Quote:
Originally Posted by austlar1
Here is a link to a real zoo in a similar sized Texas city. The reason Fort Worth has such an excellent zoo (and other cultural amenities) is the fact that there is real patronage from heavy hitters in the community to make these places happen. Austin is so behind the curve when it comes to this sort of thing.
http://www.fortworthzoo.org/plan-a-visit/zoo-map/
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I would love to see something like that here, but good or bad, Austin seems to attract and harbor people with negative feelings toward zoos, circuses with animal acts, even pet stores that sell puppies, case in point, Petland in South Austin of which was effectively shut down by constant harassment by protesters and help from the City of Austin. I'll qualify my last point by saying I managed the Petland in Georgetown a few years ago and knew the owners at the Southpark location.
I'm not sure this is interferring with any plans for Austin to get a decent zoo, but I do know our current zoo is getting a muligan due to the fact that they only take in injured, orphanned, or abandoned animals. Most of the support they get is in the form of food donations, fans and heat lamps, and vet care, necessities to to keep the animals healthy and alive and reasonably comfortable, not so much for human enemities.
With all the 'riches' rolling into Austin, none of it ever seems to make it to the things I think we deserve, world class museums, aquarium, planetarium, zoo, amusement park, ect...
but we do have COTA...