Bronx Zoo Future of the Bronx Zoo

If you read the stories closely, you will see that it is a two-part issue. The zoo's budget has already been deeply affected over the past year by reduced charitable contributions and massively-declining income from their endowment. As a result many staff have been laid off, which means some areas of the zoo (or services provided, like education) need to be shut down or greatly reduced.

Further funding reductions are looming as part of budget cuts still to be finalized by the City of New York, which provides a major portion of the Zoo's annual running costs. The testimony zoo officials gave about closure of exhibits is almost certainly part of a strategy to keep the impending cuts to as low a level as possible, by openly stating the impact of having all of their funding sources decline simultaneously. As noted, most of the proposed closures are of areas of low visitor appeal, with the exception being the World of Darkness. My guess is that WOD is being used to generate sympathy and support to reduce the severity of the cuts, and that it will in the end remain open. But that's just a guess.

Don't count on any major new exhibits at the Bronx, including WOD renovations, for several years. The exhibits opening up this year are either minor renovations of existing spaces (aardvark, hyena), or were funded years ago and are just getting finished (Central Park snow leopard). Not until there is more money available to both restore staffing levels and fund construction will the current contraction be replaced by expansion. It's very sad, but an indicator of how the economic crisis has hit New York harder than just about anywhere else
 
reduakari said:
My guess is that WOD is being used to generate sympathy and support to reduce the severity of the cuts, and that it will in the end remain open.
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I thought same thing--that the zoo is hoping someone or thing will come save the exhibit. However, then I thought about it. It's one of the few exhibits at the zoo that REQUIRE someone to essentially stand there as security. ESPECIALLY on free days. I'm sure there are money constraints that go into the exhibit too (such as the mild-lights, lights at night, etc.). I could see the exhibit being a huge money drain.

I can see it going either way, sadly.
 
Update on the site as of today is posted below. WoD has already been removed as an attraction on the website:

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To Our Guests and Members

The Wildlife Conservation Society is undergoing restructuring as we reduce our budget during the ongoing global economic crisis. The economy is affecting us all, but with our restructuring we are making sure we keep our 114-year old institution strong on conservation and our parks the best places to bring your children and families year-round.

A part of this restructuring includes opening new exhibits and phasing out the old at our five facilities in New York: Bronx Zoo, Central Park Zoo, Queens Zoo, Prospect Park Zoo, and the New York Aquarium.

This summer, we will open hyena and aardvark exhibits at the Bronx Zoo and unveil the new Allison Maher Stern Snow Leopard Exhibit at the Central Park Zoo.

At the Bronx Zoo, we are closing the World of Darkness and relocating animals in our Rare Animal Range and an area in the southeastern corner of the zoo.

As we go through this process, we will relocate some of our animals to other areas within our family of zoos in New York. We will be transferring some animals to facilities that meet or exceed the guidelines used by accredited institutions of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Exchanging animals is a practice that zoos regularly engage in to ensure that our populations are genetically diverse and demographically stable.

The wellbeing of our animals is of utmost importance to us, and we will never do anything to compromise that. That's part of the DNA of the Bronx Zoo. Our cost savings will be achieved in part with operational cuts, not with any compromises as far as the care and safety of our animals.

Updated: 4/29/2009"
 
I'd love to see the Arabian Oryxes go to Cincy or Louisville. I've always had a thing for them.

What's messed up is I've been to the Bronx 2 times and never seen RAR. Now I'm kind of ticked that I never will. That zoo is probably my favorite period, but it's incredibly easy to get lost or disoriented in if you aren't familiar with it. That's actually one of the things I like about it......
 
Hi

Does anyone know what kind of hyaena species (spotted, stripped or brown) will be exhibited in Bronx Zoo soon?
 
I guess it must be spotted hyena.

What a sad news to hear the closing of WoD. One of my favorite place in the zoo.
 
I managed to get to a very wet bronx zoo yesterday, I will post some pictures later but I didn't take very many because of the weather.

Firts off the World of Darkness is already closed. The steel shutters have been lowered and there was barriers up to prevent people entering (they hadn't blocked the path between the toilets and the WOD, so by entering from the brown bear end I hadnt seen any closed signs, when exiting towards the lions I found my exit blocked and had to wiggle round a barrier to get out!

The sifaka in Madagascar! have been replaced by blue-eyed brown lemur, I was told this wasn't rotation the sifaka wouldn't be returning. The lights in the hissing cockroach exhibit weren't working so you couldn't see them and the Fossa was fast asleep next to the window so you could at least see it.

The aardvark exhibit was open and the two aardvarks were really active (the exhibit is to the left as you enter the giraffe building, an additional wall has been placed here with whatever you call the heavy suspended vinyl strips that are used in many free flying bird houses to stop the birds exiting are used to keep out the light but let visitors enter. The aardvarks were exhibited under red light and were really active, they have really been tearing up the exhibit apparently. A staff member told me flash photography was ok, I haven't looked yet but dont think the pics of the exhibit will be that good as I took my external flash out of my bag before I left. I did have a f2.8 lens with me though so fingers crossed.

The Giraffe enclosure has had what looks a fairly permanent platform structure on the visitors side of the fence with steps leading up to it. As it is head height I wonder if they are going to introduce giraffe feeding. I tried to see if an access path was present but couldn't detect one. By this point it was pouring so I have no photos as I tend to protect my DSLR!!!!)

The monorail, zoofari etc were supposed to be re-opening on 2 May but everything was still closed. There were low visitor numbers due to the rain but I was disappointed that they hadn't publicized the attractions weren't open. In keeping with the previous news that the cablecars wouldn't reopen the cars and the cables have been removed but the stations and the pylons still remain.

I'm not sure where the hyena exhibit is going to be, but saw no sign of tehm or any construction going on. The African hunting dogs were more active than I've ever seen, one of them was interacting with my 5 year old son, both circling and running round in cirlces either side of the glass. The snow leopards were actice too, I'm very hopeful that those pictures will come out.
 
zebedee101 said:
I managed to get to a very wet bronx zoo yesterday, I will post some pictures later but I didn't take very many because of the weather.

Firts off the World of Darkness is already closed. The steel shutters have been lowered and there was barriers up to prevent people entering (they hadn't blocked the path between the toilets and the WOD, so by entering from the brown bear end I hadnt seen any closed signs, when exiting towards the lions I found my exit blocked and had to wiggle round a barrier to get out!

The sifaka in Madagascar! have been replaced by blue-eyed brown lemur, I was told this wasn't rotation the sifaka wouldn't be returning. The lights in the hissing cockroach exhibit weren't working so you couldn't see them and the Fossa was fast asleep next to the window so you could at least see it.

The aardvark exhibit was open and the two aardvarks were really active (the exhibit is to the left as you enter the giraffe building, an additional wall has been placed here with whatever you call the heavy suspended vinyl strips that are used in many free flying bird houses to stop the birds exiting are used to keep out the light but let visitors enter. The aardvarks were exhibited under red light and were really active, they have really been tearing up the exhibit apparently. A staff member told me flash photography was ok, I haven't looked yet but dont think the pics of the exhibit will be that good as I took my external flash out of my bag before I left. I did have a f2.8 lens with me though so fingers crossed.

The Giraffe enclosure has had what looks a fairly permanent platform structure on the visitors side of the fence with steps leading up to it. As it is head height I wonder if they are going to introduce giraffe feeding. I tried to see if an access path was present but couldn't detect one. By this point it was pouring so I have no photos as I tend to protect my DSLR!!!!)

The monorail, zoofari etc were supposed to be re-opening on 2 May but everything was still closed. There were low visitor numbers due to the rain but I was disappointed that they hadn't publicized the attractions weren't open. In keeping with the previous news that the cablecars wouldn't reopen the cars and the cables have been removed but the stations and the pylons still remain.

I'm not sure where the hyena exhibit is going to be, but saw no sign of tehm or any construction going on. The African hunting dogs were more active than I've ever seen, one of them was interacting with my 5 year old son, both circling and running round in cirlces either side of the glass. The snow leopards were actice too, I'm very hopeful that those pictures will come out.
Click to expand...

I did fear it was already closed when I saw it pulled from the website.

The sifaka has been gone since I was still in NYC (January, at least). I feel like I read something about a sifaka baby awhile back though. The fossa there is always sleeping. Did you see the other one at all?

Interesting, a giraffee feeding would be great!

I got the feeling that the hyneas would be going in with the aardvarks (not sure why I thought this). Was there any empty exhibits in Africa?
 
tigertiger said:
I did fear it was already closed when I saw it pulled from the website.

The sifaka has been gone since I was still in NYC (January, at least). I feel like I read something about a sifaka baby awhile back though. The fossa there is always sleeping. Did you see the other one at all?

Interesting, a giraffee feeding would be great!

I got the feeling that the hyneas would be going in with the aardvarks (not sure why I thought this). Was there any empty exhibits in Africa?
Click to expand...

The aardarks are indoors in the giraffe building and kept under reversed light conditions, there really is no room for hyenes there. My guess was they may end up where the cheetahs used to be. The ostrich might only be temporary as except for a glass viewing window addition nothing much was done to the exhibit and it really is unsuitable for ostrich. If this is the case where the ostrich will end up permanently is anyones guess.

Was disappointed not to see the lion cub as haven't seen it yet
 
zebedee101 said:
The aardarks are indoors in the giraffe building and kept under reversed light conditions, there really is no room for hyenes there. My guess was they may end up where the cheetahs used to be. The ostrich might only be temporary as except for a glass viewing window addition nothing much was done to the exhibit and it really is unsuitable for ostrich. If this is the case where the ostrich will end up permanently is anyones guess.

Was disappointed not to see the lion cub as haven't seen it yet
Click to expand...

THAT'S what they were building in there! They have to be doing the cheetahs exhibit into hyenas!
 
Well, they either are or they aren't closing the World of Darkness.

But, either way, something needs to be done about getting better zoo management in many zoos so that there won't even be any possibility of closing down exhibits and sending animals away.
 
The World of Darkness is closed. At some point in the future, when the economy allows, I am sure it will be totally remodeled and reopen.

As far as your opinion regarding management, I guess they should have used their crystal ball to see the total collapse of the world economy and the resultant pull back of New York City funding AND the contraction of the biggest endowment (by far) of any zoo in the world, the income of which has supported significant zoo operating costs for many years. But they didn't, nor did very many others.
 
Zoo Visitor said:
Well, they either are or they aren't closing the World of Darkness.

But, either way, something needs to be done about getting better zoo management in many zoos so that there won't even be any possibility of closing down exhibits and sending animals away.
Click to expand...

In my mind it could be excellent zoo managemnt that has closed it down. If it happened to be prohibitively expensive to run in relation to visitor appreciation then it may be a very good management decision to close it. If it means that those exhibits that are very popular with the visitor can stay open then it may make a very good financial decision. Knowing when to close an exhibit that is past its sell by date is essential. When an exhibit becomes expensive because of rising maintenance and heating costs or starts to aesthetically deteriote then visitors start to complain and a zoo trades on its reputation. Zoos swap and trade animals all of the time, it isn't questioned but because budgets and politics are in play it becomes a "negative". What may be very average species at the bronx because they have such a diverse and crowd popular collection may be a blockbuster at another zoo. For a small municipal zoo with limited carnivores and primates, that doesn't have the facilities to keep the big 5 then bats may be a big crowd pleaser, where at the Bronx zoo they would be way down on this of most popular exhibit (by the every day visitors opinion). The Bronx zoo has lost federal and municipal funding as well as made a severe loss on its investments. At the end of the day it is not mismanagement by the zoo but by the financial institutions that has led to a worldwide financial issue that isn't specific to zoos. It is good management that plans ofr the future and lives to its means rather than just hoping that the rainy days will end soon. These actions now may save the zoo for the future and when investments bounce back and money, funding and sponsorship is available agin then the zoo will redevelop and have better exhibits than ever before.

Reduakari posted as I was typing, I am in total agreement with their post, zoo mismanagement isnt at play here, the financial issues affect all except those that dont have anything. Even those that have no savings and depend on handouts will see those handouts decrease, this is a worldwide issue, not a zoo one
 
What a financial mess we're in. I never would have imagined the historic and world famous Bronx Zoo lacking for anything. The #1 zoo destination on my list. And if that should be any time soon, no World of Darkness? I remember the opening of this grand structure and reading about it in an issue of Reader's Digest years ago.

Does anyone have the latest attendance numbers for the Bronx? I've heard their numbers were dropping due to the economic crisis we're in. In L.A., we actually drew 1.6 million over the past year, an increase over recent years.

I hope for only the best at the Bronx Zoo and its future.
 
reduakari said:
The World of Darkness is closed. At some point in the future, when the economy allows, I am sure it will be totally remodeled and reopen.

As far as your opinion regarding management, I guess they should have used their crystal ball to see the total collapse of the world economy and the resultant pull back of New York City funding AND the contraction of the biggest endowment (by far) of any zoo in the world, the income of which has supported significant zoo operating costs for many years. But they didn't, nor did very many others.
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They would not have needed a crystal ball to foresee the possibility of any of that happening.

I believe too many organizations, businesses, and even some zoos are using the world economy as an excuse for doing certain things they wanted to do anyway.

The Bronx Zoo has progressively cut back on the number of species represented and of individual animals in recent years. I believe it had lost sight of what makes zoos valuable to society, even before the decision to close the World of Darkness was made.

In my opinion, good zoo management does not include closing exhibits or sending animals away except as a very last resort.

Instead, zoos should cut back on the "bells and whistles" and the fundraising events that hardly raise any funds, etc.
 
It sounds like the LA Zoo management is doing a good job.

If the Bronx Zoo has fewer visitors, it is probably because it has fewer animals.

Much of its focus and efforts are now on off-site conservation rather than on maintaining a zoo that inspires visitors to be interested in wildlife.
 
There are a lot of "if's" in your comment. If it could be known that your if's were correct, your points would make sense.

But the World of Darkness was a very popular exhibit. And a very educational one for parents or teachers who knew how to use it as a resource and a basis for lessons.

A zoo should not be frequently reducing the number of animals, or species represented. Nor should it be shifting animals to other zoos.

That's not good for the visitors, or for the animals.

There are many other ways to cut costs - one way would be to stop trying to be more than a zoo!
 
Zoo Visitor said:
There are a lot of "if's" in your comment. If it could be known that your if's were correct, your points would make sense.

But the World of Darkness was a very popular exhibit. And a very educational one for parents or teachers who knew how to use it as a resource and a basis for lessons.

A zoo should not be frequently reducing the number of animals, or species represented. Nor should it be shifting animals to other zoos.

That's not good for the visitors, or for the animals.

There are many other ways to cut costs - one way would be to stop trying to be more than a zoo!
Click to expand...

I think you missed the boat on the direction all zoos have been going in for about 40 years. It's long past the time when the value of a zoo was based primarily on how many species it exhibited. The Bronx was one of the first to focus on quality and conservation over sheer numbers, but every zoo in the world (even the Berlin zoos) have greatly reduced their total species count in favor of meaningful exhibits and breeding programs.

And as far as "being more than a zoo," WCS, which runs the Bronx zoo, is one of the three or four largest--and arguably the most effective--international wildlife conservation organizations on earth. Having a great zoo has helped it get there, but to suggest it should back off on actually saving wildlife in nature in order to spend more money running a zoo is definitely "cart before the horse" mentality. Don't all zoos claim their primary mission is conservation (including the Philly zoo, which by the way has greatly reduced its species diversity over the years)? And many, many animals at Philly have been "shifted to other zoos": the same can be said for any major zoo in the world--that's how they have worked since the 1970s.

World of Darkness was popular, but has been in need of a total makeover for at least 20 years. I'm confident that in a few years, a much better version will emerge. In the meantime, the Bronx zoo offers more great exhibits and amazing animals than just about any other place on earth.
 
Zoo Visitor said:
In my opinion, good zoo management does not include closing exhibits or sending animals away except as a very last resort.

Instead, zoos should cut back on the "bells and whistles" and the fundraising events that hardly raise any funds, etc.
Click to expand...

The sad truth is, gate receipts and memberships have never been sufficient to operate most zoos. One or two of WCS' fund raising parties bring in more funds than another 50,000 visitors! The Bronx Zoo is especially limited by their location. Most tourists to New York do not make the long trip to the Bronx (as most tourists to San Diego do not make it to the San Diego Zoo).
 
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