I visited Boston this weekend and had an opportunity to visit their two zoos, Franklin Park Zoo and Stone Zoo. Both zoos left quite an impression on me. To describe the two I will start with the bad news first. Franklin Park Zoo is terrible. I was amazed at how the main zoo for a major city was so incredibly disappointing. I understand that with the economy the zoos and parks are typically on the short end of receiving public funding but the condition of the zoo has not changed for ten years. I first visited Franklin Park about 7 years ago and can honestly say it has gotten worse.
To begin with the landscaping, roads and paths are in terrible shape. I was amazed at the poor landscaping as weeks dominated the pathways between exhibits. The exhibits are old, dated and lack creativity. If the purpose was to create exhibits that look like no human being ever had a hand in creating it then they succeeded. I honestly have a tough time stating what exhibits are worthwhile seeing. The lion exhibit is ok but unimaginative. The same for the tiger exhibit. The jungle dome is out of date but would not take much to improve if the funding and vision were available.
The zoo lacks any direction and vision based upon the location of the exhibits. The lions and tigers are next to each other so you would assume all cats would be in the same area but they are not. There are bongos and african birds around the cats. The giraffe and zebra yard is large but lacks any sense of care or creativity. The zoo seems to have alot of things for children so perhaps that is their target audience. Yet in the area where the animals are for children they put an Amur Leopard. Very strange.
I knew I was off to a bad start with this zoo when I went in to pay and use my zoo card for the cleveland zoo and the attendant asked what state cleveland was in. Oh well, maybe others will join in my comments about this zoo and it will motivate someone in Boston to start the improvements.
The Stone Zoo was the highlight of the two zoos. Perhaps my expectations were tempered because of Franklin Park or because I had no intention of going after seeing as it was a small zoo. I was very surprised. First I would like to commend the staff at Stone Zoo. Very friendly, informative and helpful. You could tell they take pride in their work and in their zoo. Hint hint Franklin Park.
Stone Zoo is small and of the zoos I have seen east of the Mississippi I would compare it to an Akron Zoo or an Erie Zoo. Both small zoos but well taken care of and nice exhibits for the animals.
There are two exhibits at the STone Zoo which really stand out. First their section of animals from the American Southwest is a very nice exhibit. They created an old western town setting where they display the animals. This is similar to Fort Worth Zoo but on a smaller scale. They have two beautiful jaguars and two cougars. Nice creative exhibits but perhaps not as spacious as I would like. A very nice new black bear exhibit. The other exhibits that are very good utilize the natural landscape of the area to display the animals. The Markhor and snow leopard exhibits utilize the natural rock formations around the zoo to give the animals a realistic and natural landscape similar to the areas that they cohabitate in the wild. Very nice exhibits. Close to this exhibits is one of the best mexican wolf exhibit i have seen. The exhibit is very large, wooded, hills and utilizes the rock formations as well. They had a very active pack of wolves and this exhibit was excellent.
I would recommend people stopping to see the Stone Zoo. It is small but it is a good example of a zoo which does not have to be big in size or animal species to be a very good zoo. Franklin Park needs to look to the Stone Zoo as an example.
To begin with the landscaping, roads and paths are in terrible shape. I was amazed at the poor landscaping as weeks dominated the pathways between exhibits. The exhibits are old, dated and lack creativity. If the purpose was to create exhibits that look like no human being ever had a hand in creating it then they succeeded. I honestly have a tough time stating what exhibits are worthwhile seeing. The lion exhibit is ok but unimaginative. The same for the tiger exhibit. The jungle dome is out of date but would not take much to improve if the funding and vision were available.
The zoo lacks any direction and vision based upon the location of the exhibits. The lions and tigers are next to each other so you would assume all cats would be in the same area but they are not. There are bongos and african birds around the cats. The giraffe and zebra yard is large but lacks any sense of care or creativity. The zoo seems to have alot of things for children so perhaps that is their target audience. Yet in the area where the animals are for children they put an Amur Leopard. Very strange.
I knew I was off to a bad start with this zoo when I went in to pay and use my zoo card for the cleveland zoo and the attendant asked what state cleveland was in. Oh well, maybe others will join in my comments about this zoo and it will motivate someone in Boston to start the improvements.
The Stone Zoo was the highlight of the two zoos. Perhaps my expectations were tempered because of Franklin Park or because I had no intention of going after seeing as it was a small zoo. I was very surprised. First I would like to commend the staff at Stone Zoo. Very friendly, informative and helpful. You could tell they take pride in their work and in their zoo. Hint hint Franklin Park.
Stone Zoo is small and of the zoos I have seen east of the Mississippi I would compare it to an Akron Zoo or an Erie Zoo. Both small zoos but well taken care of and nice exhibits for the animals.
There are two exhibits at the STone Zoo which really stand out. First their section of animals from the American Southwest is a very nice exhibit. They created an old western town setting where they display the animals. This is similar to Fort Worth Zoo but on a smaller scale. They have two beautiful jaguars and two cougars. Nice creative exhibits but perhaps not as spacious as I would like. A very nice new black bear exhibit. The other exhibits that are very good utilize the natural landscape of the area to display the animals. The Markhor and snow leopard exhibits utilize the natural rock formations around the zoo to give the animals a realistic and natural landscape similar to the areas that they cohabitate in the wild. Very nice exhibits. Close to this exhibits is one of the best mexican wolf exhibit i have seen. The exhibit is very large, wooded, hills and utilizes the rock formations as well. They had a very active pack of wolves and this exhibit was excellent.
I would recommend people stopping to see the Stone Zoo. It is small but it is a good example of a zoo which does not have to be big in size or animal species to be a very good zoo. Franklin Park needs to look to the Stone Zoo as an example.
