Group Appears to Lack Funds for Rare-Animal Zoo

Mark Cartland’s long-held dream was to build a zoo for endangered species in eastern Ventura County.

But it looks as though he will not be able to raise enough money to keep his dream alive.

Cartland’s nonprofit organization, the Endangered Species Zoological Society, has a five-year lease-option for its zoo on 115 acres of county-owned land south of the 118 Freeway between Moorpark and Simi Valley. Its plan was to create a one-of-a-kind animal park with forest, grassland, desert and aquatic habitats to house and breed rare animals, like the Sumatran tiger and white rhinoceros.

Under terms of its lease agreement with the county, Cartland’s group must raise $500,000 by Tuesday. As of Friday, it had somewhere between $100,000 and $200,000, and a large chunk of that is in-kind contributions.

“We’re not even close,” Cartland said.

Although disappointed, the 34-year-old Los Angeles resident is not giving up his dream entirely. He said the zoological society will regroup next month and decide whether to pursue the project elsewhere.

But exactly where or how the rare-animals zoo would be built is anybody’s guess.

“I will certainly have to expand my thinking,” said Cartland, who makes his living as a restaurant manager. “But I’m not discouraged. I’ve always known that it may take several attempts before this actually reaches fruition.”

Blake Boyle, manager of the county’s Parks Department, said his agency was hopeful that Cartland would come up with the money, but acknowledged there was always “a certain level of skepticism.”

“He was plowing new territory,” Boyle said. “That is why we wanted to have certain performance [standards] built into the lease agreement, so we wouldn’t tie up the property for five years.”

Cartland’s group was into the second year of its lease agreement.

So far, Boyle said, no other firms or organizations have expressed interest in leasing the county’s Oak Park property.

County Supervisor Judy Mikels, whose district includes the proposed zoo site, said she also was skeptical.

“I think it’s a great idea,” Mikels said. “I’m just not too sure that was the spot for it. It seems to me if it’s going to be an effective draw to pay for itself, then you need a lot more land, a lot more capital and a more accessible location.”

A former high school teacher, Cartland said he worked at several zoos across the country over the years, including as assistant director of the Trevor Zoo in upstate New York.

Cartland said he decided to take a night job as a Los Angeles restaurant manager so he could devote his days to work on the animal park.

In late 1994, Cartland moved one step closer to realizing that dream when county supervisors granted him a lease option on the Oak Park property, giving him the ability to attract investors.

Saying he wanted to revolutionize the zoo world, Cartland said his park would specialize in exhibiting and breeding rare species. The open-air zoo would also treat visitors to virtual-reality games that would simulate what it’s like to soar like a condor, or run like a cheetah.

Last January, Cartland and his group reported raising more than $250,000 in donations and in-kind contributions necessary to hang onto their lease-option and move forward with a master plan for the project. The $500,000 needed by year’s end is in addition to the amount already raised.

But Cartland said Friday that raising money had become increasingly difficult because of intense competition for donor dollars. He said he found it much easier for well-established institutions to get financial support than it was for a young, unproven entrepreneur like himself.

“When you have something new,” he said, “that’s a trickier proposition.”