by Michael LelloWeekender Editor
Some of my earliest memories involve animals: Going to the Philadelphia Zoo, the Nay Aug zoo in Scranton or Claws ’N’ Paws in the Poconos. Watching “Nature” and “Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom” on TV. When host Marlin Perkins spun the globe, I couldn’t wait to see where it would land and what animal adventures awaited.
I was attacked by goats and sheep at Claws ’N’ Paws. I was sneezed on by a llama at an amusement park, and last year I got to spend some time with the tigers, then cubs, at Nay Aug when we were working on a cover story about them. People tend to not believe this, but one of them lightly bit my leg.
As a kid I read books about animals. I read books that taught me how to draw animals. I subscribed to Safari Cards, informational cards with a picture of an animal on the front and a bunch of facts on the back; they came with a free jade elephant pendant, which I wore around my neck. We had some family pets, too: a few goldfish, a few hamsters and a parakeet that lived for 10 years. Most recently, I had a rabbit named Zippy that I got in college is a baby that lived for nearly 10 years.
I believe that learning about animals and having a few pets has given me an appreciation and a sense of wonder for all living things, as well as an understanding of the fragility of life and the inevitability of death.
With Disney’s “Earth” opening this week, Jungle Jack Hanna coming to the F.M. Kirby Center and news that the Genesis Wildlife Sanctuary at Nay Aug will close, animals are in the news. That’s a good thing, I think, even if the news isn’t always good. Conservation issues need to be front-of-mind or our children and grandchildren won’t know what polar bears are. PETA will certainly disagree, but even seeing an animal in a zoo or a circus impacts a child. It will be harder for that child to ignore environmental issues or the plight of a local shelter or sanctuary if he fondly remembers seeing wild animals up close. The child will also be less likely to mistreat, abandon or torture an animal — unfortunately, those things do happen. I am not an expert or an activist, but I tend to agree with the assertion that good zoos serve two vital purposes: conservation and education.
Keeping animals is not only a labor of love for zookeepers, it’s also a costly endeavor. That’s what likely spelled the end of Genesis. According to the Associated Press, the center will close and its animals will be moved to a 30-acre facility in Monroe County owned by Margaret Miller, the center’s director. The AP also reported that Genesis, open since 2003, has been cited 17 times by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for noncompliance over a two-year period.
Scranton Mayor Chris Doherty had raised concerns about the city’s ability to continue giving the wildlife center about $50,000 in funding per year.
If the USDA citations are serious and there’s doubt that the animals were being cared for properly at Genesis, then it’s a good thing that it’s closing. But if the closing is strictly a financial issue, that is sad. Even during tough economic times, people manage to find the energy and money to organize and contribute to benefits and causes. In this area alone, there seems to be charity concerts and motorcycle runs almost every week. Very few of them, however, seem to benefit animals, besides an occasional SPCA event.
I can’t figure this out, because I sometimes believe Americans value animal life above human life. It’s part of the reason Michael Vick went to prison and O.J. Simpson didn’t — until he was found guilty of non-related theft.
The problem isn’t only local. The Philadelphia Zoo, America’s first zoo, is phasing out its elephants this summer due to lack of space. The fact that no major corporation decided to step up and attach its name to a new home for the elephants at the zoo is disappointing and confounding. The zoo has had a history of corporate-sponsored exhibits, like the $20 million Big Cat Falls sponsored by Bank of America and opened in 2006. When it debuted, there were gala events and repeated local TV specials — a Philadelphia affiliate even sent reporters to Africa in advance of the exhibit’s opening.
I don’t expect bank officials to show up at Nay Aug waving an oversized check for a few million dollars at the 11th hour, but it would be nice. Maybe Scranton never should have had a zoo in the first place back when Nay Aug opened, and maybe Genesis — not a zoo, a sanctuary that allowed the public to visit — never should have opened. I’m not sure. The questions are difficult and the solutions are not clear.
Regardless, you don’t have to be Dr. Doolittle to realize that animals — animals in the wild and in captivity — are in trouble. They didn’t ask to be hunted to near extinction. They didn’t ask for us to burn down their forests and melt their polar homes. They didn’t ask to be bought and sold as pets, and they didn’t ask to be put in zoos, which for many, is the best-case scenario. Find a way to help, whether it’s a few coins in an SPCA collection bank at a store checkout, joining the World Wildlife Fund or simply learning more about animals and their plights. Don’t wait until they’re gone.
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