As someone on the ground at SF Zoo, what is your best case hope for the zoo going forward? Do you think that the great ape situation is solvable and that they are even capable of building decent chimp and orangutan exhibits and tearing down the ancient embarrassments that they are still using that have been out of date for 50 years? Do they need a new gorilla exhibit too, or at least a significant renovation? Is there realistically enough money in SF to do any of this?
What other projects would you advocate to renew the zoo? Bulldoze the cat house and start over? Trying to modernize this zoo seems like an overwhelming challenge. Where would you even start?
Well hopefully, the new director they get is someone with Zoo Management experience, who is also good at fundraising since that is what's really really needed. Also someone with knowledge of exhibit design would be useful. They need to abandon the Panda plan full stop and divert the funds already raised for the Pandas to fixing up existing exhibits.
Starting from scratch by knocking down the old structures and building new ones isn't a realistic option. Most of the zoos older structures like the lion house, bear grottos, pachyderm building were built to withstand major earthquakes tearing them down and building new ones would be very expensive and would take years. Renovating, expanding and repurposing existing exhibits is the most realistic option.
Currently, the zoo doesn't have the actual capacity to ethically house the 3 species of great ape currently residing there. That would mean either sending the remaining chimps out or the orangutans. I think the chimps would be much more likely to be sent away. Gorillas have been an anchor species for the zoo for the last 50ish years, and so I can't see them being phased out. If the zoo were to terminate its exhibition of Gorillas, the area could be repurposed for either the Chimps or Orangutans. The Gorilla exhibit has it's issues, and needs some renovations, but it's nowhere near the worst exhibit in the zoo. Once the Zoo is down to two Great Ape species, the triple grotto moats should be filled in and the whole area netted in and made into an additional space for whichever ape species remains. If they keep Orangutans, then they could eventually bring in Gibbons or Siamangs as well to share the habitats with them.
The lion house yards which were merged from 4 seperate yards down to 2 larger yards should have the grotto moats partially filled, and the zoo could do more to make the space more enriching for the cats. Once that's done they should bring back tigers so that both yards have cats.
The exhibit currently housing the Jaguar should be extra area for the Snow Leopards since the new snow leopard exhibit is smaller and was poorly designed. The Jaguar should be rehomed to another facility.
The hippo exhibit which is currently empty, could be expanded to have more land area and the pool should get a heater installed. The zoo should get a pair of pygmy hippos with a breeding recommendation.
The Australian outback exhibit should get more kangaroos and wallabies (currently they only have 4? wallaroos and 1 emu).
The Peccaries should be moved to to the Puente Exhibit yard with the Tapir. Capybara should eventually be brought back if peccaries are phased out.
The aviary at the Puente exhibit currently home to the Condor should be repurposed for a South American monkey species. Or the zoos Ocelot.
The area directly outside of the South American Rainforest building should be repurposed as a new exhibit for the Zoos Andean Condors. The netted enclosure inside the Rainforest building should get a species of marmosets or Tamarins.
The old sea lion pool should get netting put over it and be renovated to house a small carnivore species like bobcats, lynxes or foxes. Or, if they expand it enough above the holding area, they could possibly make it for mountain lions (since there's many that will continue to get orphaned as a result of Californias fires).
The Black Bear Grotto needs a lot of work. More climbing structures, a whole facelift. That's a project the zoo should do when the bears go into torpor in the winter. The Zoo should also consider rotating the 2 bear species between the Grizzly gulch exhibit and the grottos.
Renovate/expand the former river otter pool (currently home to turtles) and bring back an otter species.
Expand the indoor holding area for the mandrills and bring in a new African monkey species (probably baboons) for the former Patas monkey yard which is one of the nicer older structures and currently sits empty. OR bring in a non primate species like African Crested porcupines or Bat-eared foxes.
Send the Therapy Horses away and replace with an Asiatic hookstock species as part of the "Asian conservation zone". Bring in more Prezwalski horses and Camels since the zoo only has 1 of each now..
Renovate the Peccary yard so that the Wolverines can be moved there. Wolverines are found in both North America and Asia so having them between the "Asian Conservation zone" and the Grizzlies would make some sense.
The 2 small grottos across from snow leopards should be knocked down (but maybe with the holding space left intact and the whole area around it be turned into a new exhibit space for a small to medium size cat species, and maybe additional space for snow leopards.
Bring in a new species of hoof stock to the African Savannah. Renovate the small enclosure in the middle of the savannah (which has never been used) into a home for Rock Hyrax.
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