Having read the article, I agreed for the most part. The final paragraph speaks of transitioning the zoo into a sanctuary essentially, which is counterintuitive to having a zoo. But that part aside, the article made some good points about the current state of the zoo and the mayor’s willful ignorance of the issues the zoo is having. Why can’t they try to pass a measure or bond to fund the zoo and get things into working order? The price tag alone for pandas and their exhibit is a massive price tag the zoo can’t afford unless such an endowment or private individual funds most of it.
It is definitely possible private individual(s) may be willing to provide funds for pandas who may not otherwise understand or support the general needs of a zoo. I think we slightly underestimate on zoochat how much interest in certain species can affect the interest of private donors, especially those that may be more superficial. Someone who does not care for wildlife conservation may like the idea of having their name on a habitat for a keystone species, and that same someone may lack the understanding at how badly behind the scenes improvements are needed. Operational costs don't make an attractive investment to someone who is not dedicated to the mission and long-term goals - you can't put your name all over it and make a fuss in the press about it. The fact pandas are often erroneously treated as a zoological 'status symbol' may add to the appeal of funding them - it becomes 'I'm the guy who made our city zoo world famous' rather than being about paying for one animal.
I hope this is the case. It might be worth looking at if the pandas ended up being the money spinner they hoped they would be in other zoos. IIRC Edinburgh lost money..
Indeed this can be the case. There was a director of a financially struggling zoo a while ago that said in an interview that the zoo's biggest challenge is "nobody wants to be the donor with their name on the side of a bathroom". It's a whole lot easier to get donors for flashy, major capital projects like bringing in a new charismatic species than it is to find donors for new bathrooms, improved life support systems, or HVAC systems. I have never been to the San Francisco Zoo, and likely never will, so I'll leave the judgment on giant pandas to those who know the zoo better, but you are correct that these kinds of projects can be the ones capable of attracting new donors.
I read it too. Just with that comment of creating a sanctuary out of the zoo this journalist author puts the contribution to shame and seriously out of step with reality. I do sincerely hope these kind of people get a few lessons about the impact humankind has been having on nature and the living environment and how our combined footprint is destroying the very nature the author has pretext to help conserve. Never probablty thought of his own ... footprint and how that has really contributed to a lot of California urban taking out natural habitat for wildlife and native flora to be conserved and grotected from our onslaught. Think Californian pronghorn and how these have more or less disappeared from this landscape .... Well, perhaps the SF Zoo might be on a good road if they get rid of the tandem current zoo director (stand in brought in 2007 with a law fraternity background behind her and no prior knowledge of zoo management or husbandry (the kind of social-economic elite that is killing a modern zoo tradition) and a mayoral office that has little sympathy and huge distrust of their zoo and no frigging idea about zoo animal management, modern day approach conservation education ex situ conservation breeding facility and their potential contribution to society and their arrogance vis a vis the local zoo staff who know better and have to suffer the ignorance and blatant disregard for their just concerns from the general zoo staff.
Really putting the cart before the horse. Period.
While the San Francisco Zoo may be a surprising choice for the giant pandas in terms of the quality of the facility, it makes sense politically. President Xi recently was in San Francisco for a summit with President Biden and this panda announcement strategically came during Biden's re-election campaign. California's Governor Newsom has also visited China as the state has a big trade relationship with that country. According to news reports, San Francisco pulled out all the stops to clean up the city to make a good impression on the Chinese president. It should also be remembered that San Francisco is well-known for its historical Chinatown and is a sister city with Shanghai. If President Xi was gracious enough to offer giant pandas to San Francisco, I doubt that the U.S. politicians would want to admit that the city didn't have the best zoo for them.
Exactly! You can thank that also sacred political animal the CASH COW. Any right minded zoo person can see this is a covered of mismanagement by slapping the money band aid to cover up things. We wouldn't be discussing these things if those in power had any sense of compassion for exhibition of wild animals properly. It's all about control, forget any notion of answering the call of the wild, and going beyond pipe dreams to actually having a wonderful classy zoological garden. They can chirp all they want about global warming and environmental stuff but we see the only warming is coming from their mouths. When we see them actually replace broken sprinklers for the bison, replace worn out fencing outside the zoo, actually address the many exhibit concerns for housing the WANTED orangutans, and of course listening to keepers and public safety will no there is a change of heart. Right now they need more than pandas to fix their sorry zoo, they need serious overhaul of management asap!
You said it all.
I think in the short term they will be cash cows, but the return on investment will decline once the initial wave of excitement wears off. I think their reputation as cash cows is based mostly on the rushes they created during the '80s "panda tours" which seemed to be a big deal for a lot of the host cities, but there were also no permanent collections at that time in the country; but by the time we had four pandas in permanent collections around the country, I don't think most people really knew Atlanta or Memphis had them.
Yes, and not only in the zoo, but the city itself as well.
