Superintendent Brings Positive Changes to Zoo : Accreditation, Upgraded Animal Collection Improve Reputation of Santa Ana Facility

Santa Ana Zoo superintendent Claudia Collier visited the city’s zoo for the first time in the early 1970s while working as a keeper at the Los Angeles Zoo. She was not impressed.

Then known as Prentice Park Zoo--named for millionaire orange grower Joseph E. Prentice, who deeded the land for a zoo and park to Santa Ana in 1952--the two-acre zoo, sandwiched between the Santa Ana Freeway and the Saddleback Inn on 1st Street, was virtually unknown in zoological circles.

Collier recalls that there was no admission charge to the tiny zoo, which lacked a perimeter fence and that its animal exhibits--heavy on concrete and chain-link fencing--did nothing to enhance a visitor’s appreciation of the animals.

Although other zoos had begun concentrating on acquiring rare or endangered species, the Santa Ana Zoo’s animal collection was, Collier said, “real haphazard”--mostly whatever other zoos or private individuals had donated: deer, a couple of bears, coyotes, fox and other small animals. There also were a lot of birds and, of course, monkeys, thanks to a stipulation in Prentice’s donation that at least 50 monkeys must be maintained at the zoo at all times.

Collier did not return to the zoo until 1981, when she was applying for the post of zoo superintendent. And although a perimeter fence had been installed and plans were under way for a new entrance, she was dismayed to discover that not much had changed.

“I thought twice about taking the job, and I don’t want that to be a reflection of the staff,” she said. “They did the best they could with the resources and support they had.”

By that time, however, the City of Santa Ana had made a strong commitment to upgrading its zoo--it was renamed the Santa Ana Zoo in 1979--and city officials were searching for a formally educated, experienced professional who could provide the leadership needed to guide the small zoo in the future.

Collier, who had a degree in anthropology with an emphasis on primates, and who had by then been promoted to a senior keeper at the Los Angeles Zoo, not only met the qualifications but was eager for a new career challenge.

Still, she candidly admits, “I was insecure about my own capabilities. Moving from being a senior keeper to zoo director--that’s a big step, and I wasn’t sure I could make a difference.”

Five years after her hiring as superintendent of the Santa Ana Zoo, however, city officials and zoo observers say Collier has made a distinct difference. Under her leadership, the zoo has:

- Upgraded its animal collection. Collier reduced the number of animals from about 500 to 300 by selling or donating many ordinary birds and animals and focusing more on the unusual. Gone, for example, are the commonplace budgies, finches and ring-necked doves. “Why exhibit budgies when we can exhibit turquoise parrots?” she says.

She also pared down the duplicate exhibits of capuchin monkeys--common South American monkeys--and brought in more rare primates such as golden-lion tamarins, lion-tail macaques, Diana monkeys and red-backed squirrel monkeys, an endangered sub-species from Central America.

- Renovated the animal exhibits, an ongoing project in which the sterile, man-made animal habitats are being made to look more natural, with logs, plants and rocks.

- Hired a curator of education and started an educational program that includes tours for schoolchildren, a Summer Zoo Camp program for youngsters and a revamped “zoomobile” that visits schools, libraries and convalescent hospitals. “Five years ago,” she said, “our education programs were practically nonexistent.”

- Built a 150-seat amphitheater that is used for the educational programs, tour orientations and the Zoo Camp program.

- Instituted a food concession program and an elephant ride, which Collier calls “a little something else the zoo visitor can do while here.”

But what Collier views as her--and her 10 full-time staff members’--biggest accomplishment came last year when the Santa Ana Zoo received accreditation by the American Assn. of Zoological Parks and Aquariums, an honor that recognizes a zoo’s high standards of animal care and management. Accreditation has been given to only 97 out of an estimated 500 zoos nationwide.

Increases Credibility

“I’m really proud of that; the staff here worked real hard on it, and we got the support of the city,” Collier said. “I think it (accreditation) increases our credibility in the zoo world and in the community.”

By all accounts, Collier scores high marks after five years on the job. Said Allen Doby, executive director of Santa Ana’s Recreation and Community Services Agency and the man who hired her: “She’s excellent.

“She has done a tremendous job in solving some of the many problems that existed at the zoo, and she’s brought a tremendous amount of professionalism to our zoo and staff,” he said. Over the past five years, the image of the Santa Ana Zoo “has improved immensely,” Doby said. “Also, the revenue and attendance has increased.”

“I’m real pleased,” observed Collier, seated in her small office in an old house on the zoo grounds that serves as zoo headquarters. “When I came here I kind of gave myself five years. Those were my goals: five years and accreditation. But I continue to see new challenges and continued support from the city.”

Monkeys, of course, always have and always will be a major part of the Santa Ana Zoo.

Concentrate on Monkeys

Because of Joseph E. Prentice’s proviso that the number of monkeys at the zoo never fall below 50, Collier said, “we have tried to concentrate on that, and I think for a small zoo we really have an outstanding primate collection.”

Among the future plans for the zoo are a gift shop and Monkey Island, a half-million-dollar water-moated exhibit with colobus monkeys from Central Africa, which will be built on the lawn near the zoo entrance.

Collier said she and a city committee are working on a master plan for the future development of the zoo, which has grown to eight acres and has another 12 acres still available for expansion. She maintains, however, that “a good zoo” does not mean only “a large zoo. Small can be quality.”

Despite the Santa Ana Zoo’s increased profile over the past five years--and a corresponding increase in attendance from 167,000 in 1980-81 to 215,000 in 1985-86--Collier is the first to admit that many of her colleagues from other zoos have yet to stop by for a visit.

In fact, she acknowledged, many Orange County residents still remain unaware of the zoo’s existence, and others, who visited the zoo years ago, are not aware of its recent rejuvenation.

Doesn’t Take Animals

To help spread the word, Collier often does slide presentations for service clubs and other community groups. But, she notes with a laugh, “I do not take an animal with me when I go out to speak.”

Although the Santa Ana Zoo lies in the shadow of two major zoos--San Diego and Los Angeles--Collier believes that it’s important for Orange County to have its own zoo.

“We have a tremendous population here--2 million people in Orange County,” said Collier, who lives in Irvine. “People can come to the zoo and spend a few enjoyable hours, and it doesn’t cost them an arm and a leg.” (Admission is $1 for adults and 50 cents for senior citizens and children ages 3 to 12).

As she sits in her office surrounded by jungle-animal wallpaper and wild animal photographs and drinks coffee out of a mug decorated with cartoon jungle animals, it seems only natural to assume that Collier, 40, is a lifelong animal fanatic whose childhood dream of running a zoo has come true.

When asked if that description fits, however, Collier grins and shakes her head.

As a child growing up in Highland Park, she said, her family had rabbits, chickens and, always, a dog. But, she said, “I was never one to rescue baby birds.”

Started as Volunteer

Collier’s career plans changed in 1966 after her mother talked her into accompanying her to the Los Angeles Zoo to attend a training session for volunteers.

“It was just a fascinating new world and I just loved it,” Collier said, noting that although she was dismayed to see zookeepers “on their hands and knees cleaning up animal feces, I wanted to work at the zoo almost right away.”

Collier, whose mother is now docent chairman at the Los Angeles Zoo, spent two years as a zoo volunteer, quitting college after being hired as a full-time keeper in the children’s zoo nursery. “That’s the only place they let women work in those days,” she said.

In 1972 she was hired to work in the main zoo as a keeper, working with animals in the North American and Australian sections and later the South American and Asian sections. By then she had returned to college part time at night and earned her bachelor’s degree in anthropology at Cal State Northridge.

Misses Working With Animals

Although she says it has been a while since she has put on her “grubbies” and cleaned out an animal exhibit, she acknowledged that “sometimes I really miss it. Being around the animals, getting to know the animals and that intimate contact with them is something I miss. And just getting away from the phone, getting out of the office and just plain hard work.”

At times, she finds that a stroll through the grounds can be rejuvenating.

“One of my resolutions is to do that more,” she said. “I often will walk through the grounds in the evening after everyone has left. And I love the zoo at night. The animals behave differently. It’s kind of like the end of their day too.”