It's easy to find cheap hotels a short drive away in SD, their parking is free, and they're open longer than the ridiculous 10-5 of WCS zoos. Besides, the little zoos and Bronx can't really even compete with the 500 square new-and-spitshined acres Columbus has, not to mention Jack Hanna and the thousands of acres and 20-odd species at The Wilds. Lol. I've done the drive several times, and I bet it takes less time to go from SD to the SP than it does to get from the Bronx to the Aquarium! Those two plus their safari components are very pretty and manicured and look great on TV. And the luxe of the Georgia Aquarium! The conditions at the Bronx, by comparison, look like what you might expect in the "Boogie Down Bronx," rough around the edges. They fortunately haven't shown anything that's too ancient or looks too small (except the night yards on Asia), but it really doesn't say a lot about the Zoo's facilities that keepers are creeping down the exterior stairs of an abandoned building to use its basement to find a quiet space to breed a highly endangered species. This was past the summer season or Clyde would have rendered at least half of the zoo un-quiet. Lol. They've shown meetings of the staff, of all five zoo directors, of just Jim Breheny in his office, and Clyde's bark pierces the air through them all.