I understand where you’re coming from and I believe the cost of the exhibit is most likely due to a few factors: life support systems, location/reputation of the zoo, infrastructure overhaul. Seeing that they have water features for guests and animals alike, especially the indoor exhibits that require filtration systems for some of their residents. As for the location and reputation of the zoo, San Diego is a very popular city, the county alone is within the top 10 most populated in the country. Construction projects within the city would be costly, very much reflected by the living situations of the residents of San Diego. Lastly, the Children’s zoo area was in dire need of an overhaul. It was decades old, which really showed off its age as the decades went by. And whenever infrastructure has to be done from the ground up, it will be an added cost aside from doing some revamping of pre-existing exhibits that may need a touch up. I will still try to make a trip happen this week if I can switch at work, I want to give it a proper assessment while also photographing it too
(Just to be clear, the post below is not directed at you whatsoever, moreso at the zoo and its management.)
Just as a comparison, London built Land of the Lions, a complex comprising a 3-part lion habitat (2100 sqm), a Hanuman langur exhibit (400 sqm), an aviary for Green peafowl, Griffon vultures and Black kites (350 sqm), a Dwarf mongoose exhibit and a whole load of temple and village and train station theming, all for 5.2 million GBP (6.8 million USD). And that was on top of a whole load of old infrastructure, not a new site. I wouldn't say the scale is necessarily comparable (although the site sizes are, at around 7500 sqm and 8000 sqm) but it still begs the question - exactly where is all that money going? Surely not construction costs, as I've just shown that London Zoo (not exactly the most financially astute zoo in the world) can do it for a tiny fraction of the price despite construction costs being higher on average. The population argument is void - London's population is almost triple that of SD's entire county, and filtration systems don't exactly cost tens of millions.
So what exactly is costing the 80 or so unaccounted-for millions? San Diego's reputation? I should think that if that is the case, the zoo has some serious introspective thinking to do; if their name alone is causing them to spend almost a tenth of a billion dollars on an exhibit that could be built for a tenth of the cost almost anywhere else. Just to put $80 million in perspective, that is twice the cost of Masoala. Is that not faintly ridiculous, that SDZ is spending double the amount of money spent on one of the greatest zoo exhibits ever to build what is, at its core a pretty average Children's Zoo? It strikes me as wrong, and that together with the massive million dollar lion statue at the entrance makes me seriously worry that the place is moving further and further away from the actual mission of zoos. I'd have to wait until studies are done within the Basecamp but I'd be immensely surprised if it had any effect on the educative aspect of the zoo (and it certainly doesn't do much for research or conservation).
My skeptical self immediately saw the hefty price tag as a way of bringing in visitors, and while obviously quite an ironic point of view, I'm inclined to believe that the main reason the project cost so much was in order to flaunt the price tag across the news rather than because it actually warranted such a fee. And that in turn makes me wonder how that superfluous money injected into the project could be otherwise spent on other areas of the zoo (Urban Jungle, the Bear Grottos etc.) or beyond the confines of the zoo for conservation. Having visited predominantly European zoos, it is now painfully obvious to me how far removed American zoos are (with SDZ as an extreme example) from the purpose of zoos over here (which have generally stuck to the underlying ethos of a modern zoo with a few exceptions). And if that is the direction in which zoos are headed, I'm not optimistic.
None of us will ever truly know where all that budget went into even though it’s not something anyone can squanders.
haha Luckily Zoochat has those with who can run laps around me with their extensive zoo knowledge so hopefully they can provide a more concise answer!
