NEWS

Greenville Zoo gets accreditation news

Lyn Riddle
lnriddle@greenvillenews.com

It's been a difficult year for the Greenville Zoo, but the staff received some good news during the annual meeting of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums in Orlando.

The zoo was accredited.

The zoo has maintained accreditation since 1986 and is required by the AZA to reapply every five years. The application process began about a year ago, and involved a site visit in June and a presentation last week at the AZA annual conference, Zoo Director Jeff Bullock said.

"It worked out real well," Bullock said. "It's been a tough, tough year."

In March, one of the elephants, Ladybird, had to be euthanized when handlers could not get her to stand. Then in June the other elephant, Joy, died while being transported in a tractor-trailer truck to her new home at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado. In August, Autumn, a giraffe, delivered a stillborn calf.

"The giraffe calf was going to be a big glean of sunshine, but that didn't happen," Bullock said. "We're hoping for a more positive year ahead."

One item of note is whether the female siamang, Ella, is going to have a baby in the spring.

"We introduced the male (Oscar) and they got along real well," Bullock said. Zoo officials will know how well if she starts showing this fall.

Bullock said the zoo staff was already working on the items the AZA inspectors mentioned as needing attention such as a new enclosure for the colobus monkeys. They had loosened some of the netting on their enclosure from jumping and swinging on it. The monkeys were moved into the cage beside their normal home and the enclosure is being reworked by staff from the zoo, the city's public works department and an outside contractor.

Among the construction patrons will see in the coming year is a shade enclosure for the giraffes.

The zoo's $2.7 million budget is funded through the revenue it generates and about $400,000 from hospitality tax collections. In the most recent fiscal year, about 293,000 people visited the zoo.