How is the partial government shutdown affecting the zoo? I know it's closed, but does anyone have more details than that?
There was a thread about this somewhere on the forum the last time the government shut down, though I'm having trouble finding it. If I remember correctly, legally all of the employees are required to abandon the premises and are not allowed to return to work. This is completely stupid, of course, because the animals would die if that happened. So I'm assuming what happened last time is happening again, where the keepers are just going in on their free time and caring for the animals pay-free. ~Thylo
Keepers are still going in and will receive back pay once the government reopens. Guest service employees and others deemed “non-essential” are not working and will not get back pay.
What do you think are the long term affects if this shutdown continues for months or even years? I predict the zoo would have to lessen the size of their collection if they want to continue to have enough funds to buy animal food.
I don't see the shutdown lasting for several months or years, but I don't think the zoo would suffer. If I had to guess, some sort of source would donate money to the zoo, and funds could be raised in other ways to keep the food bill paid.
Hopefully nobody does that. Trump might be too cruel to give a toss about 800,000 people, but it’d be a brave President indeed who stood by and let the national pandas starve.
The zoo animals will be cared for, it's the employees that are the issue. I am talking all federal employees, not just Smithsonian zoo workers. Sure they will get paid eventually, but it is now the longest shutdown in US history. How do you go for months without a paycheck? Today (Friday, Jan 18), president Trump announced he will make a "major announcement" regarding the border situation on live television tomorrow (Saturday, Jan 19) at 3pm Eastern Time. Hopefully it will result in an end to the shutdown.
I predict one of two things: a.) National Emergency is declared where he siphons funds for the wall or b.) he shuts the entire Southern border. Neither event results in ending the shutdown. It won't continue for years, maybe another month. There's an argument that a mass walk out of TSA employees would end the shutdown overnight, but we're not there yet it seems. I have no inside information into the National Zoo's practices and procedures, but with funds needing to be appropriated annually, you would have to imagine zoo administration would have a slush fund established for food procurement. Want to start an international incident? Starve a panda. Extra reading: When Trump Babbles About His Damned Wall, Just Think Ocelots
I think it is very likely he's going to pull a Palpatine and declare a national emergency in order to fund his useless wall. I wonder just how long funds for this type of situation can last the zoo, as well as the breeding center in Virginia that they also need to care for. ~Thylo
The President's rationale is an uncharacteristic assumption that landlords and mortgage companies throughout the country will be understanding of federal workers' situation and not inflict the standard consequences against them. With the current state of national discourse and affairs, it left me pretty flabbergasted to see a response that essentially asked people to rely on common human decency to prevail. The mood of the nation right now on either side of the aisle is not exactly one of trust.
Here's what Dan Ashe (President and CEO of the AZA, for those who don't know) had to say about this disaster: https://www.aza.org/from-the-desk-of-dan-ashe/posts/the-federal-government-shutshow
Both Trump and the democrats need to come to some sort of agreement or the future is not looking bright for those pandas. Trump’s announcement doesn’t look like it solves anything not stop the shutdown so we can only hope for a clean bipartisan agreement.
I wonder if the zoo could shift some of the more valuable animals at least to nearby AZA facilities if need be? Not a great option, but if it prevents loosing the animals... at least like the pandas, black-footed ferrets, and giant salamanders...
My sarcasm above aside, the pandas will be fine. Think instead of the 800,000 government workers and their families who haven’t been paid in a month and the literally millions of vulnerable people who rely on government support payments to get by. Food stamp funding runs out today and benefits can only be paid out until the end of February. The pandas won’t go hungry, but a lot of poor people literally will.
I imagine other zoos would perhaps donate the needed funds to keep the animals where they are (much better and cheaper than shipping them around). But as stated above, nearly a million middle class government workers going without pay (myself included) is a true disaster.
The AAZV is giving no-interest loans to any of the zoo's employees that need it, not just veterinarians, with no paperwork and no strings. I've also seen several zoos share on facebook, etc that they are donating money from their emergency funds and other sources to the zoo and its employees. Many who work at the zoo aren't federal employees, but rather employees of FONZ (Friends of the National Zoo). They aren't allowed to "work" so are volunteering and won't be receiving back pay. Back pay also isn't guaranteed.
