Saint Louis Zoo: Building On The Past-by K.F. Moffett
In 1904, one of the featured attractions at the World’s Fair in St. Louis was a large open-air walk-through bird cage, one of the largest aviaries in the world. After the Fair closed the city bought the Flight Cage, as it was called, from the Smithsonian Institution for $3,500. The cage was emptied of its animals, which were sent back to Washington, D.C., but over time, donated animals began to fill the cage and the slow process of acquiring animals and building a zoo began.

A few years later a Zoological Society formed; the city apportioned 77 acres in Forest Park for the establishment of a zoo. In 1916, area citizens voted to tax themselves for the construction of the Saint Louis Zoo, with a mill tax. An elephant house was built, a seal basin, a bird of prey cage, a lion house. Animals were acquired. The state of Missouri pronounced “the Saint Louis Zoo shall be forever free,” and, at least so far, it has been.

These days, the 90-acre Saint Louis Zoo is recognized as one of the finest zoos in the world. It is home to more than 9,200 exotic animals, many of them rare and endangered. Last year it was the fourth-most-attended zoo in the country (behind powerhouses Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Busch Gardens Tampa, and the San Diego Zoo), with more than 3 million visitors, an all-time attendance record.

One hundred years after people from coast-to-coast were declaring “Meet me in St. Louis,” the zoo has embarked upon a large-scale renovation of the original site to celebrate the centennial anniversary of the World’s Fair, and the acquisition of the Flight Cage. The project, partly designed by SWT Associates, will see the transformation of the flight cage into an elaborately landscaped cypress swamp, where native animals and habitats will be on display.

“The Cypress Swamp is designed to replicate a Missouri wetland. It will feature all native birds,” says Kevin Mills, director of marketing for the Saint Louis Zoo. “It will be the first exhibit here that focuses entirely on native Missouri animals.”

The native birds will include hooded mergansers, wood ducks, herons, ibises, roseate spoonbills, egrets, and owls. The move to indigenous birds will also allow the zoo to display the hardier birds year-round.

“Many visitors are not aware of the spectacular swamps and wetlands that extend from the Gulf of Mexico up the Mississippi River to southern Missouri and Illinois,” says Dr. Jeffrey Bonner, president and CEO of the zoo.

“This new flight cage experience will allow us to communicate with visitors about an important American ecosystem and about native bird species.”

Though it is the zoo’s third renovation of the Flight Cage, it is by far the most extensive. The $3.5 million project will both commemorate the one-hundredth anniversary and bring the area up to American Zoo and Aquarium Association standards.

Says Bonner, “With today’s new methods of zoo exhibit design we will bring visitors close to birds in a natural setting. A meandering pathway, a floating bridge, and a viewing pier will replace the aviary’s wooden boardwalk. Lush hardwoods, shrubs, aquatic plants, and cypress snags will replace the gravel floor. Extensive rockwork and water features will add to the visitor experience.”

Ghosts of Projects Past
As exciting as this is, the centennial refurbishment is not the most elaborate, or expensive, project the zoo has undertaken in recent years. In 1994 the zoo commenced a four-year-long capital campaign that raised nearly $70 million—$7 million more than the zoo’s original goal. The money was put to work quickly. The Emerson’s Children’s Zoo was built on two-and-a-half acres apart from the zoo itself, as well Phase I of the River’s Edge area, which opened in late 1999 and features Asian elephants, cheetahs, and hyenas. The next year, the Monsanto Insectarium opened with more than 100 species of invertebrates, one of the few exhibits in the country dedicated solely to bugs, with more than 20 major exhibit areas. There’s also Mary Ann Lee Butterfly Wing, a walk-through geodesic dome filled with butterflies and other winged creatures.

McDonnell River Camp, a banquet facility, and River Camp Cafe, a new refreshment stand, and the Missouri portion of River’s Edge opened in 2001. Phase III of River’s Edge, featuring hippos, rhinos, warthogs, carmine bee-eaters, capybaras, and giant anteaters opened in 2002.

Last year, the $8.3 million Penguin and Puffin Coast exhibit premiered. Housed beneath a dramatic white dome ceiling, the new open-air exhibit features a 40-inch-high glass barrier, which allows visitors to get very close to the more than 80 penguins and 30 puffins. It also features an underwater viewing area and an outdoor display.

Mills credits the addition of the Penguin and Puffin Coast with the zoo’s 2003 attendance record. “It was tremendously popular,” he says. “The indoor barrier-free aviary/aquarium
is a constant 45 degrees, so it’s one of the coolest places to be in the summer, and one of the warmest in the winter.”

He adds that the zoo will continue to vigorously promote the Penguin and Puffin Coast through this year.

The Flip Side of the Free Ride
The fact that the Saint Louis Zoo “shall be forever free” has, over the years, led it to uncover “challenging and creative ways to earn revenue,” according to Mills. One-third of the zoo’s operating revenue is obtained through property taxes in St. Louis. The other two-thirds comes from earned revenue (foodservice, parking, gift shops) and from two support groups: Zoo Friends and the St. Louis Zoo Foundation. The former includes 40,000 area households that pay $55 annual dues in exchange for a number of benefits, not the least of which is helping their local zoo remain free and updated (as well as a 10 percent discount on food, beverages, and gift shop souvenirs). The latter helps raise large capital gifts for the zoo and was responsible for the $70 million raised from 1994 to 1998.

There are fees (albeit modest ones) for the Zooline Railroad, Sea Lion Show, Children’s Zoo, Insectarium, and zoo parking lots. There are food-service areas and gift shops. The park also offers the Safari Pass, which Mills calls “free-plus,” and which covers all of the paid attractions
at the park for a discounted price.

In May of last year the zoo debuted the Mary Ann Lee Conservation Carousel, which features hand-carved animals modeled after endangered species at the zoo, including an Asian elephant, a poison dart frog, and a polar bear. The project, which cost $1.2 million, was made possible by a contribution by a local philanthropist, as well as numerous local families and businesses. The $2 ride fee goes for conservation projects.

“The carousel was very successful last year,” says Mills. “It raised $400,000 for our conservation budget, in-zoo and in the wild.”

The carousel was designed by Carousel Works of Mansfield, Ohio, which has also made carousels for the Ft. Wayne’s Children’s Zoo and the Toledo Zoo.

Continued Conservation
What’s next for the zoo? A large-scale organization of its conservation activities, Mills says. This month the zoo announced the formation of the WildCare Institute, which will consist of 12 centers or programs of conservation around the world, as well as the 60-plus that the zoo already plays a role in. “This launch along with the significant gift of $20 million from Zoo Friends will allow us to extend our reach and also to focus public awareness around this very important part of our mission,” Mills says.

The zoo bills itself as a conservation organization, not only with the species and habitats it works to protect, but also with the 90-acre metropolitan-located facility that it operates. It works with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Rebuild America program, which recently granted the zoo $31,900 for an extensive energy audit. The entire zoo campus is divided into 16 zones for which staff “landlords” are assigned, who are responsible for monitoring the use of energy within their zones and suggesting possible improvements.

For more than 12 years the zoo has been actively recycling, as well as helping its patrons to do so, with recycling bins around the zoo grounds where visitors can recycle maps, bottles, cans, and paper. Annually the zoo recycles more than 100,000 pounds of cardboard, 20,000 pounds of aluminum and steel cans, three tons of plastic, and, something that zoos never have a shortage of—more than 350 tons of manure.

Mills sums up the Saint Louis Zoo’s work expansively: “From Madagascar, where we are concerned with lemurs, to the Galapagos, where we are fighting to prevent avian disease, to our own Missouri backyard, where we are helping to protect hellbenders (large salamanders), the WildCare Institute demonstrates the leadership role we’ve already been playing. And it makes our story all the more visible.”



Cell-ebrating Orangutans With AAZK
One of the many conservation efforts at the zoo is its work with the American Association of Zookeepers (AAZK), a nonprofit, all-volunteer association for “keepers and other interested persons dedicated to professional animal care and conservation.” AAZK, which has around 2,800 members, provides continuing education for professional animal keepers and opportunities to participate in conservation efforts.

One of these efforts, which began a few months ago, follows the adage “conservation begins at home.” The zoo has started soliciting its guests for unwanted cell phones, with collection points at the zoo’s welcome desks and at both entrances. The phones are given to the Wireless Foundation, which refurbishes the phones and donates them to community programs. In turn, the Wireless Foundation also donates funds to the zoo to help with its Balikpapan Orangutan Society, to help one of the most critically endangered species on earth.

“It’s an easy way to help the environment,” says Terri Hunnicutt, president of the AAZK at the Saint Louis Zoo. “All of the phone parts are recycled, including the mineral coltan, or columbium tantalum, a mineral used in most high-tech equipment. Most of the world’s known coltan supply is in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in central Africa. Illegal mining of coltan is subsidizing rebel fighting, exploiting local people, and endangering indigenous people and wildlife, including elephants and gorillas.” She adds the Democratic Republic of the Congo contains the second-largest rainforest in the world.

Says Hunnicutt, “If we can help the environment, the Congo, the orangutan, and anyone who wants to get rid of an old cell phone, we think it’s time well spent.”