Why doesn't the Albany-Schenectady-Troy area have a zoo when all other large cities in New York State have zoos. NYC the Bronx Zoo, Central Park Zoo, Prospect Park Zoo, Queens Zoo, and Staten Island Zoo. Buffalo as the Buffalo Zoo. Binghamton as the Binghamton Zoo at Ross Park. Syracuse as the Rosamond Gifford Zoo. Rochester as the Seneca Park Zoo. Utica as the Utica. But the State capital does not. Albany-Schenectady-Troy area is home about 850,000 people more than Utica or Binghamton areas
I would say primarily population and economic demographics . From a high of 135,000 population in 1950 to that of 99,000 -according the 2020 census- Albany proper , has lost a third of its population.
A zoo is a major public expense - if it to be done properly.
I remember -as a boy- Catskill
Game farm, Warwick Gsme farm and “Jungleland (World) - drive through safari , I believe , somewhere nearby - but it was a private enterprise and did not last long.
I see where there is a form of those Shopping Mall Aquaria near Schenectady - but it is under developed . When proposal for an Aquarium for the Capitol area was mentioned I hoped - based in its proximity to the Hudson River that it would have had a “Rivers of the World” theme with Nile hippos , crocodiles from Africa, Giant otters from Brazil , Japanese giant salamanders , paddlefish from the Mississippi and other animals indigenous to the great rivers of the world.
Alas it was a slap dash affair.But is better than nothing
I would there would be enough civic pride to motivate your politicians to institute a conservationally relevant zoological institution - perhaps a mega vertebrate breeding center for African and Asian elephants and the three obtainable rhino species on hundreds of acres that would attract worldwide attention and a ‘destination location” for
domestic and international tourists
I live in New York City - the five boroughs - and I can guarantee you that, if they proposed building five zoos ( One for each borough) AND an aquarium ( No matter how insufficient) it would have NEVER happened today
IMPOSSIBLE!!!
No
Civic pride, no pride of place . No monocultural society.
We MIGHT have had a zoo - a tenth the size of the one in the Bronx (Built in 1899) and , perhaps,a seal lion pool and aviary in Central Park - though unlikely - and a large fish tank in Coney Island or at the Battery
We did not get a zoo in Queens - the city’s largest borough - did not get a zoo till 1966 and that was in the wake of a World’s Fair of 1964-65 and with a monomanical genius named Robert Moses to implement it
The Bronx would never had a zoo - it would likely be in Queens - on a slightly grander scale
None in Staten Island or Brooklyn either
Zoos are going the way of circuses - over 100 in the 19th century - local amusement parks , wax museums and English kit classes
