wasted $$$ in zoos

[Coquinguy]

this might get a few responses, seeming as though may of us are zoo friends whose subscriptions go towards running the zoos.
how do you guys feel about the zoos 'wasting money'?
examples patrick has cited before include melbourne's Northern Neighbours exhibit, a perfectly good exhbit now demolished. Taronga seems to have no shortage of cash either, upgrading seal bay a few years ago to the tune of $2.5 million and now its all under construction.
what other wastes of money can you guys come up with???

 

[Coquinguy]

i guess this is a little 'a current affairish' or 'today tonightish', but rest assured, im not in khaki at the moment with a lizard on my shoulder...

 

[patrick]

ha ha!

sometimes i feel our zoos avoid improving enclosures as they have some grand-plan that will cost millions and don't have the budget to do it at this stage. they don't want to spend money refurbing something if they are only going to tear it down in 5-10 years time or eventually phase -out the species. this isn't really a case of wasting money, but i think its a shame that sometime small improvements arn't made because of this. for example melbourne took over 10 years to get the cash together for trail of the elephants. but they could have reasonably cheaply doubled the size of the exhibit in the meantime, which would have been nice for the elphants and the visitors...