Zoos
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1993:
In a case with implications for
zoos the world over, the California State
Board of Equalization argues that the San
Diego Zoo owes the state $3.5 million in
back taxes and penalties incurred via trans-
actions involving 1,992 animals between
1984 and 1987. The zoo lists the total
value of its 3,300 animals of 800 species at
just $1, claiming there can be no fair mar-
ket value for creatures who cannot be sold
on the open market or even transferred
without federal permits, but after finding
that the zoo does in fact keep records of
the animals’ estimated value, a Board of
Equalization auditor assessed the collec-
tion as being worth $19 million. The zoo
has offered to pay about $330,000 to settle
the matter, which zoo spokesperson Jeff
Jouett claims arose because the auditor in
question was on a vendetta.
Toledo Zoo staff released 30
Virgin Islands boa constrictors on a five-
acre island off Puerto Rico on July 29,
hoping they will become the ninth zoo-
bred species to be successfully restored to
their native habitat. The boas were wiped
out by rats and competition for prey from
feral cats. The island rat population was
exterminated before the boas were let go.
The release will be monitored for the next
two years.
A 400-pound Himalayan bear
died aboard a truck July 4 while en route
from the defunct Slater Park Zoo in
Pawtucket, Rhode Island, to the Wildlife
Images sanctuary in Grant’s Pass, Oregon.
Two other Himalyan bears survived the
journey. The cause of death was apparent-
ly acute pancreatitis, brought on by stress
and obesity. The bears got little exercise
in their old cage, which was close to a
concession stand.
The Cincinnati Zoo opened a
$7.5 million tropical rainforest exhibit to
replace its old ape house on July 8, but
the event was somewhat upstaged when
visiting journalists prefered to write about
the zoo’s pioneering role in isolating and
freezing DNA from endangered
species––with frequent allusions to the hit
film Jurassic Park. Mindful that it failed
to successfully breed the last passenger
pigeons more than 80 years ago, the
Cincinnati Zoo is a world leader in frozen
embryo transplant technology.
The Cleveland Metroparks
Zoo’s $30 million RainForest p a v i l i o n
has quadrupled revenue, staff said July
21. RainForest may draw two million vis-
itors this year, double projections.
Timmy the gorilla became a
father for the first time on July 20, as his
Bronx Zoo mate Pattycake bore a five-
pound, six-ounce male. Timmy was sep-
arated from his first mate, Katie, and
transferred to New York from the
Cleveland Metroparks Zoo in October
1991, over protest from local activists and
In Defense of Animals. Timmy may now
be transferred again, according to New
York Wildlife Conservation Society presi-
dent William Conway, in hopes of further
distributing his genes among the captive
gorilla population.
Attendance at the New Jersey
State Aquarium in Camden, opened last
year, is down to half of what it was then,
but remains at a high level, officials say.
Tohui, age 12, the first natu-
rally conceived giant panda born outside
China, may have a brain tumor, the
Mexico City Zoo said July 1.
