New York City's historic Bronx Zoo is suffering heavy funding cuts from both city and state government. Mayor Michael Bloomberg's budget cuts will drop the city's contribution to the zoo by $1.7 million, while reductions and cuts from other levels of state government will cost the zoo another $13.3 million in support.
The WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society)'s zoo administrators have already decided to close The World of Darkness exhibit, home to all manner of nocturnal animals, (including bats, caimans, porcupines, night monkeys, and others) as well as the Rare Animal Range and exhibits of the blesbok and Arabian oryx.
The animals will be relocated, but any such moves will be traumatic. And what of the zoo employees, forty of whom have already lost their unionized jobs?
The Bronx Zoo's animals need their homes as well as their caretakers, and children and adults have a right to visit and learn about all the zoo's creatures, not just the most "popular" ones.
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