If $500 million can be spent to create arguably one of the world's great museums (which includes an aquarum, a tropical rainforest, a planetarium and a natural history museum) then why can't the San Francisco Zoo raise some cash for an extensive overhaul?
If $500 million can be spent to create arguably one of the world's great museums (which includes an aquarum, a tropical rainforest, a planetarium and a natural history museum) then why can't the San Francisco Zoo raise some cash for an extensive overhaul?
The city also spent zillions of dollars rebuilding the DeYoung and some of the other art museums. This city seems to really prefer art museums over the zoo.
Where did the $100 million go? What did they build in that era other than the savanna exhibit, the new parking lot, and the Discovery education building?
I remember in the early 1990s that there were plans to build new elephant and chimp exhibits. Why did THAT never get done?
Sad.
A zoo keeper friend told me that the SF Zoo management is getting better and that improvements may be on the way. In fairness I haven't been there since the last elephant left and the tiger fiasco. I see from their website that they have rebuilt the rhino and hippo exhibits. I really hope that things are on the mend and over time maybe they will make some significant improvement.
In the 6 years since I visited San Francisco Zoo I think that the only major addition has been Grizzly Gulch, and several key species have left the zoo due to deaths or downsizing. On last summer's road trip I spent several days in the San Francisco area and didn't even bother to visit the zoo, and it is perhaps the only major zoo in North America that has seen a steady drop in annual attendance. California Academy of Sciences is well worth a visit, and nearby Oakland Zoo features more natural-looking animal exhibits.
In the 6 years since I visited San Francisco Zoo I think that the only major addition has been Grizzly Gulch, and several key species have left the zoo due to deaths or downsizing. On last summer's road trip I spent several days in the San Francisco area and didn't even bother to visit the zoo, and it is perhaps the only major zoo in North America that has seen a steady drop in annual attendance. California Academy of Sciences is well worth a visit, and nearby Oakland Zoo features more natural-looking animal exhibits.
I visited the SF Zoo recently for the first time in several years. I really hope that they are starting to find their footing again. They have a great multi-species savanna exhibit starring giraffes and a great aye-aye nocturnal hall that is viewed by a really cool interpretive tour. The children's zoo has always been really good, and has a cool insect zoo within it. The amount of rotting and outdated exhibits that need redevelopment is formidable however.
The California Academy of Sciences is opening some new exhibits this summer including an exhibit on marine animal reproductive strategies, a major earthquake exhibit with an earthquake motion simulator (an update of a classic exhibit from the old academy), and a new planetarium show about Mayan astronomy and why the world will not end in 2012.
