MOVING A tight budget has led the Dickerson Park Zoo in Springfield, Mo., to find a new home for its two striped hyenas.Chicago
AS in other cities, the shocks of the economic collapse have reverberated throughout Chicago, from the commodities exchanges in the Loop, past the fancy storefronts on Michigan Avenue and into the residential and commercial neighborhoods across the city’s inland expanses.
But the gloom has also spread north along Lake Michigan, through the gates of the Lincoln Park Zoo on the lakefront and right into the Regenstein Center for African Apes. There, the gorillas are no longer getting their blueberries.
Facing a budget shortfall of more than $1 million because of endowment losses, the 140-year-old zoo has had to cut back where possible. “Blueberries are pretty expensive,” said Steven D. Thompson, senior vice president for conservation and science programs. “And there are lots of other things we can use as treats.”
Taking pricey fruit off the table may seem like a trivial way to save money, but it illustrates the problem that zoos and aquariums confront when the economy turns sour. A gorilla — or a sea lion, marmoset, skink or chinstrap penguin, for that matter — can’t be put in storage, like a painting, to reduce costs. Yet savings must come from somewhere.
“We’re a living museum,” said John F. Calvelli, executive vice president for public affairs of the Wildlife Conservation Society, which operates the Bronx Zoo, three smaller zoos and the New York Aquarium and is facing a 10 to 15 percent budget cut, in part because of the threatened elimination of state aid. “We just can’t close a wing of our museum as other institutions can.”
So officials at zoos and aquariums around the country are freezing or cutting jobs, reducing hours of operation or eliminating programs, or are planning such cuts as the next fiscal year approaches. As at Lincoln Park, they are looking at the smallest details of their operations, “the kinds of things you hope could be done every day but often take a little ‘stimulus’ to go after,” Dr. Thompson said.
At the Staten Island Zoo, officials are eliminating overtime and cutting back on supplies to cope with a 5 percent reduction in the operating budget, said John Caltabiano, executive director. But they are also receiving blemished and otherwise unsalable fruits and vegetables three times a week from a local supermarket to help reduce feeding costs.
Only in the most dire circumstances are institutions considering reducing the number of animals in their collections. At the Wildlife Conservation Society no plans are final yet, and it and other New York zoos and aquariums are pressing the state’s political leaders not to eliminate aid. But given the likely need to make large cuts in the society’s operating budget, Mr. Calvelli said, “I’d be hard pressed to think how we do it without closing down some exhibits.”
Yet that solution brings with it its own set of problems and expenses.
At the Dickerson Park Zoo in Springfield, Mo., where an underfinanced police and fire workers’ pension plan has led to sharp reductions in the city budget, including money for the zoo, officials have decided to get rid of several animals to save money on food and keepers.
Among the animals due to leave are two hyenas that were brought in several years ago as eventual replacements for the zoo’s aging cheetahs. The cheetahs are still around, so rather than keep the hyenas waiting in the wings, the zoo has found a new home for them at a zoo in Boise, Idaho.
“It’s a significant challenge,” said Melinda Arnold, a spokeswoman. As a member of an industry group, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, the zoo has to find another accredited zoo or sanctuary to take the hyenas. “We have to adhere to standards,” Ms. Arnold said. “It doesn’t mean we can close down an exhibit tomorrow and move these animals out.”
Removing animals creates other problems as well. At the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore, a budget crisis earlier this decade led to the removal of about 10 percent of the animals, including snow leopards, gibbons and red pandas, and an entire section of the zoo was closed. But the moves were counterproductive, said Donald P. Hutchinson, the zoo’s interim president and chief executive.
“What happened was that there was a significant drop-off in our attendance,” said Mr. Hutchinson, who arrived after the cuts were made. “When people come to a zoo, they want to see a variety of animals, not just farm animals or big cats or whatever.” By cutting back on that variety, the zoo became less appealing.
The zoo also lost some of its staff. “When you make the decision that you are going to make animal reductions, your professional keepers are going to leave quickly,” Mr. Hutchinson said. “Your vets are going to look elsewhere.” And the slow process of finding homes for the animals means that expenses won’t drop immediately. “We got rid of a lot of snakes,” he said. “But it took two years to distribute them.”
This time, with cuts in government money, the museum has opted to close for three months instead of the usual two during the winter. “It allows us to not have our temporary employees for the month,” Mr. Hutchinson said, “although it doesn’t save you as much as you’d think because you’re still caring for and feeding the animals.”
It’s the people, not the animals, that bear the brunt of the cutbacks everywhere. For visitors, cuts in maintenance or seasonal staff might mean that the bathrooms are cleaned less often or the lines at the food concessions are longer. “The visitor experience begins to be affected negatively, as opposed to the animal experience,” Mr. Hutchinson said.
For the workers themselves, though, cutbacks are potentially devastating. Dr. Thompson said the Lincoln Park Zoo was trying to reduce the number of layoffs by leaving some recently vacated positions unfilled. For example, he said, the zoo’s “green” coordinator has left, and the job will not be filled. As a result, he said, other employees are going to have to resume certain duties they had given up long ago.
Employees are also working harder at the North Carolina Zoo, a state-supported zoo in Asheboro. Zoo administrators have postponed major equipment purchases and have laid off a few employees to cut the operating budget by 7 percent, said Rod Hackney, a spokesman. “It’s had no impact on animal care,” he said. “We wouldn’t shortchange them; they’re our top priority.”
“Some people have to work longer,” Mr. Hackney acknowledged. “But they are certainly more than willing to do that. You don’t get into this business if you don’t love animals.”
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario