Birmingham Zoo
The Birmingham Zoo is a major zoological park founded in 1950. The 50 acre site is home to approximately 750 animals of 250 species including many endangered species from six continents. The facility, which is managed by a private non-profit corporation, participates heavily in Species Survival Programs. It is located, along with the Botanical Gardens, in Lane Park near the western terminus of Highway 280 at Highway 31 on the southern slope of Red Mountain.
Early History
The origins of the Birmingham Zoo start with a small menagerie of exotic animals kept in a Southside firehouse. As the collection grew it was moved first to Magnolia Park (now Brother Bryan Park) and then to Avondale Park. At the time, the collection consisted mainly of non-exotic animals, except for "Miss Fancy," a lone elephant donated by the Birmingham Advertising Club which had purchased it as a promotional novelty from a struggling circus stranded in the city.
As the collection grew in size and scope, city leaders contacted the Olmsted Brothers landscape architecture firm, which had drawn up plans for a system of parks in Birmingham, for advice about housing a zoological collection. They were put in contact with the few municipal zoos existing in that period and plans began for providing a new permanent home for the growing attraction.
Land purchase
Birmingham, under mayor A. O. Lane, had purchased land on the south of Red Mountain between 1889 and 1896. The former Red Mountain Cemetery, a pauper's cemetery was part of the parcel that was dedicated as a city park in 1934. The Works Progress Administration built a fish hatchery and a number of pavilions from the Hartselle sandstone quarried out of the mountain within the park's borders. The hatchery was fed by a natural spring and provided stock for recreational lakes in the region until the zoo took over the park.
The first source of post-war support for a new zoo came from the Birmingham Junior Chamber of Commerce (Jaycees). In 1946 Elton B. Stephens chaired a Jaycees committee to create a new zoo for the city of Birmingham. In 1949, then Birmingham mayor, James R. Morgan, a key supporter of the development, began an initiative to help in the planning and development of a city zoo.
A zoo commission was also established, and it decided to build the zoo on 50 acres of land on the southern foot of Red Mountain with a budget of $250,000. A much larger parcel of land that included the zoo parcel was incorporated into the City of Birmingham and was named Lane Park, home of the zoo as well as the neighboring botancial gardens.
Jimmy Morgan Zoo
The $250,000 budget would be spent to build six exhibits with the opening of the zoo that included "Monkey Island," an elephant house, bear moat, birdhouse, snake pit and seal pool. The funds were raised through private donations, charter memberships, and in-kind donations from a broad base of community and business supporters.
The zoo, now known as the Jimmy Morgan Zoo, opened its doors with Monkey Island as its first official exhibit on April 2, 1955. The Zoo operated as a quasi-private venture until the City of Birmingham decided to assume responsibility in November of that year. The city changed the name to the Birmingham Zoo, and set an annual budget of $663,000 for its first year under city control.
By the early 1960s the Birmingham Zoological Society was created by the Birmingham City Council to raise funds to supplement the escalating operational neccessities. Beginning in the 1960s and following decades, the City of Birmingham had many needs more important than the Birmingham Zoo. The sources of funding for the zoo was inadequate to maintain and operate it at acceptable professional standards. A series of master plans were developed but never came to fruition due to lack of funding throughout the 1970s and 80s. The need for significant improvements became increasingly evident by the 1990s.
The numerous financial demands on the city taking precedence, and no leadership for zoological society when it was needed, led to the zoo's loss of accreditation by the American Zoo and Aquarium Association in the late 1990s due to the poor condition of many facilities.
In 1999, Birmingham mayor Richard Arrington led the way for privatization of the zoo, recruiting community leaders to serve as the first board of directors of a new organization, Birmingham Zoo, Inc. (BZI) The new organization established a transitional funding package with contributions from four government entities to support BZI during its first five years of operation.
Today
BZI undertook an intense 18-month effort to address the most pressing and immediate problems so that the zoo could become accredited by the AZA once again, ranking the Zoo in the top 10% of animal holding facilities in the nation. The Zoo also received 501(c)(3) status from the IRS, and the first major capital campaign was launched in January 2001.
William R. Foster, DVM, joined the Zoo as Chief Executive Officer in January 2004. Foster, a veterinarian and leading zoo management authority on the national scene, is president-elect of the American Zoo and Aquarium Association and was president and executive director of the Louisville Zoo.
In the short time following this privatization, the Birmingham Zoo has hosted traveling exhibits of bats, koalas and black-footed penguins, added permanent exhibits of a Komodo dragon and interactive lorikeet aviary, and regained AZA accreditation. The Zoo completed the Junior League of Birmingham - Hugh Kaul Children's Zoo, a $15 million anchor exhibit dedicated to children and devoted to urban, rural and wild animals and environs of Alabama in April 2005, its 50th anniversary of operation.
The zoo drew 449,807 visitors in 2005, compared with a low of 296,102 in 1998 and a record of 505,045 in 1989.
Attractions/Exhibits
- Alabama Barn
- Alligator Swamp
- Bird Aviary
- Bison
- Butterfly Encounter (Late spring through early fall)
- Elephant House
- Flamingo Lagoon
- Children’s Zoo
- Komodo Dragon
- Lorikeet house
- Monkey]] Island
- Predator building
- The Savannah
- Waterfowl Ponds
References
- "Birmingham Zoo." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 9 May 2006, 13:57 UTC. 9 May 2006, 14:17 [1].
- HIckerson, Patrick. (May 9, 2006) "City zoo on upswing; tops list of tourist draws". Birmingham News.