Commentary; Posted: 5/12/04

Fund Minnesota Zoo or risk losing it

By Don Heinzman

If the Minnesota Legislature can find funds for other attractions, it ought to fund a facility it now owns, namely the Minnesota Zoo in Apple Valley.

The zoo, which attracts a million visitors a year, is at the crossroads where failure to provide $34.2 million in the state bonding bill could mean the beginning of the end for the zoo.

The governorís bonding proposal includes $19 million for a new exhibit, $5 million for maintenance and $9.2 million for debt relief.

The House, dominated by Republican legislators, many elected from the suburbs, has dropped funding for a new exhibit and cut maintenance from $6 million to $2 million. The zoo board needs the debt relief money to pay for state bonds used for the construction of the Discovery Bay exhibit.

A new Gateway to the North Exhibit is needed to keep people coming to the zoo, which has been losing attendance to other attractions such as the Mall of America and Valleyfair which keep adding new shows and rides.

What the public fails to realize is that failure to fund the zoo adequately by its owner, the state, will cause its loyal board of directors and staff to lose heart and the zoo operation could go down hill.

Funding for the zoo is critical, particularly the $9.2 million in debt relief, some of which is needed to pay its owner, the state, for bonds sold.

The state provides 39 percent of operating revenues and except for the million dollars from the zooís foundation, the rest of the money has to come from attendance revenues. Itís unlikely the zoo will get any more operating money for this second year of the biennium.

At one time the state provided 60 percent of the revenues, but because of hard economic times, the state has cut the operating budget, resulting in loss of 19 staff members, increased parking fees, closure of a popular zoo lab and reduction in hours of the popular Family Farm exhibit.

Around the country, zoos get at least half of their revenues from public sources.

All these reductions plus the need to modernize and make the zoo more customer friendly make the zoo less attractive to the public.

Zoo Director Lee Ehmke says if the governorís proposal is approved, the zoo will see a resurgence of enthusiasm among the public, staff and philanthropists. Failure to get that funding and lack of commitment by the state ìcould start a spiraling that would be hard to stop.î

Fund raising also will be affected because private donors will question why should they contribute when the owner, the state, is not supporting basic operations.

There is hope, but time is running out. The Senate bill likely will include some of the governorís bonding proposal, and with the leadership of the governor, the bonding money for the zoo could be approved in a conference committee.

Those who support the zoo should call or e-mail their legislators and point out that unless this appropriation in the bonding bill is approved, this region could begin to lose a precious asset, its Minnesota Zoo.

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