With budget talks looming, Jackson city leaders say it’s time to make some tough decisions about the future of the Jackson Zoological Park. Records obtained by 3 On Your Side show attendance and revenue for the park continue to freefall, two years after one councilman suggested closing the park to cover unforeseen expenses elsewhere in the city. Meanwhile, the zoo has racked up millions of dollars in unpaid water bills, largely due to a leak in the moat surrounding the chimpanzee exhibit. It’s unclear if that leak has been fixed. As for attendance figures, documents show 8,618 people have visited the park so far, this fiscal year, about 2,400 fewer than visited the park during the same time in the previous year. Revenue also is down. Through the end of July, the park brought in just $34,352.83, compared to $40,023 through July 21 of last year. ArticleHow bad are the numbers? Check them out below.
Ward Two Councilwoman Tina Clay doesn’t support moving the zoo or shutting it down, and believes its best days are ahead, but agrees more funding is needed. “Leave the zoo where it is. Work on the zoo. Reach out to resources to help bring people in,” she said. “The zoo looks no worse than the Hattiesburg Zoo did 20 years ago and look at [the Hattiesburg Zoo] now.” She says the park likely can’t rely solely on city funds to support it and needs to look at other sources of funding to help support it and build it up.... Council Vice President Vernon Hartley, who represents that ward, has been a vocal opponent of moving or closing the park, saying in 2023 that the idea to defund it was a “knee-jerk reaction” to a budget shortfall. “We have to figure out what we’re going to do, and again, my goal is ... not [to] leave an empty space,” he said. “Don’t leave an empty space for bad things to happen.”The discussion over whether to move or close the zoo may be moot in a few years as the collection continues to shrink:
In all, the zoo has 118 total animals, down from 338 reported by Jackson Jambalaya in 2018. Empty and overgrown exhibits dot the park’s landscape. At least five or six bird enclosures outside the aquatics building are empty.
Kingfish note: The city does not have the money to expand the collection nor is anyone visiting the zoo. A 2016 study reported the Jackson Zoological Society could not get donations until the zoo was moved to a better location. As the inventory grows smaller, the question may resolve itself.
29 comments:
You could bring in The Tiger King and Carol Baskin for a faceoff and my white @ss isn't going down there. It's just not worth it. I don't think you'll change many other people's opinions either.
Congrats Ward 7. Parkinson is your new zero! While you're paying Virgi and Blount's stupid CID taxes Parkinson will vote to dilute that value add by siphoning off other ad val supported general funds into the red-ink gulping Zoo. You losers in Belhaven always amaze!
“The zoo looks no worse than the Hattiesburg Zoo did 20 years ago and look at [the Hattiesburg Zoo] now.”
Is she delusional?
The Hattiesburg Zoo is a gem and has gotten better over time because the city and citizens support it.
Jackson can’t even keep their water on of roads from falling apart.
She’s an idiot.
Just close it and be done with this debacle. Jackson can’t help it, they don’t know any better.
If these numbers are correct, the average visitor spent $3.98 per person to visit the zoo. Too many free visits? No one buys food or beverages or rides the train?
Just for shats and giggles, what was the revenue 10 years ago, 15, 20, 40, 60...gauged for inflation?
That zoo used to be a destination venue with people driving in from hundreds of miles away for a vacation weekend.
Makes zero sense to keep it open and pretend things will get better.
This is why elections matter. Stop electing fools who do not understand reality.
The Jackson Zoo owes millions in...water bills...because of...a leaky moat. And no one knows if the leak is fixed. Meanwhile, over in federal court...
Speaks volumes. Literally.
I had my childs birthday party at the zoo in the 80’s….it was very nice then
Everybody see’s the hand writing on the wall…they just don’t think it’s for them.
Jackson cannot afford a zoo and it’s not worth risking your life in a war zone to go there! Black or White…..write that down City Council
The Hattiesburg Zoo is not run by the
city.
Awhile back wasn't there volunteers
cleaning up the zoo. That's zoo workers
job. What do they spend their budget on? The city council should want to
know.
I haven't been back to the zoo since like earth day 2018 when my kid was still little. Even then the Zoo was in sad shape.
Haven’t been since what they did to Beth. We regularly volunteered for Zoo Brew and other fundraisers and haven’t been back since.
"The Hattiesburg Zoo is not run by the city."
Neither is the Jackson Zoo...didn't you read all that stuff up at the top?
Actually it is and has been since 2020.
A zoo is a luxury that a city struggling with basic human services (water, trash pickup, schools, roads) can't afford. Close it. Today.
You're literally on the blog of a man who was on the board of the Jackson Zoological Society. He'll he was the one who broke news about misuse of funds due to Jackson not fixing water leaks. And was taken over by the city. Please use the search bar.
Close the flipping zoo, now!
Give it to the state and move it to the LeFlure's Bluff and let the state take over and enhance that are even more.
Animals disappearing, eh? Hmmm, antelopes, birds, and such ??
"Actually it is and has been since 2020."
Um, King..."run" being the operative word. In this case, I'd argue that if "run" means "operated by," it implies at least the tiniest amount of operational competence. Hence, "see above." Now, if we want to tack "into the ground" onto that word as far as the Jackson Zoo and turn it into a phrase, I'd readily agree.
I remember when going to the zoo was fabulous. Of course that was decades ago. Can we get the Las Vegas odds on getting shot in the Jackson Zoo vicinity vs the Hattiesburg zoo?
What they did to Beth? She was misusing bond funds for years, filing false reports to the state. The truth is, the zoo was in trouble long before she got fired. WHen it was caught, the Zoo was literally dead broke. DIdn't even have $500 in its account. Employees hadn't been paid. If she had just sounded the alarm a few years earlier instead of shuffling bond funds around, then it could have been better handled before the zo went totally broke.
(In all, the zoo has 118 total animals, down from 338 reported by Jackson Jambalaya in 2018)
Good Lord.
Seems I have 57 cottontail rabbits, 100 raccoons, 169 Possum's, many deer
in December ... along with one highly pissed off and clever armadillo year round.
And I don't charge anyone to watch the lil' critters.
The city needs to pay it's water bill. But
they are known to not pay their bills.
"...Please use the search bar."
Yes sir/ma'amI If I may suggest, lighten up, Francis (see what I did there?).
I was (literally) making a point. The city is NOT "running" the zoo (unless we want to append "into the ground") even it has the responsibility to do so. Again, I'll offer the "leaky moat" as evidence. What it is doing is failing to live up to yet another legal/charter responsibility.
+1,000,000
It literally is. All the employees at the zoo are city employees now.
"A 2016 study reported the Jackson Zoological Society could not get donations until the zoo was moved to a better location."
Common sense says the Jackson Zoological Society could not get visitors until the zoo was moved to a better location.
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