Does anybody know if this project has been completely cancelled or has it been put on hold until funds can be secured? Link: architects - landscape architects - exhibit designers - interpretive planners Knowing that they cannot have elephants anymore, can't they just rework the plans to give more space for the Indian Rhinos and even add Nilgai or sloth bears to the mix? Also, does anybody know where in the zoo was this complex set to be built?
This is a plan from the late 1980s that has been superceded by 3 different zoo directors and 3 or 4 new "master plans." It was never funded. It was to have been located in the southeastern corner of the zoo, where the awful "Grizzly Gulch" exhibit now stands. I often wonder how the fortunes of the San Francisco zoo might have changed had this exciting plan been implemented....
I kind of had an idea that it was an old project, but I didn't think it was that old. Looking at the plans the project looked very promising for a zoo in need of a lot of help.
I fully agree this themed mixed exhibit would have seen totally different fortunes. I DO view the SFZoo saga as one which is to do with lack of good investment and jittery councilmen .... Is the plan still to have a more robust Asia section within the SF Zoo now? The current tapir and Indian rhino exhibit looks cumbersome .... As does ofcourse the much maligned Lion House opposite. In fact, if one looks at the ground map there is an area within the zoo grounds with acres of unused space (next to Bear Country and opposite from the Lion House). Finally, the newly built black rhino habitat is that really so far removed from the other parts of the Africa section (at the bottom across from the Lion House)?
I don't usually get nostalgic over what might have been, but this plan looks like it might have been truly glorious. Sigh.
San Diego had an Indian monsoon exhibit in their master plan for Elephant mesa too, but that has been thrown out.
Agreed. Though, I don't think it'll ever be realized. The current administration seems to have other ideas, and the current animal collection seems... well, scatter shot. I had a similar exhibit in mind that started in the Nepal Terai worked its way up into the Himalayan Highlands with the snow leopards receiving the marquee spot at the top of the walk. Working down the backside would have brought you into Northern Russia. I'll get around to posting in the fantasy zoo section one of these days.
The zoo can have elephants. Back when the elephants left, the city passed an ordinance dictating the terms (spatial, husbandry, etc.) of how elephants can be kept within the city limits. With the zoo not being fiscally strong, this makes a return of elephants quite difficult. A decent google search should help you find these terms if you wish to know them specifically.
While that's all true I do not see finances being the primary reason (or playing any part really) for the zoo's lack of pachyderms. Hippies? Yes. Even if the political will was there it's a phenomenal waste of resources (specifically, land) that they can put to better use elsewhere. Let Oakland keep the elephants.
The Zoo had two Afrixan Elephants and two Asian elephants, each living in dusty yards less that half an acre in size. One of each species died in the early 2000s. The Zoo had to decide whether or not to keep the elephants and acquire new ones, or to send them away. The African Elephant enclosure probably could've been expanded to 4 or 5 times its original size, but it would've cost millions. At the same time the Zoo had just opened the African Savannah exhibit which went way over budget. Building a proper elephant enclosure was not financially feasible. The publics outrage and protests were more or less justifiable, as the city had allocated millions of $ in the 90s to the Zoo to build New exhibits for the Apes, Elephants and Bears. By the time of the elephants deaths, the Zoo had built lavish exhibits for Lemurs and African hoodstock and amenities for visitors (cafe, gift shops etc) but had done nothing to improve the elephant exhibits. The Zoos misuse of the funds, made the city (and many of its residents) lose trust in the Zoo and its commitment to improving the wellbeing of its elephants and other hallmark species. This led the city to pass an ordinance dictating that elephants kept in the city should have a minimum of 16 acres of space, making the plans for a new elephant enclosure basically impossible.
When did anti-zoo zealots become equated with hippies? Appaently the younger members do not know what hippies were
