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New York City's historic Bronx Zoo is suffering heavy funding cuts from both city and state government. Mayor Michael Bloomberg's budget cuts will drop the city's contribution to the zoo by $1.7 million, while reductions and cuts from other levels of state government will cost the zoo another $13.3 million in support.
The WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society)'s zoo administrators have already decided to close The World of Darkness exhibit, home to all manner of nocturnal animals, (including bats, caimans, porcupines, night monkeys, and others) as well as the Rare Animal Range and exhibits of the blesbok and Arabian oryx.
The animals will be relocated, but any such moves will be traumatic. And what of the zoo employees, forty of whom have already lost their unionized jobs?
The Bronx Zoo's animals need their homes as well as their caretakers, and children and adults have a right to visit and learn about all the zoo's creatures, not just the most "popular" ones.
Bronx Zoo Budget Cuts
Dear Representative
It has come to my attention that The Bronx Zoo, New York City's 114-year-old landmark and bastion of conservation, has been hit hard by budget cuts at both city and state levels. Suffering losses of $1.7 million of city support and $13.3 million of state support, the Zoo, its animals, its employees, and visitors from all over the world will suffer.
It has been reported that the Zoo will close its "less popular" exhibits, starting with The World of Darkness, home to all manner of nocturnal animals, (including bats, caimans, porcupines, night monkeys, and more) as well as the Rare Animal Range and exhibits of the blesbok and Arabian oryx.
The animals will be relocated, but any such moves will be traumatic, to say the least.
And what of the zoo employees, forty of whom have already lost their unionized jobs? As the animals go, so will their caretakers.
Over more than a century of existence, The Bronx Zoo has grown beyond a place to exhibit exotic creatures into a vitally important resource for education and conservation, as well as a source of joy to visitors young and old and a source of pride to New Yorkers.
Please stop the uprooting of the zoo's animals and their caretakers and send the message, in these difficult times, that EVERYONE counts.
[Your name]