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Zoo To Close Permanently
August 20, 2009
The owners of The Zoo Northwest Florida have announced that they are now closed for good.
The Santa Rosa County Tourist Development Council was discussing $125,000 in funding for the zoo Wednesday afternoon when Animal Park, Inc., the zoo’s founders, announced the closure.
“We have seen no long-term commitment from our elected officials to assist us in the goal we have worked toward for a decade or more of creating a non-profit, community-supported zoo,” he said. “Without a long-term plan and support, The Zoo would continue to struggle financially. This short-term, hand-to-mouth approach is not fair to the animals, the staff or the public who have supported us for many years,” said Bobby Switzer, one of the principals in Animal Park, Inc.
The zoo had requested $125,000 each from Escambia and Santa Rosa counties in order to stay open. Escambia County took a wait and see approach to find out what Santa Rosa County, where the zoo is located, would do. Santa Rosa commissioners declined to contribute general fund revenue to the zoo. Instead, Santa Rosa commissioners deferred the funding request to a Wednesday meeting of the Santa Rosa County Tourist Development Council.
It was at that meeting that Animal Park, Inc. announced the zoo closure. Zoo funding is still on Thursday’s agenda for the Escambia County Commission.
The zoo had closed temporarily closed Sunday, laying off many of their employees. They had pledged to reopen this Friday if they received the $250,000 in funding from Escambia and Santa Rosa counties.
Pat Quinn, zoo founder and director emeritus, emphasized The Zoo’s animals, including more than 600 “exotics,” such as lions, great apes and giraffe, will continue to be cared for to the highest standards and will eventually be moved only to “qualified facilities, either public or private, that are licensed and permitted.”
“The welfare of the animals remains our primary concern,” said Quinn. “The public can rest assured we will care for the animals responsibly, ethically and in a professional manner.”
The Zoo Northwest Florida opening in 1984 and has struggled financially since sustaining severe damage from Hurricane Ivan in 2004.
Comments
10 Responses to “Zoo To Close Permanently”
William – have you heard of anything happening out at the zoo as far as animal placements, etc? ( I know if you are covering it we will get great info – just not sure if you will be following up since it is in SRC—)
Thanks!
Let’s be clear, the Zoo is located in Santa Rosa County, not Escambia County. I would rather see Escambia County spend its dollars in Escambia County and not to save an enterprise located elsewhere. How about business incentives to bring jobs to Escambia?
Me and my daughter have enjoyed the Zoo like the train rides, the lions, the tigers and “Ele” the Elephant. Also at Christmas Times with all the pretty lights. A Family
Place and there is’nt many of those places left. Liz
This is very sad! I hope that somehow a financial miracle can happen to reopen this zoo. If not, I’m not worried about the animals. The zoo was accredited by the AZA, who is very good at ensuring animal care.
Allen Nyhuis, Coauthor: America’s Best Zoos
The welfare of the animals remains our primary concern,” said Quinn. “The public can rest assured we will care for the animals responsibly, ethically and in a professional manner.”
I hope someone checks up on them in this regard…. I don’t think Quinn and his cohorts are interested in the effort it will take to find homes for the very old animals like the lions (20, 19, 19 yrs) and the black bear (15).
It a shame that some how the surrounding counties could not find a way to help out. The zoo may not sound like much to some people but to kids and some adults its a great place to take the family. It really bothers me that we would spend 70 plus million dollars on a park (Maritime)that nobody will use but we can’t give the zoo a low or no intrest loan to save it. Also we need to make our own school district send all zoo related feild trips to our zoo instead of sending them to Gulf Shores. Keep our money in this county. Why is it that every surrounding county is attracking new jobs but Escambia Fl . Wake up county goverment and put our money in tnto createing new jobs here and keeping any job in NW Fl. instead of letting Al have them all. And some will say that the people in the county will not have to pay for the stupid park but wait till they consolidate our city and county goverment and see who pays for that waste of money
I am in agreement with each of the posts above. It is a shame that several local entities punted the ball back and forth, neglecting to take action, until The ZOO was forced to close. Little by little it seems that we are shuttering our city to growth and progress. I wish the staff and volunteers of The ZOO the best.
This announcement makes me very sad. Our family loved the Zoo & we took field trips there throughout our school years. It seems, in the interest of tourism & economic development, that the Zoo would be a good investment for our community. Apparently, over the past 5 years since the storm, our government officials have not shown the dedication needed to keep this educational attraction open in our area. What a shame!!!
Escambia county is taking it’s normal “wait and see’ position. I’m well aware that money is in short supply at this time—but we will look back some day and wonder why could we not find the funding. As normal we have given away a good drawing card for the area.
I really hate to hear this! It was a great place for a family to go together. My son loved to go here, especially to ride the train and to feed the giraffe!