Prospect Park zoo

The Prospect Park Zoo is an eight acre zoo located off Flatbush Avenue on the eastern side of Prospect Park, Brooklyn, New York. Its precursor, the Menagerie, had first opened in 1890. The present zoo opened on July 3, 1935. It's construction was part of a larger program of revitalization of city parks, playgrounds and zoos initiated in 1934 by Parks Commissioner Robert Moses and was built, in large part, through Civil Works Administration and Works Project Administration (WPA) labor and funding. After 53 years of operation as a city zoo by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, this "first" zoo closed in June 1988 for reconstruction. The closure signaled the start of a five year, $37 million dollar renovation program, that, save for the exteriors of the 1930's-era buildings, completely replaced the zoo. It was rededicated on October 5, 1993 as the Prospect Park Wildlife Conservation Center, joining an integrated system of four zoos and one aquarium managed by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). The Prospect Park Zoo presently offers children's educational programs, is engaged in restoration of endangered species populations, runs a Wildlife Theater and reaches out to the local community through volunteer programs. As of 2005, the zoo housed nearly four hundred animals representing about one hundred species; it was visited by about 220,000 people in 2005.

The zoo today

The Prospect Park Zoo is part of the Wildlife Conservation Society integrated network of zoos and aquaria spread throughout New York City. [5] Located on Flatbush Avenue, across from the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, the zoo is situated on an eight acre plot somewhat lower than street level in Prospect Park proper. It is one of the smaller facilities in the WCS system. Visitors may enter directly through the main Flatbush Avenue entrance or from within Prospect Park. The park entrance is near Leffert's Homestead and the Carousel, popular park venues for small children, their parents or guardians.

Exhibits

A pair of North American porcupines present a mysterious aspect, appearing to be spiky tree fruit of some sort. Discovery Trail, World of Animals exhibit at the Prospect Zoo

A pair of North American porcupines present a mysterious aspect, appearing to be spiky tree fruit of some sort. Discovery Trail, World of Animals exhibit at the Prospect Zoo

The zoo presents three themed exhibition venues, each housed in a dedicated building.

World of Animals

The World of Animals in the southern quadrant of the zoo, features the Discovery Trail. The trail begins in the World of Animals building, but visitors quickly pass from this interior trailhead to an outdoor path that winds through the southern third of the zoo. Animals from diverse corners of the globe are shown in settings not unlike their natural habitats. Visitors may find prairie dogs, Porcupines, Parma Wallabies, Red Pandas, Emus and other animals along the trail. Signs often ask challenging questions, reinforcing presentations made in the Zoo's Discovery Center, or alert viewers to look for signs of animal habitation. Along one part of the Discovery Trail, young visitors may crawl through "underground burrows" to observation posts roofed with clear, hemispherical observation ports. They may observe prairie dogs in the round, right the midsts of the animals themselves.

Though it occupies a compact plot, The Discovery Trail has been carefully designed so that very little of the trail can be seen at one time, permitting visitors to concentrate on just the few exhibits at hand. The trail passes through marsh, open grassland, and wooded areas, featuring animals particular to each biota.

Animal Lifestyles

Animal Lifestyles, in the western quadrant of the zoo, features indoor habitat exhibits. Visitors in the foyer of the building are shown Life in the Water, Life in Air, and Life on Land dioramas. Each diorama holds a carefully controlled environment that features select animals. These central displays broadly relate animals to their surrounds. Exhibits featuring more specific biota branch off from the central foyer. Side exhibits center on Cottontop Tamarins, Meerkats, Emerald Tree Boas, Capybaras, Desert Monitors, among others. Some of these exhibits feature critically endangered animals, such as the Bali Mynah, which exist in greater numbers in captivity than in the wild. The Prospect Park Zoo is engaged in breeding such species in captivity, a part of the larger wild life recovery program of the Wildlife Conservation Society. The zoo is engaged in augmenting populations of Bali Mynah and Cottontop tamarins through breeding in captivity.

The centerpiece of the Animal Lifestyles consists of a troop of Hamadryas Baboons. Zoo visitors may observe the troop in a large glassed-in gallery which looks out into a rocky outcrop. Small caves in the outcrop lead to interior burrows where the animals may avoid inclement weather. The rear wall of the gallery illustrates common forms of baboon signalling and behavior, along with other social aspects of the animals. Ample seating allows visitors and baboons to observe each other for hours on end.

Animals in our Lives

Animals in our Lives in the northern quadrant of the zoo has both indoor and outdoor exhibits illustrating myriad relationships between animals and people. Some exhibits feature utilitarian relationships, such as how poison dart frogs acquired their names as sources of toxins for hunting and gathering cultures. This building houses the In Living Color display, where young visitors can observe how animals might use their colors to warn, hide from, or attract one another. The exhibit features animals such as the Eclectus Parrot, a species remarkable for its extreme sexual dimorphism and Green Naped Lorikeets.

A small working barn further north of the building constitutes the centerpiece of the Animals in Our Lives exhibit. It is organized around a working barn with sheep, cows, goats, ducks, geese and other "working" animals. The farm setting serves to remind visitors that animals have commercial importance in human affairs.

Educational programs

The zoo hosts educational venues as well as exhibits. These revolve around the Discovery Center, a building with classrooms and laboratories designed to introduce school-age children to investigative practices of environmental and wildlife scientists. The Discovery Center introduces children to laboratory practices; they learn about and use professional laboratory equipment and learn how to integrate what they observe into zoological theory. These programs are based on educational concepts developed through WIZE (Wildlife Inquiry through Zoo Education), a program developed by Bronx Zoo educators.

On the weekends and holidays, the zoo hosts the Wildlife Theater, where zoo staff introduce the audience to different animals housed in the zoo. On weekends, visitors can Meet a Keeper, ask questions about the animals in the zoo and what keepers need to do to care for them.

The volunteer program at the Prospect Park Zoo engages members of the community; it is a combination outreach and educational program for adults. Volunteer guides conduct tours for visitors, while volunteer "Docents" augment the educational program. Docents enroll in a 12 week training program. Following their graduation, docents assist staff in putting on demonstrations and explaining exhibits.

Special events round out these periodic offerings. In 2006, The Fleece Festival was a Spring event exhibiting how sheep are fleeced and the wool prepared for market. Extraordinary Dairy Weekend in June illustrated the milking of cows and the initial steps in the preparation of milk.

Facilities

The zoo grounds and building exteriors were designed by Aymar Embury II. The facility consists of six red brick and lime-stoned trimmed buildings grouped in a semi-circular arrangement around a central courtyard with the seal pool occupying the center of the court. The building exteriors date to the 1930s while the interiors were built during the 1989 – 1993 reconstruction of the zoo. There is a freestanding wooden barn built in 1993 just north of the circular group of buildings. A set of stairs from the main entrance leads visitors down to zoo level. A small restaurant and the administrative center is immediately to the left, occupying the southeastern quadrant of the zoo. The Discovery Center is immediately to the right, occupying the northeastern quadrant of the zoo. Arrayed in front of the visitor are the three exhibit buildings, The World of Animals to the south, the Animal Lifestyles building, behind the seal pool directly in front of the visitor, Animals in our Lives is to the right. Visitors may view the exhibits in any order.

Evolution of Brooklyn zoological gardens

The original 1866 proposal of Prospect Park featured a "Zoological Garden" on the western flank of the park, near the present Litchfield Manor, but the garden was not undertaken by the time park designers Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux whom departed from the project in 1873. A few features of the original park design served zoological purposes. A Wild Fowl Pond, once occupying the northern quadrant of the zoo grounds, served as a haven for water birds. A Deer Paddock, once occupying the southern quadrants of the zoo grounds, was a penned-in area for deer.

Menagerie

Interest in some kind of zoological garden flowered in the last decade of the nineteenth century. An informal Menagerie began to take shape in May, 1890 when the newly appointed president of the City of Brooklyn Parks Commission, George V. Brower, donated “three young cinnamon bears.” State Treasurer Harry Adams followed with a donation of three white deer, establishing a pattern. It was mainly through donations of animals by rich or prominent individuals that the Menagerie grew. By 1893, one observer noted that “seven seals arrived, one buffalo, from the estate of Samuel B. Duryea, three red foxes, three bears, one sacred cow, two white deer, five red deer, seven seals, and twelve to fifteen peacocks."

The animals were kept in pens on Sullivan Hill, situated across the East Drive from the zoo's present location. The animal pens, sheep paddock, and the nearby Prospect Park Dairy Farmhouse formed the nucleus of the Menagerie. Of the original zoological facilities in the park, the Deer Paddock, located near the present Carousel, was converted into a meadow and the deer were moved to the new Menagerie, The Wild Fowl Pond remained, located on the east side of the park in a low area now forming the northern part of the zoo.

As the 19th century verged into the 20th, the Menagerie continued to accrue animals, generally donated by prominent individuals and institutions, forming a varied collection of specimens both native to North America and other regions of the world.

Robert Moses and the making of the "modern" Prospect Park Zoo

When he assumed office in January 1934, New York City Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia tapped Robert Moses to head a newly unified Parks Department. Moses soon prepared extensive plans to reconstruct the city's parks, renovate existing facilities and create new swimming pools, zoos, playgrounds and parks. Moses acquired substantial Civil Works Administration, and later, Works Progress Administration funding and soon embarked upon an eight year city-wide construction program, relieving some of the high unemployment in New York City in this Depression year.

Plans for the new Prospect Park Zoo, prepared by Aymar Embury II, were announced in March, 1934. The area between the Wild Fowl Pond and former Deer Paddock on the east side of the park, situated across the East Drive from the Menagerie, was chosen as the site for the new zoo. Architect Embury designed a half circle of six brick buildings centered on a seal pool. Built of red brick with limestone trim, the buildings featured scenes from Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book. Dedicated on July 3, 1935 as the Prospect Park Zoo, the buildings constituted an integrated facility and were seen as a great improvement over the somewhat haphazardly developed Menagerie. The zoo featured an extensive bear pit, a seal pool, a Lion's house (the current Animals in our Lives building) an Elephant's House (the current Animal Lifestyles building) and a house for monkeys, birds, and horned animals (now the World of Animals building). With the completion of the new zoo, The Dairy Farmhouse, sheep paddock, and Menagerie were demolished. The site of the old Menagerie has since been allowed to revert to forest land.

A bright beginning; a slow decline

For the next fifty years, the zoo served as a showcase of large animals from far away places, appealing to a sense of wonder. An estimated one million people visited the Prospect Park Zoo annually prior to World War II, but attendance gradually declined, reaching about a half million by the early 1980s. By this time, the facility showed signs of deterioration. Activists were pressing for major renovations of the zoo, which, in 1983, was rated by the Humane Society of the United States as one of the "10 worst" zoos in the country. [20] Others felt that a zoo was not in keeping with the spirit of Prospect Park and urged complete removal from the park. A fatal accident of an 11 year-old boy scaling the fence to the polar bear pit only served to underscore difficulties with the fifty year old facility.

By this time, Brooklyn Borough President Howard Golden had engaged both the Koch Administration and the then named New York Zoological Society to help save the zoo. By late summer 1987, an $18 million, two and a half year renovation plan was put forth that would place the Prospect Park Zoo under the management of the NY Zoological Society, a part of a larger scheme to renovate all city zoos and place them under the Society's management. Under the plan, each zoo was assigned coordinated venues so one facility would not compete with or offer redundant programs of other facilities. Prospect Park Zoo was slated to specialize in children programs and house smaller, unaggressive animal species.

Renovation of a re-purposed zoo

The Prospect Park Zoo closed to the public in the summer of 1988. Over the next six months, new homes were found for the displaced animals in other zoos throughout the US. Demolition was managed by the Parks Department and began in June 1989, commencing what became a five year, $37 million effort, overrunning initial estimates by two and a half years and $19 million dollars. The exteriors of the Aymar Embury buildings were preserved, but badly deteriorated interiors were gutted, pits and cages were demolished, and new structures were built. The facilities were turned over to the NY Zoological Society in April 1993.

A further six months were needed to repopulate the zoo, prepare exhibits, and ready the facility for the public. The re-purposed zoo opened on October 5, 1993 under the rubric "Prospect Park Wildlife Conservation Center".[3] The Zoological Society hoped that the new name would reflect their idea that a 'Wildlife Conservation Center' was far removed from an animal prison; it was indeed a facility designed to preserve animal species. This name change co-incided with the renaming of the zoological society to the 'Wildlife Conservation Society'.

The programs of the new center were geared toward educating children. Classrooms for the the Discovery Center were housed in a dedicated building on the north wing of the zoo. Exhibits housed smaller species, eschewing elephants, tigers, and lions, and augmented displays with interactive exhibits. The public, however, continued to call the facility 'The Prospect Zoo', and over the ensuing thirteen years the name quietly reverted.

Fiscal shortfalls

The Wildlife Conservation Society supports the Prospect Park Zoo through a combination of private funds and subsidies from the city, so the zoo is vulnerable to funding shortfalls during city fiscal crises. This was made clear on April 15, 2003 when Mayor Michael Bloomberg published his "doomsday budget" proposal for the next fiscal year, beginning in July 2003. Among other cuts to help close an overall $3.8 billion budget deficit, the Mayor proposed to cut all city funding for The Prospect Park Zoo and the Queens Zoo, and trim funding for the New York Aquarium and Bronx Zoo. [22] The two zoos were the smallest among the facilities managed by the Wildlife Conservation Society, and had the lowest annual attendance rates, approximately 200,000 for each threatened zoo. In contrast, the Bronx Zoo boasted annual attendance of two million and the Central Park Zoo enjoyed one million visitors annually.

Over the next two months, the fate of the two zoos hung in limbo while the city's executive branch and City Council hammered out a compromise budget. While there were a number of items on the budget, the zoo closures remained among the more visible of anticipated losses. In the middle of June, City Council Speaker Gifford Miller visited the zoo, and in a press conference outlined some of the pragmatic consequences of closure: a savings estimated by the city of $6 million for both facilities that would be offset by a WCS estimated expenditure of $8 million, to decommission facilities and — on short notice — find homes for 160 displaced animals. If the estimates were correct, reasoning went, it would be cheaper to run the zoos than to shut them down.

y the start of the new fiscal year in July 2003 the approved budget restored a reduced funding level to the affected WCS facilities. To keep the Prospect Park and Queens zoos open, the WCS had to close two classroom based instructional programs, lay off the supporting full- and part-time instructors and double admission fees. Funding levels for the Wildlife Conservation Society were restored in the 2007 city budget, though the facilities remain vulnerable to future budget shortfalls.

Prospect Park zoo Online