Los Angeles Zoo & Botanical Gardens Los Angeles Zoo News 2016

Not only were there cotton-tops there, they were the focus of all of the promotional efforts, including the key art in the front of the zoo on the big sign — and I think there were even performers in cotton-top costumes the first few months?

 

A female giraffe calf has been born.

Baby giraffe born at Los Angeles Zoo

 

A Master Plan meeting is being held at Witherbee Auditorium tonight at 6pm PST. For those who are not attending (like myself... forgot to RSVP on time ), it will be live-streamed, and also recorded and shared at: lazoomasterplan.org

 

Well,I must say I'm excited! Maybe L.A. will finally get the zoo worthy of our country's second largest city. And a condor exhibit. I know this is ridiculous but I die just a little bit seeing a zoo without (publicly visible) condors putting them front and center on their entrance.

 

@Shellheart : Building a condor exhibit has been a priority for the LA Zoo for some time now, so I would be surprised if they do not end up including it somewhere.

For anyone who is interesting in voicing their opinions to the zoo, the site that I posted is also accepting surveys and comments.

 

Here is the video of the LA zoo master plan meeting

 

Some good questions were asked. Of course the elephant activists made an appearance good grief!

Good to hear that the zoo agrees with the need to replace the roundhouses and paddocks with more modern enclosures. It sounds like the resulting master plan will be quite good... my main concern, as was mentioned by somebody in the meeting, is how they are going to secure funds for all of these new renovations. Hopefully the city will choose to invest in the zoo and showcase it as an LA landmark and not stiff them on money.

 

Did they say anything about new lion, tiger, giraffe, hippo and/or rhinoceros exhibits? Those and getting rid of the roundhouses should be the zoo's top priorities.

 

They did not announce any new exhibits sadly.

 

@GraysonDP : They're not to that point yet. They are in the very beginning phases of developing the master plan: gauging public input, examining what needs to be done, looking at how space is being utilized and how it could be utilized better. The development is expected to take about 9 months, so we won't see the actual plan until late summer of 2017 at the earliest.

They do plan on replacing all of the roundhouses with more modern exhibits.

 

I enjoyed watching the video. My impression is that in this participatory phase it is part and parcel of the future master plan to gauge from visitor / participants in the master plan community phase to develop that set of new exhibitry, species and parts of the zoo that still need renovation, updates or an entirely new approach to using the current landscape and old exhibitry. So, a chance …. for all who go on to participate in this!!!

 

You can give the zoo ideas of the master plan on the website. I said a new Africana area, rhino exhibit in elephants of Asia, and a North American complex.

 

Indeed! I would encourage all ZooChatters who have visited the LA Zoo to utilize this opportunity to voice your opinions about what should be changed. Most (perhaps all) of us know more than the average person about zoos, and I believe that our comments and suggestions could potentially have a beneficial impact on the resulting plan and the future of this institution.

 

What did you suggest in the survey?

 

Removing the roundhouses (this was before I watched the video and realized that they already plan on doing that). I also said that redesigning the pathways is a priority because the layout and path circulation is atrocious. Even as someone who is rather adept at reading and using maps, I continue to get lost and have trouble finding stuff when I visit, and there is no "efficient" way to see everything.

At least for right now, I don't know that I care much about the specifics of their plan. If I decide there is one thing that I strongly feel they should do or a species that I feel strongly about them showcasing, I'll make the suggestion to them.

 

It was interesting to learn how much space (60 acres they said) there is within the zoo's footprint for expansion of exhibits. This might make possible a large African savanna area that could provide modern exhibits for the megafauna species (giraffes, lions, zebras, hippos, antelope, etc.) and maybe an Asia area for tigers, rhinos, etc. One possible model for replacing the roundhouses might be a San Diego Zoo Monkey Trails type complex of larger enclosures.

 

@DavidBrown: I agree that those are probably the two most likely outcomes for exhibit ideas. I would also like to see them open up a California or Southwestern-themed area to add a more native/local aspect, and also to finally create that condor aviary. It will be interesting to see what they plan to do with the Australian area, which is also within the renovation boundaries.

 

Where can you find out where on the map is subject for renovation and where on the website can you contribute ideas? I have a lot to say

 

The video has some maps of areas that are developable vs. the already modernized areas from the previous master plan.

The website has a survey that you can take. Part of it asks for three project ideas.

 

Several years ago there was a conceptual drawing of a California complex that would be near the entry way to the zoo. The map showed grizzly bears and condors. I think it's likely that something similar will appear in the new master plan.