The Zoomusement Park

If you find yourself planning a family vacation to the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, and there are members of you're party that just aren't that into animal attractions, fear not!  The zoo also operates not one but TWO amusement parks on adjacent properties.  Zoombezi Bay, located on Wyandot Lake, features over a dozen water park rides, while Jungle Jack's Landing has bumper cars, a roller coaster, and other rides.  There's also a nearby golf course.   Fun for Everyone!

... Right?  Maybe not.

In recent years, zoos and aquariums have been caught in a somewhat schizophrenic bind.

On one hand, many - especially members of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums - seek the legitimacy of scientific, conservation organizations.  They wish to distance themselves from the circuses, or from the zoos of old with their chimpanzee tea parties.

On the other hand... well, zoos are expensive to operate.  Aquariums arguably more so.  All of that money needs to come from somewhere.

This divide shows itself in almost every aspect of the zoo, from which animals do you exhibit (common crowd-pleasers like lions and zebras, or obscure rarities, like crested toads and Guam rails?).  Nowhere did it strike me as a hard as at Columbus.  The idea first began to come to me, however, years ago when I was visiting the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans.  A keeper and I were walking around, when we passed a construction site.  "What's that going to be?" I asked with some interest.  The keeper's face darkened.  "A water park," he snarled, spitting on the ground and stomping off.

Some keepers fear the cheapening of their profession by being lumped back in with organizations that solely use animals for entertainment.  They feel that this leaves their institution more vulnerable to attacks from PETA and other anti-zoo organizations in the future.  Others resent the redirection of funds, as well as space.  I can see what they mean.  Columbus is a fine zoo with many excellent exhibits.  One of the least remarkable, however, was its elephant exhibit - no bad, just... a trifle old-fashioned, it seemed.   I know elephant keepers and how they feel about their animals, and I could imagine the keepers at Columbus casting an envious eye to all of that land before it became an amusement park.

Many zoos offer what would best be described as rides in order to provide views of animals from a different perspective.  The boat-ride through the islands exhibit of Columbus Zoo is a prime example.  Many zoos have monorails, such as Dallas Zoo's Wilds of Africa.  Others have skyrails, such as San Diego Zoo.

Columbus is an extreme example, but most zoos and aquariums do a little amusement-parking on the side.  Endangered species carousels have popped up at zoo's all over the country (although, in Sailing with Noah, Jeffrey Bonner describes how the keepers at St  Louis Zoo were aghast at the idea of adding one, disapproving of the message of having visitors riding on saddled zoo animals).  Many zoos have added ropes courses, or kayak tours, or other games and activities.

I'm a purist at heart, myself, and would love for zoos and aquariums to be themselves, places where visitors can come to admire and appreciate the wonders of wildlife.  That being said, I also spent a lot of time walking around Columbus slack-jawed and wondering how I could get that budget.

And then, as I drove out at the end of the day and passed Zoombezi Bay, I remember.  "That's how."