Franklin Park Zoo Franklin Park Zoo News 2015

Christopher the lion is no longer on exhibit, due to health issues. Here is the announcement from the zoo's Facebook:
"As we shared in January, Christopher the lion is being closely monitored and treated for several irreversible, age-related issues. Recently, his health has begun to decline further and due to this he will no longer be seen on exhibit. At age 21, Christopher is among the oldest lions within the North American captive population in facilities accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. The median life expectancy for lions is 16.8 years. The veterinary and animal care staff take extraordinary care of our geriatric animals, as they do with all of the animals in our collection, to ensure that they enjoy a comfortable life as they continue to age, which is often far longer than the median life expectancy. Great care is being taken to ensure that Christopher is comfortable and has access to plenty of enrichment and stimulation."
 
I saw somewhere a post about renovations at both the ZNE zoos. If anyone knows if some things are true or not then tell me.

I know about the children's zoo and that is definite so I decided to not talk about it a lot.

Franklin Park Zoo:

1. Redo Africa section
2. Nile Crocs
3. Restaurant next to Lion
4. New Asia Exhibit
5. Stone zoo's gibbons may go to FPZ to join orangutans, tigers, red pandas, and komodo dragons
6. There are plans to redo the outside part of the gorilla exhibit?

Stone Zoo:

1. Grizzly Bears & Moose
2. Playground

I think that these exhibits sound cool, but I would much rather have grizzly bears at franklin park and orangutans at stone zoo, because it gives variety instead of having 2 species of bears at one place and 2 species of apes at the other one.

I think the part about redoing the outside part of the gorilla exhibit isn't right because the post I saw was from a few years ago and they put cranes there instead, but I think if they did put the gorillas outside as well as inside that would be really really good.

The restaurant next to lion is also kind of already being done, but it isn't really that good because its in a tent and it is seasonal.

I think they should expand the lion exhibit so they have space for a whole pride, because instead they are getting 2 new males who are brothers from a zoo in texas because they don't have enough room to breed them
 
Last edited:
Quite a few years ago ZNE decided that Stone will have mostly animals from the Americas and Franklin would house mostly animals from Asia, Africa and Australia
 
The Lion Twins have “killer" appeal, much like the brothers before them. Lions and Tigers share a night building. There's only so many stalls.

Natures Neighborhood is happening. There's also a new greeting area and entrance planned. The Master Plans were done for both Zoos, but much like any plan, things change. Gorilla outdoor was designed but cost was high. It was easier to redo the indoor area and mesh it in. There are some new additions in the past few months. Hyena, Kiwi and Red River Hog.

Playground at Stone Zoo was completed in the fall. Those Grizzly plans exist, but require funding. Much like an aging facility, there's been upgrades needed for buildings and utilities. Some of those have been addressed in recent years.
 
How did you learn about all the stuff about the bears then? I found out about it from some thread somewhere else on zoo chat but there wasn't much information other than what I already said. Also, since the cost was high for the outdoor gorilla area, does that mean they will never do it, or is it just they won't do it in the short term.
 
2.0 Six year old Lion bros. from Dallas Zoo have arrived to reign over the Kalahari Kingdom. Dinari and Kamaia were born on March 7, 2009 at Lee Richardson Zoo. They moved to Dallas Zoo for Giants of the Savanna. There was an incident where one of the males killed one of three lioness not long ago. Much like the former bros Lions Christopher and Cliff, they have that unfortunate loss of taking life. They're beautiful boys and like the males in years past are extremely handsome with their flowing manes. They came to FPZ to take residence where Christopher lived until his untimely passing. Filling a gap in the Heart of the Zoo and making room at Dallas for a proven male to breed their lioness'.
 
Yippee Skippy! Camel Trek. Get your Hump Day on this season at the Zoo. At $8.00 USD, it is on the higher end of costs to ride. For an additional $10.00 USD, you can have your picture taken with your new, whippin' hooves. Kind of absurd considering the combined cost if those choose the package combo. Add in admission and other ride attractions, food, beverage and souvenir, the Zoo outing could cost a family of four a pretty penny. It's a half day Zoo at best, and that is pushing it. With the addition of Camel Trek, new male Lions, Red River Hog Trio, Kiwi and others, may keep people around to spend their money. The Zoo will be adding the Nature's Neighborhood at some point, along with a new entrance (must be a trend amongst Zoos?) set further into the Zoo as well as a greeting area. Not my cup of tea, per se. Need more animals and variety. In the winter, all the warm weather loving animals are locked away in their barns. The Zoo is heavily loaded on one end, while the giraffe exhibit eats up a huge swath of space. Has a dead zone feeling between Tropical Forest and Lion/Tiger. They can invest millions upon millions of dollars at FPZ, and it will never be a million plus vistor destination. It just lacks in areas and funding is never there. Still one of my hometown Zoos, but I'd rather go north to Stone Zoo or south to RWPZ. Oh, well. At least we have good professional sports teams, heh. Here's the link to the Camel Trek.

Camel Trek to debut at Franklin Park Zoo
 
Aside from the bronx zoo, FPZ is much larger than other nearby zoos (in acreage) so after a while when they start to fill that space up it will be a much larger attraction. But that's not really thinking at all in the short term.
 
Yes, it is. But for its size and location, the parking isn't there. There's maybe 200 spots between either entrance and the gravel area. That's if there are no buses. There's nothing on the backside of giraffe and grevy's holding area. The Zoo has more service roads than exhibits (joking). Hooves and horns has been in a state of mothball for years. They have animals back there but they're not on-show. All the holding barns in their should be razed, but that costs money. The new children's zoo revamp is going from over sixty species to ten or so. How is that worth an animal seeing experience? Adding a walk through tall grasses, stump jumps, bamboo pick up sticks, a slide that's in an eagles nest and other nature play junk. From Children's Zoo to Outback is a vast amount of acreage with little animal related things and massive quarter of an acre playgrounds. Not to mention concessions, carousel and other carnival junk.
 
This is very small news, but the ticket price just went up. I also was at the zoo today and saw that construction of camel rides had begun.
 
Both zoos just announced this on Facebook, so please support them:

Action Alert -- show your support for Zoo New England by asking your Massachusetts State Senator to fund Zoo New England at $6.9 million in the FY16 Budget – line item 7007-0952!
Your calls and emails truly make a difference. We cannot thank you enough for being an advocate for the Zoos, and are greatly humbled by all of your support.
 
Kiki the western lowland gorilla just gave birth to a baby. The gender is currently unknown. The father was Kit (Kitombe)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top