This past weekend I endeavored to finish a post that has been in draft since the November 10, 2025 Chronicle news article, citing a "Major Shift" in the wake of the Zoo's new leadership. I had also made map graphics of enclosure thoughts that in my opinion would be better for the Zoo moving forward, instead of continuing to chase Pandas. Both have sat here through the Holidays, as I have not felt like diving into Zoo thought deep enough to follow through on either post effort. Instead, I chose to distance myself from Zoo drama, in an effort to maintain inner peace, and hold off til after the New Year, if at all.
I could have worked on that initial post this past weekend, but I chose to work on a draft I've had about the Great Highway since Richmond District (1) Supervisor Connie Chan was reported to still be working against the road closure, even after the November 2024 vote outcome. With the new Sunset District (4) Supervisor Alan Wong, bringing the Great Highway debate back in the news, I decided to do this one first. Wong plans to seek putting reopening the Great Highway back on the ballot, and has to submit the proposal by Tuesday, so that was my goal day. It's Tuesday morning, so the Great Highway thoughts are on the backburner for now. (Update, it's Wednesday now, and Wong was not successful.) For flow purposes I did want the GH post first, and then the Zoo posts to resume, but of course before I could continue on that course, I was alerted to something Sunday evening, that I'm now feeling compelled to address before anything else.
I was sent a link to the most recent post from the Anti-Zoo Activist at SFZoo Watch. I do not follow his site, so unless I'm alerted to something, I don't see it. I initially didn't read it, as I wanted to concentrate and publish my two posts in draft before adding in other potential irritations and additional thoughts. Of course curiosity prevailed, and now I want to react to his latest, titled "76% Want the SF Zoo Reimagined. Attendance Is Down 40%. Losses Near $12M... EcoPark SF lays out a new future for the 100-acre site."
I have written several posts about the Anti-Zoo Activist since he jumped on the bandwagon after the Chronicle started their series of expose articles on the Zoo in April 2024. He and another Close Zoo Zealot, were a constant presence at City meetings and on social media. He has flip-flopped on his position going from wanting the Zoo closed, to saying he wants change to better existing Zoo. At one point even contacting me to join forces with him, when clearly our agenda does not align. Everyone is entitled to express their thoughts, as I do mine, that is not my irk. My real issue started when members of the RecPark Joint Zoo Committee furthered their lack of interest in Our Zoo, and joined forces with not one, but four of these Activists, and compiled a dissected account of every enclosure in the Zoo. Note these Activists only goal is to get Zoos closed, and they seemingly did not talk to any longtime Animal Care Staff about their concerns. This "Report" was not only put forth and used as some kind of grail guideline for all that is wrong (in their opinion?) at Our Zoo, but it gained legs through national media. The bottom line of this document was everything needed to be raised and rebuilt. Yet there was no plan for funding this complete redo. In my opinion, while touting wanting to seek bettering Our Zoo, the underlying goal was to get Our Zoo closed.
So, let's finally dive into this EcoPark SF Fantasy.
My simple reaction to this is first, Who is going to fund this EcoPark? Second, a "Zoo" has been historically grandfathered into the City scape. I do not see the City allowing that land to be used for anything else nature related. I'd more likely bet that they'd wash their hands of it and sell the property off to housing developers. So, I personally do not see a change in this direction.
That said, while I think Our Zoo will remain as the typical "Zoo" model, it's future will depend on more aggressive fundraising, which the Zoo has not seen in the last eighteen years. More on that in another post. With the exception of the 1997 Zoo Bond the City has not shown any interest in It's Zoo since. And in that time, not any Mayor, not the RecPark, or Zoological Society Board, have seriously cared about Our Zoo. It's apparent that none of those entities plan to help deep pocket fund it's rise from the former Director's destruction. So, time will tell what effort new management puts forward and how successful they will be.
While I agree that the Zoo needs a re-imagine of their management model, which could incorporate some some of the ideas presented in this Fantasy, I do not agree with changing the typical model of the "Zoo", for financial reasons, as well as, doing Zoos the right way, isn't a bad thing. While I don't know what the economic structure would be for financially sustaining an EcoPark would be, as of now, I can't imagine there would be more attendance than the current Zoo model is pulling in.
So, bottom line, in my opinion it seems funding fixing Our Zoo, over trying to raise $300+ million to build something new, that does not come with a more successful financial rate, would be the way forward.
Now for some thoughts about the secret survey.
The site's post touts results from, "A new independent poll of 1,000 Bay Area voters showed... "76% want the zoo site re-imagined into something new."
First, Why was this not a public poll? Nobody I know saw it, or was able to participate in it, not Friends, Members, or Zoo Staff. It seems curious to only poll an exclusive group, possibly made-up of more anti-zoo people, and most definitely and more importantly, probably people who don't even go to the Zoo.
So, I question the legitimacy of this survey as well his words in regards to the Audit results. My return to his site to grab the quote, shows it has disappeared from his original published post. He originally noted what the Audit results "identified", in regards to financial and another issue.
I found it curious that he would quote an unreleased Audit, alluding that he had been prematurely privvy to its contents. If so, that seems to be a serious issue with the City's Audit team.
I have been in contact for a couple months with a City source about the Audit, as it will reportedly impact the Panda Plan. I again contacted this source Sunday evening, who replied and maintained that the Audit would not be done until April, when it would be released to public.
I also find it odd that nowhere does he say that this EcoPark SF is his concept. Instead it feels like he's trying to sell it as some kind of official campaign.
His post notes,... "A coalition of local advocates, designers, educators, and former zoo professionals worked together to create a full proposal to transform the 100-acre zoo site into a climate-resilient public ecological park built around restored wetlands, native habitat, wildlife rescue, and hands-on science education."
I'd like to see the names and credentials of this design team. Not because I don't believe this notation, but I am skeptical of bias, as the author and the first noted in the coalition are Advocates, which in my opinion if they are advocating for closing the Zoo, they are Activists. Some may not think there's a difference, I do. Remember the Joint Zoo Commission Report.
Additionally, another media outlet has picked this up and reported it in such a way that makes it sounds like legitimate news, rather than some member of the public's fantasy.
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"Personal Opinions and Facts presented publicly are Not against the law or any rules. ... Censorship and Retaliation Actions in an attempt at Suppression are frowned upon by Healthy Societies."
For Full Statement see this post:
https://iamnotananteater.blogspot.com/2018/09/my-zoo-status.html
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I used to use (search) labels, but too often forget. I started noting "Hot Topic" in title, but fell lax on that. Now I'm just going to add labels, keywords, etc., here at the bottom with hashtags. Does it help in searches, who knows.
#SanFrancisco , #SanFranciscoZoo , #Zoos #SanFranciscoZoologicalSociety , #SanFranciscoZooDirectorTanyaPeterson , #SanFranciscoRecreationAndParksDept , #SanFranciscoMayorLondonBreed ,
#SanFranciscoMayorDanielLurie
#AssociationOfZoosAndAquariums , #AZA , #SpeciesSurvivalPlan , #SSP , #Animals , #Wildlife , #Nature , #AnimalWelfare , #AnimalCruelty , #AndeanBear , #KomodoDragon , #Chimpanzees , #PatasMonkey , #Fossa , #Orangutans , #Barriers , #PerimeterFence, #Pandas #Bison
