Public City Zoo's Privatised

Z

zooman

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
I understand that Blackpool in the UK and Dallas Zoo have both been privatised!

What other city zoo's has this happened to?

I wonder how many US or any other zoo will follow this lead?

Was Dallas leased as Blackpool was?
 
The Dallas contract is convoluted. The city still owns all the land and the buildings, but all management has been taken over by a newly formed company (DZM). The city gives the zoo a stipend of about 10.8 million, which is considerable less than the annual budget in years past. The city ends up saving a lot of money this way. Now that the wealthy donors of Dallas know that they can donate to the zoo and not be giving a helping hand to a government organization (which in their minds shouldn't need help). This has held true and the zoo held a press conference a few weeks ago talking about how much money had already been raised in just a few short months time.
 
zooman said:
I understand that Blackpool in the UK and Dallas Zoo have both been privatised!
Click to expand...

Blackpool has been in 'private' (ie non-goverment) hands a long time - it's incredibly unusual for a UK zoo to be owned by the local government.

Most of the big UK zoos are owned by charities or trusts (ZSL, RZSS, NEZS, WWCT etc); many of the smaller places are owned by private individuals. Blackpool is unusual in being owned by a non-UK company (Parques Reunidos, who also own the not-too-distant Lakes Aquarium and (if I recall) Deep Sea World in the UK).
 
Kolmården Zoo in Sweden was started by the city of Norrköping in 1965. Not so long ago, though I am not sure exactly which year, it was sold to a private company that owns the big amusement parks in Sweden. There has been a bit of "amusement" added to the park since then but as far as I know of animal welfare has not been compromised.

One of my two "home zoos" has just been totally privatisised: Skanes Animal Park (see The Gallery). It has always (I believe) been owned by a foundation but also been publicly supported. It will now receive a final payment from tax payer´s money, the equivilent of about 1,5 US dollars (not exactly a fortune...), and will then try to make it on its own. I am not totally positive about its future. It is essentially a wildlife park with Nordic animals, situated just outside a very small city in the south of Sweden. Annual visitors about 200 000, if I remember correctly.
 
Blackpool it's actually operated for a Spanish company (Parques Reunidos) they operate some of the major and most recognised parks around my country (Ocenografic in Valencia,Madrid Zoo,Faunia in Madrid ,many dolphinariums at the "Costa del Sol" and more) and others in Europe or America.

see:
.: Parques Reunidos : .
 
jbnbsn99 said:
The Dallas contract is convoluted. The city still owns all the land and the buildings, but all management has been taken over by a newly formed company (DZM).
Click to expand...

It will be very intertesting to watch how this progresses. I am sure many zoo boards or cities in the USA will be watching with interest.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top