Zoo Cuts Will Hurt Children, Economy

Closing the Queens and Prospect Park Zoos would hurt the city economy and its children, members of the City Council said.
Council members who represent the districts surrounding the zoos were joined on the steps of City Hall Tuesday by dozens of school children and two people dressed as a hooded merganser (a kind of water fowl) and a turtle. The purpose of the press conference was to deliver 100,000 letters from citizens demanding that Mayor Michael Bloomberg restore $5.8 million in cuts to the Queens and Prospect Park Zooswhich would both closeand $3.4 million in cuts to the Bronx Zoo and New York Aquarium.
"Our zoos are a great public resource, an educational equalizer," said Councilman Hiram Monserrate. "Children from the most disadvantaged homes can have life-changing experiences that, without public support, they would never be able to imagine. Our zoos bring wildlife to our children, open up worlds to their imaginations….[children] take this sense of wondrous possibility back with them to their classrooms."
"The zoos provide valuable and substantial education services to children through the public schools and not-for-profit organizations like the Girl Scouts," said Brooklyn Councilman Bill de Blasio. "We cannot let these marvelous institutions of learning and wildlife conservation . . . disappear sadly into the citys past."
The Wildlife Conservation Society estimates that it would cost $8 million and take one year to close the Queens and Brooklyn zoos and transfer the animals to other facilities.
"It would cost just as much to close the zoos down as would be saved in operating expenses this year by continuing to operate [them]," Monserrate said. "Its not clear this proposal has been thought through."
The annual operating cost of the Queens Zoo, which opened in 1968, is $3.5 million and includes a 56-person payroll and keeping 425 animals. Almost 245,000 people visited the zoo last year.
The annual bill for the Prospect Park Zoo, founded in 1935, is $4 million, which covers its 61-member payroll and the care and feeding of 400 animals. Over 255,000 people visited the zoo in 2002.
The Bronx Zoo, which had over two million visitors last year, houses 4,500 animals from 600 species. The New York Aquarium contains 8,300 animals from 500 species. Over half of the aquariums 775,000 visitors last year were from Brooklyn.
"The zoos and the aquarium are also tourist destinations [that] bring people out to Brooklyn and Queens," said de Blasio. "With the city economy slumping, we cant afford to lose these important economic drivers. From zoo employees to concessionaires to local stores that support the zoo and receive business from visitors, these institutions are important parts of their local communities."