Comments on: Zoo To Close Permanently

By: AL

AL — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 17:18:46 +0000

William – have you heard of anything happening out at the zoo as far as animal placements, etc? ( I know if you are covering it we will get great info – just not sure if you will be following up since it is in SRC—)
Thanks!

By: Bryan Bethea

Bryan Bethea — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 02:41:48 +0000

Let’s be clear, the Zoo is located in Santa Rosa County, not Escambia County. I would rather see Escambia County spend its dollars in Escambia County and not to save an enterprise located elsewhere. How about business incentives to bring jobs to Escambia?

By: Liz Underwood

Liz Underwood — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 16:26:09 +0000

Me and my daughter have enjoyed the Zoo like the train rides, the lions, the tigers and “Ele” the Elephant. Also at Christmas Times with all the pretty lights. A Family
Place and there is’nt many of those places left. Liz

By: Allen Nyhuis

Allen Nyhuis — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 03:09:13 +0000

This is very sad! I hope that somehow a financial miracle can happen to reopen this zoo. If not, I’m not worried about the animals. The zoo was accredited by the AZA, who is very good at ensuring animal care.

Allen Nyhuis, Coauthor: America’s Best Zoos

By: Al

Al — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 16:56:35 +0000

The welfare of the animals remains our primary concern,” said Quinn. “The public can rest assured we will care for the animals responsibly, ethically and in a professional manner.”

I hope someone checks up on them in this regard…. I don’t think Quinn and his cohorts are interested in the effort it will take to find homes for the very old animals like the lions (20, 19, 19 yrs) and the black bear (15).

By: guest

guest — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 15:50:18 +0000

It a shame that some how the surrounding counties could not find a way to help out. The zoo may not sound like much to some people but to kids and some adults its a great place to take the family. It really bothers me that we would spend 70 plus million dollars on a park (Maritime)that nobody will use but we can’t give the zoo a low or no intrest loan to save it. Also we need to make our own school district send all zoo related feild trips to our zoo instead of sending them to Gulf Shores. Keep our money in this county. Why is it that every surrounding county is attracking new jobs but Escambia Fl . Wake up county goverment and put our money in tnto createing new jobs here and keeping any job in NW Fl. instead of letting Al have them all. And some will say that the people in the county will not have to pay for the stupid park but wait till they consolidate our city and county goverment and see who pays for that waste of money

By: Caron

Caron — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 15:32:35 +0000

I am in agreement with each of the posts above. It is a shame that several local entities punted the ball back and forth, neglecting to take action, until The ZOO was forced to close. Little by little it seems that we are shuttering our city to growth and progress. I wish the staff and volunteers of The ZOO the best.

By: citizen

citizen — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 14:51:16 +0000

This announcement makes me very sad. Our family loved the Zoo & we took field trips there throughout our school years. It seems, in the interest of tourism & economic development, that the Zoo would be a good investment for our community. Apparently, over the past 5 years since the storm, our government officials have not shown the dedication needed to keep this educational attraction open in our area. What a shame!!!

By: molino jim

molino jim — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 13:30:22 +0000

Escambia county is taking it’s normal “wait and see’ position. I’m well aware that money is in short supply at this time—but we will look back some day and wonder why could we not find the funding. As normal we have given away a good drawing card for the area.

By: vanessa

vanessa — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 10:51:14 +0000

I really hate to hear this! It was a great place for a family to go together. My son loved to go here, especially to ride the train and to feed the giraffe!