said.
"Obviously we don't know any of the detail with it, but we certainly hope Jen gets better soon and recovers well.
"Thankfully cool heads prevailed and the lions still get to live out their lives. They always should. It would have been completely wrong to think taking revenge on an animal was ever the right thing to do."
He said zoos and wildlife parks were a "close-knit community".
"When something bad happens, it affects us all the same way. It hurts," he said.
"Pretty much every keeper who works at a wildlife park or zoo has worked at multiple zoos, so there's a real connection.
"Us as directors, curators, managers, we're talking constantly about what's happening in our collections, because we share information, we learn from each other. As each of us gets better, we all do as a group."
Mr Staples said he was unsure what the circumstances were, but imagining it was an accident, it could have happened anywhere.
"The really good thing is within Australia, within NSW, we have very strict regulations around all of our animals, especially when it comes to dangerous animals," he said.
"We pride ourselves on being the upmost forefront for safety and welfare, and all I can imagine is it's an accident, which can happen anywhere.
"It can happen on a building site, at an office block, and unfortunately it can happen in a zoo."
Mr Staples said the Mogo animals had continued to settle into their routines after the fires.
"The best thing we could do was get back to normality: same routines, same keepers," he said.
