A Link to the Past

For obvious reasons, newer zoos (to the extent that a fifty-year old facility, like Sedgwick County, can be called "newer") are very appealing to me.  It's fun to see what zoos can accomplish when they are able to build from scratch, unhindered by older facilities and able to design with modern care practices in mind.  There are entire swaths of my zoo (some of them not even that old) that I wish I could take a bulldozer through, provided I had the funds to rebuild as I would like to.

Still, there is something very charming to me about being in an old zoo, and seeing animals alongside buildings and landscapes that convey a sense of history.  I most often get this feeling in the zoos of the northeast, where the relative age of the facilities and the need for indoor houses for the winter has led to some handsome old buildings.  I'm thinking especially of Philadelphia, National, and (ironically one of the younger major northeast zoos) Bronx.

Part of it is that I love that turn of the century architecture, especially compared to the brutalist monstrosities that arose decades later.  I think a big part is that I enjoy walking among those old buildings, down brick or cobblestone pathways, shaded by towering old trees, and feeling that the zoo was there for generations.  Working at such a place, you wouldn't just be at a job - you'd be at an institution, with tradition and lore.  Conversely, I've worked at one city zoo where one of the original keepers was still working there (albeit constantly muttering about retirement).

The trick can be striking a balance between animal welfare and preservation of facilities.  Bronx has done a fairly admirable job, I think.  Some of the old animal houses are no longer in use, repurposed for non-animal tasks.  Others are still around, but completely imagined.  The old Lion House, for example, has its exterior charm, while I inside has been completely refurbish as the beautiful Madagascar building.  Similarly, the National Zoo converted its old Bird House into a renovated facility while still retaining the old charm.  

In terms of animal welfare and conservation, zoos should always be looking to the future.  There is a lot to be said, however, about keeping an appreciative, reflective eye on the past.