Zoo May Close, Euthanize Animals; Budget Cuts Threaten Boston Zoo

The BostonChannel ^ | July 11, 2009 | staff reporter

[Daffynition]

BOSTON -- The Franklin Park Zoo, the only Boston institution of its kind, may be forced to close and euthanize some of its animals, zoo officials said Friday.

Without more state funding, zoo officials said that they will run out of money within months and have to close both Franklin Park and the Stone Zoo in Stoneham.

The zoos would be forced to lay off most of their 165 employees and attempt to find new homes for more than 1,000 animals.

Zoo officials estimated 20 percent of the animals would not find homes and could be euthanized.

“Not all the animals in the collection will be able to be placed at other facilities,” John Linehan, zoo president, wrote in a letter to the Massachusetts Legislature. “The Commonwealth would then be forced to either continue to maintain the animals in the closed facilities or euthanize them.”

The Legislature had originally provided $6.5 million to the zoos, but Gov. Deval Patrick cut the state funding to $2.5 million.

“These are extremely difficult times across the state, and there have been tough cuts in every area,” a Patrick spokeswoman, Cyndi Roy, said in a statement. “This is an example of an unfortunate cut that had to be made in order to preserve core services for families struggling during the economic downturn.”

The Franklin Park Zoo was founded in 1913. It is funded by state money, private donations and revenue from the attractions.

[Daffynition]

Go artificial .... and charge people anyway.

[Ghost of Philip Marlowe]

If they're going to kill them anyway, why don't they just take like 20% of them, kill them, butcher them, and auction them off to exotic-food eaters?

The proceeds may actually save the zoo and the other 80% of the other animals.

Oh, but wait. That may lead them to continue this practice. And that would be like farming, which would be capitalizing on their assets.

No. Better just kill them all and bury them. That's the socialist way.

[Texas Eagle]

How’s that hope and change working out for you, Mr. Giraffe?

[NaughtiusMaximus]

Don’t euthanize the animals.

Get some Texas millionaires together and buy the zoo for your hometown. Reserve a couple of cages in the monkey house for a display of East Coast liberals.

[Daffynition]

This is just a bunch of posturing, I suspect they hope to garner enough public sympathy and outrage to have a last-minute reprieve.

[LA Woman3]

PETA is not going to be happy!

[Daffynition]

Ya mean we can't have our pie 'n eat it too? Gosh darn.

[9YearLurker]

Maybe this is the tactic MA towns need to get their education overrides passed: pay more taxes for our schools or we’ll have to euthanize our cheerleaders and football team!

[rusureitflies?]

Freeze dry and wait or stuff em, waterproof em, and sell them for garden art...

[EggsAckley]

Ah, .......the “firemen first” trick again.

[Texas Eagle]

"Hmmmm...I'd say we taste a lot like chicken."

[Richard Kimball]

The old National Lampoon gambit, huh?

[kenth]

The Legislature had originally provided $6.5 million to the zoos, but Gov. Deval Patrick cut the state funding to $2.5 million.

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Headline: REPUBLICAN GOVERNOR STARVES HELPLESS ANIMALS!

Oh, sorry, he’s a democrat. Never mind.

[Daffynition]

Brilliant perception! Just BRILLIANT! HAHAHA!

[Daffynition]

MMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..........chicken.

[TexasNative2000]

You beat me to it. That was my first thought, as well.

[Delta 21]

Just let 'em go in my neck of the woods so I can hunt them down, kill them, butcher and process the kill and then eat them.

[Texas Eagle]

"How's that hope and change working out for me? Here's how it's working out for me you *&!@*ing **!!@@$$ ***-&^%^ $%#@$( &@#$@$#-face &*^#%$-hole."

[Daffynition]

Just let them out at Kenmore Sq. I doubt if anyone would notice.

[tanknetter]

The old National Lampoon gambit, huh?

Yup. Reminds me of the mid 1990s when the GOP, having taken control of Congress, was proposing cutting funding for PBS. The PBS set responded by threatening to shut down Sesame Street and blame Republicans for killing Big Bird.

It was really scary how many idiots fell for it. I was in a Cap Hill bar one evening and two vapid Liberal Congressional staffers were whining about it. I cut in to their conversation and pointed out that Sesame Street, with all its associated licensing and spin-offs, was/is a MAJOR revenue stream and profit center for PBS. They didn't really like me doing the emperor has no clothes routine, and especially asking them to explain why PBS would kill a show that actually MAKES MONEY FOR THEM.