For Lisbon Zoo’s Animals, Everything Depends Upon Sugar Daddies

The rich godfather has replaced the lion king at the Lisbon Zoo in a corporate sponsorship program that has converted a run-down facility into a national attraction.

The animals are blessed with some of the most powerful godfathers on earth: The baby giraffe Bajo, for instance, born in January, is being sponsored by Shell Oil Co.

The zoo also has Opel tigers, Sony hippos, Lego penguins and Gorilla jelly bean apes.

Such things are not uncommon at zoos in the United States, but corporate sponsorship is rare in Europe except for the Lisbon Zoo’s trailblazing efforts.

The Lisbon animals are benefiting from a padrinho (godfather) program that started 10 years ago when zoo officials persuaded French clothes manufacturer Bernard Lacoste to sponsor their crocodiles.

“Since the crocodile is the symbol of Lacoste, we thought they might be interested in sponsoring our crocodiles,” said Silvino Gomes, the zoo’s commercial director.

In predominantly Roman Catholic Portugal, godfathers are important figures, second only to parents and responsible for assuring their godchildren are well taken care of.

After their success with Lacoste, Gomes and his colleagues contacted other companies with animal symbols. Today there are 250 padrinhos, whose company logos adorn plaques in front of cages or natural habitats.

The godfather program breathed new life into the Lisbon Zoo. Founded in 1884, the zoo had slumped into a major crisis after Portugal’s African colonies were granted independence in 1974.

“Without the colonies, there were no more free animals from Africa or Asia to count on,” Gomes said. “The situation was deteriorating, there were few animals and the conditions were horrible.”

For a while, the zoo’s sole financial support came from a bingo game center on the premises.

Now corporate sponsors finance exhibits, maintenance, new facilities and vehicles, computers and other equipment for the 70-acre zoo, which employs 250 people and is home to some 2,000 animals of 400 species.

The program even pays for the raising of crickets, grasshoppers and larvae as food for insect-eating animals. And a new veterinary hospital and a play center for children are being built with corporate help.

“We now have a modern zoo--one of the best organized in Europe,” Gomes said.

Animals live in clean cages or areas that re-create their natural habitats. Some cages are heated for tropical animals during the mild Portuguese winters.

Wild ducks, parrots, peacocks and small monkeys wander freely around the zoo, which is on Lisbon’s north side. Monkeys follow the visitors, especially children, hoping to get that extra peanut.

A 1,200-yard cable car takes visitors on a 20-minute aerial view of the zoo and its Dolphin Bay, which has daily shows with dolphins and sea lions.

Since 1990, the zoo has been part of the European Endangered Species Program. The program coordinates information about animals in European zoos, permitting reproduction of endangered species in captivity.

Gomes and his colleagues care for 32 species on the verge of extinction. The birth of Bajo, “the long-legged baby” as they call him, was part of the endangered species program, Gomes said.

The Lisbon Zoo has close ties with the San Diego Zoo, where corporate sponsorship has been a practice for decades.

“It is not unusual [in the United States] for a local corporation to fund a zoo,” Jane Ballentine, director of public affairs for the American Zoo and Aquarium Assn., said in an interview. “A lot of what helps a zoo day in and day out is that local sponsorship.”

In Europe, it remains rare.

Spain, which shares the Iberian Peninsula with Portugal, has only three corporate sponsors at the Madrid Zoo.

French zookeepers are interested in the concept, but face cultural resistance.

“I believe in France there is a problem of mentality,” said Luc Lorca, an official at the Zoo Parc de Bauval, the second largest private zoo in France. “People don’t really care about animal conservation.”

Gomes said his facility is the only zoo in Europe that does not get money from city or national governments.

“And we are doing just fine,” he said. “Our aim is to create the best zoo in Europe.”