TMCnet News
Animals arrive for new zoo exhibit(Daily Oklahoman, The (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Mar. 25--While construction continues on the Oklahoma City Zoo's new Oklahoma Trails exhibit, the animals that will occupy the new site have started to arrive. Animal Management Director Dwight Scott said animals acquired for the new exhibit, scheduled to open in early summer, include a Western diamondback rattlesnake and a roadrunner. Members of the Oklahoma City Zoological Trust met this week and discussed the animals and progress on the Oklahoma Trails exhibit. On the wish list for the exhibit are black bears, hog-nosed and spotted skunks, grey and red foxes, woodchucks, a nine-banded armadillo and various native birds and reptiles, Scott said. Maintenance and Grounds Director Ernie Wilson said rapid progress was being made on construction and design work on the 7.7-acre exhibit. Concrete walks are being poured, caging work was proceeding and the interior walls of the large, new aquarium were about to be painted. "It's getting very exciting," Wilson told trust members. "You can see a lot of things coming into place." Also at the trust meeting, member Byron Gambulos asked whether a law enforcement substation located at the zoo and manned by personnel from either the Oklahoma County sheriff's department or the city police department might speed response time in the event of an emergency. Assistant City Manager M.T. Berry, former Oklahoma City police chief, said a better question might be what security needs or services aren't being met now at the zoo. "A substation could give a different impression than off-duty law enforcement personnel," Berry said. After a short discussion, the consensus among trust members was to ask Executive Director Bert Castro to conduct a review of zoo security to see if any changes were needed or feasible. In other business, Business Services Director Mark Campbell said chilly weather in February kept zoo attendance figures about 27 percent under expected levels, and revenues also sustained a similar dip. However, February sales tax revenues exceeded budget estimates by more than 7 percent, he said. |