Brevard Zoo and the "Woke Wars"

In a particularly frustrating but of news, Florida's Brevard Zoo is in the crosshairs of angry politicians after it made a decision that was contrary to the whims of a state representative.  After Republican Randy Fine planned to rent out the zoo for a fundraiser, the announcement was met with protests.  This led the zoo to consider- not set in stone yet, but considering - a policy of no longer renting out the zoo for political campaign events, regardless of the political party.  This angered Fine so much that he asked Governor and presidential-candidate Ron DeSantis to veto $2,000,000 in funding that that zoo was slated to receive to build a new aquarium.  Fine made no secret of his motivation for encouraging DeSantis to strike the funds for the zoo, saying, "Go woke, go broke."  In typical politician style, he is now backpedaling a bit on his reasoning, but he said what he said...|

A rendering of the proposed aquarium, by Brevard Zoo

This little temper-tantrum (well, probably doesn't seem so little to Brevard Zoo staff) shows the inherent challenge of zoos and aquariums having to deal with politicians.  They are whimsical and fickle partners, who don't always go a great job of separating what's best for the community versus what's best for their political fortunes.  There are plenty of occasions in which a politician could, for just causes, decide against supporting funding for a zoo or aquarium; there are a lot of priorities out there, and public monies are a limited resource.  But to do it just because they won't do exactly what you tell them to isn't governance.  It's petulance.

It's tempting for a zoo to decide to do whatever

 it can to avoid being seen as political (which, ironically, is what Brevard was trying to do when it tried stepping back from being involved in campaigns).  Unfortunately, literally everything that is important, from conservation of species to social policies that impact the safety and wellbeing of employees, is political.  It's impossible not to be political.

Ultimately, Brevard is still going to go ahead with the aquarium.  They're just going to have to do it without this clown's help.  Just as well - he doesn't seem like someone you'd want to be beholden to.