Bronx Zoo Skyfari Heads To Scrapheap

snowleopard

snowleopard

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Bronx Zoo to take down Skyfari

The Bronx Zoo is permanently abandoning its Skyfari ride, which almost half a million people paid to go on each year. It was simply costing too much to operate, and malfunctioned at least once in 2008. The end of an era...
 
Did you notice the story said the Skyfari was the "third most popular attraction" in the Zoo? (after Congo Gorilla Forest and the Wild Asia monorail ride) More evidence that zoos, even the most prestigious zoos, need to have some "fun" to help attract visitors! The story also says that, once the current economic problems are over, the Zoo plans to install a new "amusement park type" ride to replace the Skyfari.
 
Wow. I find that one hard to believe. I hated the Skyfari (mostly because I have a problem with heights, heh) but during the season for it I never failed to see a line for it.

But I still would like to meet the pregnant women who sued for psychological damage of being pregnant and hanging above dangerous baboons for hours. Good to know that future mothers have no forethought and instead think suing is the answer.
 
ANyhuis said:
Did you notice the story said the Skyfari was the "third most popular attraction" in the Zoo? (after Congo Gorilla Forest and the Wild Asia monorail ride) More evidence that zoos, even the most prestigious zoos, need to have some "fun" to help attract visitors! The story also says that, once the current economic problems are over, the Zoo plans to install a new "amusement park type" ride to replace the Skyfari.
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My opinion is that zoos need to be attractive to survive. Rides have a long long history in zoos (whether on elephants or carousels). I'm OK with that. What I get concerned about is when the amusement park dominates and the animals are decorations for it. It's a matter of priority and degree.

I never much liked Bronx Zoo's Skyfari. I felt it messed up the immersion experience of exhibits like Ethiopian Reserve (geladas).
 
Zooplantman said:
What I get concerned about is when the amusement park dominates and the animals are decorations for it.
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I'm just curious as to WHERE you think this happens? I certainly don't think this is the case at Disney's Animal Kingdom. Their only thrill rides (Expedition Everest, Dinosaur, and Kali River Rapids) are all well away from any of the animal rides.

Perhaps you may be thinking of Busch Gardens, but I think if you think about it, almost all of the huge roller coasters are in separate "lands" from the main animal attractions. The only thing that may bother some is that you can still hear the screaming coaster riders (in the distance) while viewing the animals.

The only other candidate I can think of is Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, up north of San Francisco. It's been a decade or so since I've been there, but I've heard that at least one of the coasters goes right over their elephant exhibit. That, if true, I might agree with you about.
 
Some people are more sensitive to "Disneyfication" than others. This is definitely the case in Columbus. People complain that our zoo is becoming like Busch Gardens just because our zoo manages an adjacent water park. I dont have a problem with trains or carousels. However, I dont like large thrill rides (coasters, etc) near animals because it removes the "wild" factor and it might disturb the animals.
 
I think DAK did the perfect job of separating the two aspects of the park so that they don't diminish each other.

While I haven't yet seen it, I propose Jungala as the worst offender so far !
 
Jungala features large groups of tigers (including several "rare white tigers") co-existing in a tacky fake ruin, surrounded by people. This goes against many of the principles that enlightened modern zoos embody:
--not exhibiting "freaks," which at this point is exactly what highly-inbred white tigers are.
--housing and displaying animals in natural social groups (tigers are largely solitary in nature, and are never found in large groups, except in circuses, old zoos and...Busch Gardens)
--it has been largely accepted that animals feel more secure, and the public takes a different message from seeing animals from selected viewpoints, not completely surrounding and dominating the animal's space. Jungala intentionally creates cross-views of people, and totally surrounds the animals with people (including above on the scream-inducing ziplines).

But let's cut to the chase--Jungala trivializes animals by making them mere "props" in an amusement park setting--so much for the majesty of nature. And it is cheesy......
 
reduakari said:
Jungala features large groups of tigers (including several "rare white tigers") co-existing in a tacky fake ruin, surrounded by people. This goes against many of the principles that enlightened modern zoos embody:
--not exhibiting "freaks," which at this point is exactly what highly-inbred white tigers are.
--housing and displaying animals in natural social groups (tigers are largely solitary in nature, and are never found in large groups, except in circuses, old zoos and...Busch Gardens)
--it has been largely accepted that animals feel more secure, and the public takes a different message from seeing animals from selected viewpoints, not completely surrounding and dominating the animal's space. Jungala intentionally creates cross-views of people, and totally surrounds the animals with people (including above on the scream-inducing ziplines).

But let's cut to the chase--Jungala trivializes animals by making them mere "props" in an amusement park setting--so much for the majesty of nature. And it is cheesy......
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yeah! What he said!
 
reduakari said:
But let's cut to the chase--Jungala trivializes animals by making them mere "props" in an amusement park setting--so much for the majesty of nature. And it is cheesy......
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You are free to your opinion, and you've given reasons (above) why you feel the way you do. A few minor counterpoints:
(1) Those "principles that enlightened modern zoos embody" could otherwise be called "political correctness". Especially that word "enlightened" can be used by anyone to promote their own point of view. For example, out in LA, the animal rights extremists are now saying that "enlightened" zoos are no longer exhibiting elephants.
(2) It wasn't that long ago that white tigers were the signature animals at many major zoos. They truly ARE a beautiful animal, and I personally love seeing them. You may think they are "freaks", but they're not in the same category are purposely inbreeding animals, such as ligers and tigons.
(3) If you don't like having a zipline ride near the animals, I would suggest you not visit the Costa Rican rainforest. Ziplines are a huge thing down there!

My main thought is that your belief that Jungala "trivializes" the animals and makes them "props" is a strong OVERstatement. I would suggest that Busch Gardens loves and cares for their animals as much as any of us. You would be better to just say you don't like the "design" of the exhibit and leave out the judgmental words.
 
I personally think the biggest problem with the Skyfari was that there was no repeat value to it. If you went on it once, you'd been on it more than enough times. It didn't provide any special views or access to animals (like Congo and the monorail) or and it didn't provide an easy way to get from one end of the park to the other (there was often a line and didn't mass transport people the way that the shuttle does). All in all, there was no real value.
 
It was pretty cool to go directly over Baboon Reserve and see how that exhibit was laid out. Too bad that poor pregnant women was "tortured" by being suspended over those "ferocious" grass-eating primates.....
 
I guess. Never really did much for me, it was more a 'see it once, seen it all' type thing.

I'd love for someone to explain to me how that women suffered so much that she thought it rational to sue. At least the child will grow up knowing that it's smarter than it's mother.
 
reduakari said:
It was pretty cool to go directly over Baboon Reserve and see how that exhibit was laid out. Too bad that poor pregnant women was "tortured" by being suspended over those "ferocious" grass-eating primates.....
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I agree that Skyfari was great! Plus, as the story says, it was the Zoo's 3rd-most popular attraction, so it must have been popular.

The only "torture" that pregnant lady endured was probably that she peed in her pants. Think about it-- how often to pregnant women have to go?
 
ANyhuis said:
I agree that Skyfari was great! Plus, as the story says, it was the Zoo's 3rd-most popular attraction, so it must have been popular.
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Just to butt in here, but didn't it say it was the 3rd most popular attraction behind Congo and Wild Asia?

Don't visitors have to pay extra to get into these attractions? If so, then it is easy to monitor the numbers of visitors going onto these attractions, yet it is hard to monitor how many visitors go to see the tigers, snow leopards, baboons etc because people aren't paying an additional fee at each of these exhibits so that statistic of "3rd most popular" might be a bit misleading...

(if you understand what i mean)
 
It wasn't that long ago that white tigers were the signature animals at many major zoos. They truly ARE a beautiful animal, and I personally love seeing them. You may think they are "freaks", but they're not in the same category are purposely inbreeding animals, such as ligers and tigons.
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Please forgive me for being so off topic, but I couldnt let this one pass. How is it that White Tigers were NOT purposely inbred?
 
okapikpr said:
Please forgive me for being so off topic, but I couldnt let this one pass. How is it that White Tigers were NOT purposely inbred?
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To the best of my knowledge (albeit, limited), not all white tigers in US zoo particularly inbred. I feel like I've read an article that Cincinnati's aren't inbred and that there are other zoos like that.
 
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