Franklin Park Zoo Franklin Park Zoo News 2024

gardener14 said:
I'm aware of those more recent uses, but the walkways and waterways look like they were there long before that. One of the dry waterways looks like it used to emanate from the current crane habitat (forget flamingo habitat). I suspect there used to be animal habitats in that area, and I hope somebody knows it's history.
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Not sure if this helps a lot but this is a view of the bird house a long time ago from behind.
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Hi I’ve not gone to the zoo in a while as I’ve been busy. I forgot to mention this in my last post but has the construction started on the African Experience yet? And if so does anyone by chance have any pictures?
 
Went to the zoo today. The gorillas were extremely active outside. Not sure if it is just me but has Kitombe aged a lot recently? And has Kitombe always had a lazy eye?

Updates:

Giddy Up Grill the restaurant got painted white a while ago and has been renamed. It’s now called the Farmhouse Cafe.

Many of the exhibits are getting even more overgrown. The Lion exhibit was so full of weeds that you could not entirely see the Lion exhibit from the fence that overlooks the moat since there were lots of dense, tall weeds in the way.

There was only one saddle billed stork on exhibit. I’m not sure where the other one was.

There was tape on the glass in the Tropical Forest. They must have been introducing a new species of bird. I think that the new species was the Madagascar Sacred Ibis. I don’t remember seeing it before.
 
ZooElephantMan said:
The President and CEO of Zoo New England has announced his retirement: Zoo New England
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He did an impressive job of rebooting the Franklin Park and Stone Zoos from low points, in collaboration with his teams. I enjoyed my 2016 visit to Franklin Park Zoo, and I hope that it keeps improving. John Linehan is leaving in what seems like pretty good shape.
 
DavidBrown said:
He did an impressive job of rebooting the Franklin Park and Stone Zoos from low points, in collaboration with his teams. I enjoyed my 2016 visit to Franklin Park Zoo, and I hope that it keeps improving. John Linehan is leaving in what seems like pretty good shape.
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He did a respectable job- although I think there's always room for improvement. Compared to zoos in other large, wealthy cities, Zoo New England has struggled to find donors for new exhibits, as evidenced by the lack of named exhibit complexes and the relatively low prices on recent exhibit complexes. Improvements to the zoo have happened, but they've been slow. Major projects in recent years have been:
  • African Experience (upcoming): scheduled to open 2026, $16 million
  • Gorilla Grove (outdoor gorilla exhibit): opened 2022, $9.1 million
  • Caribbean Coast (Stone Zoo): opened 2018, $4 million
  • Nature's Neighborhoods (updated Children's Zoo): opened 2016, $7.2 million
The zoos are certainly better now than they were a few decades ago (Stone Zoo did come one polar bear away from closing during the 1990's, after all), however I hope the new director can put together the funds to bring capital improvements in at a faster pace, as both zoos have areas of underutilized space and outdated exhibit areas.
 
I'm actually somewhat solemn about Mr. Linehan retiring for that reason. Zoo New England is on a path of clear improvement, and I know how passionate he was and is about such things.
 
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