Rosamond Gifford Zoo

Infobox zoo
zoo_name=Rosamond Gifford Zoo

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image_caption=Main building and entrance to the zoo
date_opened=1914; 1986
location=Syracuse, New York, USA
members=AZA
num_animals=1000
website=http://www.rosamondgiffordzoo.org/

The Rosamond Gifford Zoo at Burnet Park is a zoo in Syracuse, New York. It is owned and operated by Onondaga County Parks. The zoo is home to over 1000 animals on 45 acres. Offerings include a controversial elephant exhibit, several wildlife trails, a petting zoo, waterfowl ponds, a social animals building, an aviary, an Amur tiger breeding program, and a new penguin exhibit. The zoo also houses a conservation and education center.

History

Origins

The first incarnation of the zoo was a small, four acre affair in Burnet Park owned and operated by the Syracuse Department of Parks and Recreation. After opening in 1914, the zoo's first expansion began in 1916 with the construction of stone exhibits for bears and a waterfowl pond. By 1933, the zoo had doubled in size, and by in 1955 a children's zoo and monkey exhibit had been built.

Decline

The zoo's decline began in the early 1960s as Syracuse's tax base started to shrink and financial support for the zoo began to erode. In 1974, two teens broke into the zoo and managed to kill and injure about forty animals. The city's financial position and the break- in fueled public debate over the future of the zoo. Despite the creation of the Friends of the Burnet Park Zoo in 1970 and a grant received by the city to enlarge the Zoo to eighteen acres, add a boardwalk, a western plains habitat, and construct a new perimeter fence, the City of Syracuse transferred control of the zoo to Onondaga County Parks in 1979.

Renewal

A study by County Parks staff produced a forty-page renovation plan for the zoo which involved shutting down the old zoo and constructing another. The plan was approved by the Onondaga County legislature in 1981. The old zoo was closed in 1982 and the thirteen million dollar project (ten million of which was provided by the county and the rest by the Friends of the Burnet Park Zoo) began in 1983.

The zoo reopened in 1986 and received its accreditation from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums the following year; it was re-accredited a decade later. The zoo initiated a capital campaign in 1998 to fund a new conservation and education center and tiger, penguin and rainforest exhibits. Following a two million dollar endowment by the Rosamond Gifford Charitable Corporation in 1999, the zoo was renamed the Rosamond Gifford Zoo at Burnet Park.

The next several years saw the introduction of the zoo's first lion cubs in over a decade, as well as the creation of a tiger trail featuring a family of Amur tigers, a social animal exhibit, and a penguin exhibit, which was completed in 2005 and featured eighteen Humboldt penguins. Since then the zoo has successfully raised numerous penguin chicks. During this period the zoo became the second in the United States to successfully raise red panda triplets. Asian elephants, Amur tigers, Humboldt penguins, and red pandas, all endangered species in the wild, are among those that have been bred successfully at Rosamond Gifford Zoo at Burnet Park.

Exhibits

Exhibits include Wildlife Trails featuring such animals as the bald eagle, the grey wolf, and the Amur tiger. The Outdoor Birds exhibits the Chilean flamingo, the North American wood duck, and the American common goldeneye among others. Outreach animals are used for educational outreach programs and include creaures such as emperor scorpions, the Honduran milk snake, and cockatiels. The Social and Rainforest Animals include the hyacinth macaw, Von der Decken's hornbill, and the white-winged vampire bat among many others.The Domestic Animals exhibit permits humans and animals to interact. Animals featured include a miniature donkey, llamas, and domestic dogs, sheep, and goats. The Diversity Aviary features many birds including the scarlet ibis, the roseate spoonbill, and the Nicobar pigeon. The Antiquities Aquarium highlights such craetures as the aggregate anemone, the red rock crab, the keyhole limpet, and the pencil urchin. The Adaptations exhibit features the North American river otter, the Egyptian fruit bat, and Hoffmann's two-toed sloth, among several others.

Elephant breeding program

The zoo breeds and houses Asian Elephants and is regarded by some as one of the greatest breeding programs of its kind. The zoo's reputation, however, has been tarnished by a number of infant elephant deaths and practices deemed by some to be outdated and cruel. The zoo has had four elephant deaths during the period 1993 – 2005. [ [http://www.elephant.se/location2.php?location_id=198#deaths Syracuse Zoo (Rosamond Gifford Zoo)] ]

On August 4, 2005 Kedar, a four-day-old male elephant, was thrust before a clamorous crowd of zoo-goers. The baby elephant took fright, escaped its mother's and sisters' watch and fell into a pool in the elephant yard. Kedar was alive when pulled from the pool. However, he died later in the day when his intestinal tract became twisted as a result of taking in too much air and water during the incident. [ [http://www.elephant.se/database2.php?elephant_id=783 Elephant database] ] The zoo was fined $10,675 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for improper animal handling.

On Thursday, June 8, 2006, surgery was performed on the zoo's Asian elephant Romani in order to remove a dead calf from her womb. Romani had gone into labor four days earlier and was unable to give birth to the baby. Half of the six elephants born at the zoo have died, including Romani’s 3-year-old calf, Preya, who succumbed to a deadly herpes virus.

The Rosamond Gifford Zoo has been criticised by animal welfare organizations for practicing a circus-style form of elephant management that instills dominance and fear in the herd through the use of bullhooks. [ [http://www.savewildelephants.com/rosamond.asp Save Wild Elephants] ] The zoo has also been critized for forcing the elephants to perform bizarre, dangerous and unnatural stunts such as standing on their heads.

In December 2007, the Onondaga County Legislature approved a six million dollar expansion of the elephant exhibit with the expectation that the expansion will allow the elephant breeding program to grow in the future.

References

External links

* [http://www.rosamondgiffordzoo.org/ Rosamond Gifford Zoo]
* [http://www.elephant.se/elephant_database.php?lang= Elephant Database]
* [http://www.savewildelephants.com/rosamond.asp Elephant-Free Zoos]