Boston's Franklin Park Zoo, Stone Zoo May be Forced to Close Due to Budget Shortfall, Some Animals may be Euthanized, Gov. Patric Takes Offense

Boston's Franklin Park Zoo might be forced to close its doors and possibly euthanize some of its animals due to deep budget cuts imposed by Governor Deval Patrick. Zoo officials have said that they will run out of money by October and have to close both the Franklin Park Zoo and its smaller counterpart the Stone Zoo. They would lay off most of their 165 employees and attempt to find new homes for more than 1,000 animals. They said they would be unlikely to find homes for at least 20 percent of these animals, which would lead to euthanization or the care of the animals in perpetuity. According to media reports, the Legislature had originally provided $6.5 million to the zoos, which accounts for more than half of their budget, but Governor Deval Patrick, using a line-item veto, cut the state funding to $2.5 million. Now Gov. Patrick has taken offense to the zoo's statement saying they are engaging in scare tactics. He is absolutely right.

The zoos, which are run by Zoo New England and reportedly attracted nearly 570,000 visitors over the past year, are operated through a public-private partnership that is funded by taxpayers and revenues from visitors. If the partnership dissolves, as it would in October if it runs out of money, the custody of the zoos would be turned over to state officials, according to state law. Zoo officials estimate that it would take three years and cost at least $9 million to completely shut down the zoos, and they said the state would be in charge of that process.

The Franklin Park Zoo, which was founded in 1913, has faced closure numerous times in the past because of a lack of funding, most recently in 2002 when House lawmakers cut its funding from $6 million to $3.5 million. The total operations budget for the zoos last year was $11 million, about 60 percent of which came from state funding. The remainder came through admissions, food and gift shop sales, memberships, and fund-raising. They have pulled this euthanization scare tactic before in prior fights against state budget cuts. They were faced with similar funding reductions in the early 1990s that forced the closure of the Stone Zoo, officials initially said many of those animals would have to be euthanized. None were and most were instead moved to the Franklin Park Zoo until 1994, when the Stone Zoo was reopened.

It would be a real shame if these zoos were to close. What's sad is that these animals were taken out of the wild and brought to zoos all across the world and it's just not fair to euthanize them when the going gets tough. According to the Boston Globe, the two zoos have 1,300 animals of 260 species, including gorillas, tigers, capybaras, and peacocks. It employs 165 full-time employees, 65 teen employees, and 25 interns.

The bottom line is that Zoo New England does bear some responsibility in finding a way to stay open, instead of blaming the governor for his actions. The zoo reportedly receives about 40 percent of its total funding last year from admissions, memberships, donations, and other private sources. Sadly we are in a recession and the unemployment rates keep climbing, but they need to become more innovative and help themselves, as the ordinary person is forced to do, instead of waiting for a bailout from the state. Sorry, trying to bully your way to more money just won't cut it this time around. The governor has said that no animals will be euthanized.