Zoo of the Future : Facility Proposed for County Would Focus on Breeding of Endangered Species

On the rolling hills between Moorpark and Simi Valley, Mark Cartland wants to build a new kind of zoo.

He envisions a place far different from the holding pens that some people see as the last sad refuges for animals slipping into extinction.

At the zoo he hopes to build in Ventura County, all the animals would be endangered species. But instead of waiting for them to die off, keepers would work to save them, breeding them to increase their number and working to save their native habitats.

For Cartland, the idea is more than just a pipe dream. At the end of last year, the Board of Supervisors agreed to give him a five-year lease option on a 115-acre parcel, and he has already started to raise money for the zoo, which would be Ventura County’s first.

Some of the work he describes for the planned “Endangered Species Ecological Park” has, for the last two decades, occurred at zoos across the country. Those zoos have spent millions of dollars trying to breed rare species and protect their habitats in a coordinated effort called the Species Survival Plan.

At great expense and with intense study, places such as the San Diego Zoo, the National Zoo in Washington, D. C., the Bronx Zoo in New York and the Los Angeles Zoo have set up programs to breed endangered species in captivity.

In a few cases these species have been reintroduced into the wild, said Michael Hutchins, director of the American Zoo and Aquarium Assn., which represents more than 150 zoos across the nation working to save about 200 species.

“This is certainly not a panacea for extinction,” Hutchins said.

Breeding endangered species is still a new science, and because each species is different, workers face a completely new set of problems with each case, Hutchins said.

But Cartland said he wants the zoo he is proposing to focus solely on that kind of work.

“Our goal is to be the first eco-park dedicated entirely to the preservation and propagation of endangered species,” he said.

The 33-year-old former high school science teacher lives in Los Angeles and worked for several years at zoos across the country, including serving as an assistant director of the Trevor Zoo in Upstate New York.

Now, he says he wants to revolutionize the zoo world.

“This would be a totally new type of zoological park,” he said. “The current model worked for the last 50 to 100 years. Ours would be for the next 50 to 100.”

As an example of the work the zoo would do, Cartland points to a few small successes where zoos have been instrumental in helping to stave off an extinction.

The last remaining wild California condor, for instance, was captured in Ventura County in 1987 and became part of a brood of 27 condors held in the Los Angeles and San Diego zoos. The birds were bred with the intent that they would eventually be returned to the wild, and in 1992 two of the giant vultures were released into the Sespe Wilderness area of Ventura County.

In that program, some of the vultures died after encounters with utility poles and other hazards, and others had to be moved to more remote areas.

But today, with the help of the two zoos, six of the birds are in the wilds of Los Padres National Forest in Santa Barbara County and nearly 80 of the condors are in captivity.

Cartland wants to take that example one step further.

His 115-acre “eco-park” would house only endangered species. It would focus on breeding and reintroducing endangered species to the wild, and become a force, he said, in educating people about species extinction around the world.

Visitors would be treated to virtual-reality games that would simulate what it’s like to soar like a condor, or run like a cheetah. And along with information on the plight of the habitat of these rare species, people could learn about pending legislation and organizations seeking to save the threatened habitats of the animals.

“Simply educating people is not enough,” he said. “Once you capture their interest, you must give people an avenue to do something constructive.”

With that in mind, visitors will be encouraged to send electronic mail from the park to political leaders around the world, Cartland said.

His ambitious plans call for building four “eco-zones” to match forest, grassland, desert and aquatic habitats. The animals, including such rare species as the golden lion tamarin, the Sumatran tiger, the cheetah and the white rhinoceros, would be grouped in large enclosed areas and be able to roam freely. Predators and prey would be separated, but many of the large fields and enclosures would be open for people to enter into, he said.

The lease-option agreement the county awarded Cartland would give him use of the county’s Oak Park. Cartland said he hopes the lease provides enough time to raise the estimated $3.75 million he will need just to get started. As part of the lease agreement, Cartland and his nonprofit Endangered Species Zoological Society must raise $250,000 this year.

Raising enough money is only the first big challenge for Cartland. As many zoos across the country have learned, propagating endangered species and trying to bring them back from the brink of extinction is fraught with difficulties.

“That’s the sad part of working in zoos today,” said Jeff Jouett, a spokesman for the San Diego Zoo’s Center for the Reproduction of Endangered Species.

“The depressing side of working in zoos today is that you realize the sad progression of environmental destruction makes (saving species) an impossible task,” Jouett said. “Zoos cannot save all endangered species. We can hardly even make a dent.”

More than 150 zoos across the country are working to breed endangered species, but Jouett said the 200 or so species they are working to save amount to only a small fraction of the thousands of species around the world facing possible extinction.

While Jouett said Cartland’s efforts would be welcome, he said Cartland should temper his promise for what his new zoo might be able to accomplish.

Hutchins, of the zoo and aquarium association, agreed.

“If this is going to be part of our collective programs, with active scientific study and the funds raised (going) back into saving species and protecting habitats, we certainly would welcome him,” he said. “We need all the help we can get.”