If you had all the resources you wanted, what would you change about the Franklin Park Zoo to make it more popular and a better zoo for people to go to? Lots of people don't like the zoo and say its in disrepair, (even though I don't 100% agree with that), but it defenitely does need help, and Zoo New England always has financial problems, so it gets improved very slowly. The zoo is 76 acres, which is larger in area than the Cincinnati Zoo (not by much), and so it can obviously be fantastic if it was given the funding, so what would you do to improve it?
I know this is an old thread from a while ago, but I wanted to participate. First of all, Bird’s World needs to go. It is a very old building, and is falling a part. I would take some of the birds and put them in the Tropical Forest. With the other birds, they could make another wetland aviary and put it where the wattled cranes are, and get rid of the wattled cranes. They should keep the birds of prey in their flight cages, and maybe add another bird a prey or two to a new flight cage. With Bird’s World, I think they should theme it into an Asian themed exhibit like the rumors I have heard. The White Naped Crane can stay, and maybe they could make the building into an Asian primate house with the indoor gibbons, orangutan, and langur exhibits. The primates would have outdoor space as well. The tiger, red pandas, and muntjac can all be moved to this area of the zoo, and they could get a Komodo dragon and other Asian reptiles and amphibians. The zoo should also make a Siberian Crane exhibit in this area with their successful breeding program. The Hoofstock area of the zoo should be themed to an African area. The Tiger exhibit should become an exhibit for an African Leopard (or Amur leopard). The camel yard to the Kori bustard yard can become a Black Rhino yard, and the Kori Bustard can be moved across from the lions in the open field. The tortoise yard can house an aardvark, and the red river hogs should get a new exhibit near the Kori Bustards’ new exhibit. The yard that currently houses red river hogs can house okapis, bongos, and yellow backed duikers. A new flamingo exhibit should be put in the front of the zoo. The Tropical Forest should make some small renovations to make the yards better for the animals. The zoo should bring capybaras back, and put them with the tapirs. During the summer months, the giant anteater should be able to have access into the tapir yard, and the species can rotate turns outside. This was a lot of fun to make
1. A grand West Africa exhibit will be comprised of the current Tropical Forest building, flight cage, Bird's World, and Outback Trail. The Tropical Forest Building will focus exclusively on the rainforests of West Africa. The recently announced outdoor gorilla exhibit will remain and be built as planned in the here and now. Inside the dome, a breeding pair of pygmy hippos will be exhibit with diana monkeys and mandrills. What is now current hippo and tapir exhibits will flip places to allow for the hippos to have an outdoor exhibit that the hippos and mandrills can use in the summer. Red river hogs will live in the exhibit across from them, and the primates will have access to them. The marquee species for this building, a troop of western lowland gorillas, will live in a renovated indoor space to allow for optimal winter viewing and gorilla welfare. Other exhibits in this building will include West African slender-snouted crocodiles, straw-colored fruit bats, gabon viper, saddle-billed stork, African rock python and marabou stork. There will be free-flying rose-ringed parakeets, palm nut vulture, gray parrots, Senegal parrots, cattle egrets, African spoonbills, Egyptian geese, Hartlaub's ducks, and African pygmy geese. On the site of the current bird and Outback areas will be a Namib Desert exhibit. There will be a dedicated spotted hyena exhibit. A herd of West African giraffes will live with gemsboks, springboks, mountain zebras, and ostriches. There will also be an indoor giraffe barn with guest viewing as well as exhibits for meerkats, bat-eared fox, aardvark, black mamba, and vervet monkeys. Another feature of the Namib area will be a petting kraal with watusi and domestic goats. 2. What is now Giraffe Savannah will be Outback Trail. Basically, Outback Trail as it currently stands will be replicated on what is now Giraffe Savannah. It is some to a walkthrough exhibit with red kangaroos with a dedicated exhibit for emus. There is a small building with dedicated exhibits for brown kiwi & tawny frogmouths, trapdoor spider, brown snake, and tiger snake. 3. What is currently Serengeti Crossing, Kalahari Kingdom, and Tiger Tails will be U.S.A: United States of Animals, dedicated to the fauna of the Untied States from the plains, mountain, desert, and riverine habitats. There will be a mixed exhibit with bison, elk, and bighorn sheep; jaguars; black bears; bald eagle; North American river otters; coyote; and aviary with burrowing owls, roadrunners, and turkey vulture; whooping cranes, and American alligator. 4. The current Children's Zoo will be Eye-to-Eye, dedicated to getting children eye-to-eye with some animal species. There will be red pandas with an adjacent climbing wall, pudu with immersive bamboo shoot viewing areas, black-tailed prairie dogs with burrows ala the Bronx Zoo, and Atlantic puffins with underwater viewing and viewing where kids can climb up to be near the puffins on rock faces. The farm will be the same. 5. The Butterfly House will also be home to Blading's turtles, eastern box turtles, and wood turtles for the purposes of breeding and reintroduction into the wild.
This zoo definitely has a lot of room for improvement: 1. Tropical Forest: This building is pretty good, but still has room for improvements. Replace the Spotted hyenas with maned wolves as the better fit the theme and the exhibit. Replace the ring-tailed lemurs with a lemur species actually from the Tropics, such as the blue-eyed black lemur. Replace the potto with gray mouse lemur after it dies, as potto are phase out by the AZA. Also add a few more freeflight birds to the exhibit. 2. A Bird's World: another strong exhibit, but could use some renovation work to the exhibits and needs a better species list. Keep the first room rather similar, and keep the second room similar, except for adding some smaller species, like violaceous euphonia and red-crested Cardinal, while phasing out hamerkop. Renovate the third room for white-fronted beeaters, blue-bellied rollers, and white-headed buffalo weavers. Change the fourth room completely into a burrowing owl habitat. 3. Flight Cage: Keep this area the same. 4. Empty Area Behind Bird's World: build a new complex in this space and add a new ABC species the zoo is missing: Bears. I would add Polar Bears if they were reasonable, but if not build a complex similar to Nashville's Expedition Peru, featuring Andean Bears and a few smaller species. 5. Children's Zoo: This is another one of the zoo's better areas, but still has some work to be done. Ideally otters would have never been dropped from the plan, and I would build a new exhibit for Asian Small-clawed Otters. 6. Tiger Habitat: I always found it strange that tigers are found in an area surrounded by African animals. This habitat would be better suited as a habitat for an African species, such as hyenas. I would acquire striped hyenas if possible, but if this wasn't an option Spotted would work. 7. Giraffe habitat: This would become the main savanna, featuring Masai Giraffe, Hartmann's Mountain Zebra, and Nyala. 8. Savanna Exhibit: This exhibit needs to be completely redone. This area could be a new tiger complex, featuring Sumatran Tiger and various island species, including Komodo Dragon, Javan Gibbon, and Lowland Anoa. 9. Lion Exhibit: Fill in the moat to expand this exhibit, otherwise keep it the same. 10. Red River Hog Exhibit: Renovate this habitat for an okapi. 11. Camel and Kori Bustard Habitats: I'm fine with the zoo keeping camels, but they don't really fit this area well. This habitat would be renovated for Roan Antelope and Ostrich, with the bustard habitat staying as is. 12. Other notes to African Area: a few more small habitats would be a good addition, so I would add exhibits for southern ground hornbill, slender-tailed meerkat, Aardvark, and bat-eared fox. 13. Old Hoofstock Yards: Redoing this area for Coldweather hoofstock would be greatly appreciated. Exhibit Guanaco, American Bison, Przewalski's Horse, and a few Caprid Species. Move the bactrian camels to this area as well. 14. Australia: This is one of the zoo's weaker areas. Renovate the kangaroo exhibit to provide better viewing, and add some habitats for smaller animals, such as tammar wallaby, little blue Penguin, Koala, and Tasmanian devil (if acquirable).
