Bronx Zoo to close three animal exhibits

By Kevin Deutsch and Kate Pastor

The Bronx Zoo's World of Darkness, a popular area of the zoo housing bats, sugar gliders, porcupines, and skunks along with other crowd favorites like night monkeys, will be among the areas closed in the next two months due to a $15 million budget shortfall.

Also being phased out: the zoo's Rare Animal Range, home to animals like Formosan deer and guanaco (a type of llama), as well as a third area that houses oryx and blesbok in the southeast corner of the zoo.

"It's very disturbing. I know that in the state budget we did right by them. I guess the city's cutting them, I'd assume," said Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz.

After a proposed funding cut for living museums across the state - from $9 million to $4 million in 2009 and the elimination of funding in 2010 - legislators restored the 2009 funding on Feb. 3. Still, the city cut zoo funding by $1.7 million and donations and other government cuts account for more than $13 million in losses.

Some animals in the affected exhibits will be moved to other parts of the zoo, while others will be shipped to accredited zoos with the highest of standards for animal care, zoo officials said. In deciding which areas to close, maintenance costs and popularity were taken into account, they said.

It's not clear yet whether the zoo will keep some bats on the property once World of Darkness closes.

"It's awful, it's just awful. I mean they're shipping animals to other places? That's terrible," said Mr. Dinowitz.

As some animals fly the coop, new ones will take their place. The zoo will soon open exhibits with hyenas and aardvarks, as well as a Children's Safari.