The National Zoo’s Summer of Discontent

Visit the National Zoo these days, and the scenes are of summer as usual: A camel blinks slowly in the sun as it lounges on a bed of straw, the giant pandas munch blissfully on bamboo as staff members track a possible pregnancy, and swarms of children in shorts and sneakers crowd in for a glimpse of the seals’ acrobatics. But in recent months, the zoo’s behind-the-scenes activities have been attracting far more attention, much of it unwanted, than its animal stars.

Once among the world’s preeminent zoos, the Smithsonian National Zoological Park -- the zoo’s official name -- is now operating with only provisional accreditation, is the subject of congressional hearings and is grappling with negative publicity resulting from a string of animal deaths. The scrutiny has revealed an aging facility with a shrinking animal collection, the result of inadequate funding and years of neglect.

In January 2000, two of the zoo’s zebras -- malnourished and lacking adequate warmth -- died of hypothermia. Then came the deaths of a number of other animals, including an orangutan, a lion, a seal, a hippopotamus, a white tiger and two giraffes, all attributed by zoo officials to illness, age or injury.

Last January, two red pandas died after rodent poison was placed in their enclosure to deal with a rat problem. On July 4, a fox from neighboring Rock Creek Park wriggled into a bald eagle exhibit, killing a bird that was unable to fly.

Lawmakers wanted answers from the zoo, which is a part of the Smithsonian Institution and receives federal funding -- almost $24 million this year.

In March, the House Administration Committee, which supervises the Smithsonian, held a hearing on the deaths. Later that month, the American Zoo and Aquarium Assn. refused to renew the zoo’s accreditation for the usual five years, giving it a provisional one-year accreditation while problems are reviewed.

The association cited the zoo’s crumbling buildings, miscommunication among management, stagnant animal collection, inadequate federal funding and the administrative inexperience of the zoo’s director, Lucy H. Spelman. She was the zoo’s head veterinarian when she was promoted to the top post in 2000 at the age of 37.

Despite the problems, Spelman is committed to leading the zoo out of its public relations morass and repairing a campus that opened in the late 1800s. “Our vision for the future National Zoo is to restore it to great zoo status,” she told the congressional committee in March.

In her testimony, Spelman acknowledged that human error caused the deaths of the zebras and the red pandas, and told of personnel changes that were made in an effort to eliminate the management gaps that led to those and other deaths. A new position of general curator was created to provide greater oversight of the animal collection, she said, while departments and policy were changed to increase staff communication and accountability.

Based on information gleaned at the hearing, Congress requested an investigation of the zoo by the National Academy of Sciences, which advises the government on scientific issues. A 15-member committee will make unannounced visits to the zoo to “assess the quality and effectiveness of animal management, husbandry, and care,” said the academy’s spokesman, Bill Kearney. The panel will produce an interim report in six months and make final recommendations next summer, he said.

An inventory soon after Spelman became director found nearly one-third of the buildings, some of which are more than 75 years old, to be substandard, including the popular elephant and sloth exhibits.

In January, the Australia exhibit building was razed because of structural weaknesses, and the kangaroos and emus were relocated. The pool for the seals and sea lions was found to leak. Only a handful of exhibits -- including the high-profile giant panda and Amazonia exhibits -- passed muster.

“Many people don’t realize the zoo is over 100 years old,” Spelman said in an interview last week, adding that, in her opinion, the National Zoo should be renovating one of its 25 buildings each year.

“So many zoos ... that were built in the 1800s are dealing with infrastructure problems,” said Jane Ballentine, spokeswoman for the American Zoo and Aquarium Assn. While no other zoo receives federal funding, many have struggled with budget problems, she said. The National Zoo, she noted, is among only 13 of the association’s 176 member zoos that do not charge admission.

The San Diego Zoo’s $100-million yearly budget comes from donations, memberships and a $19.50 adult entry fee, said spokeswoman Christina Simmons. That zoo has launched a $26-million renovation project for its ape house and other areas.

Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo, which also is free, was privatized in 1995 and now receives $5.5 million of its $16-million annual budget from the city, said spokeswoman Kelly McGrath. The rest comes from donations and revenue from concessions and parking fees. It has begun a $125-million capital campaign to renovate several major exhibits.

The Los Angeles Zoo’s $17-million annual operating budget comes from the city, and residents have approved several bond issues raising property taxes to funnel millions toward the zoo’s extensive construction projects, said spokeswoman Lora LaMarca. The L.A. Zoo, which has rebounded from problems similar to those at the National Zoo, charges $9 adult admission.

Spelman is “attempting to do sort of triage” on the National Zoo’s facilities, said Clint Fields, the executive director of Friends of the National Zoo, a nonprofit organization that raises funds and runs programs for the zoo. The necessary upgrades will cost an “enormous amount,” he said.

According to zoo employees, funding has been insufficient.

“Since I was here I’ve seen this place go downhill,” said Bill Xanten, a 15-year veteran who left the zoo in a 1996 buyout and was brought back this year as general curator. “We didn’t get money, we didn’t get staffing. The facility certainly wasn’t given the support it should have been given.”

Running a zoo, Fields said, “is like owning a house. You have to continually pour money into it and upgrade it if it’s going to increase in value.”

Thinly stretched funds also caused personnel shortages.

“We never have enough people,” Xanten said of the staff of 320. He estimates that the zoo needs 20 more animal keepers and several more veterinarians. “We can try to plan ahead, but we’re subject to congressional budget restrictions,” he said.

Those restrictions affect the zoo’s more than 2,800 animals.

“The current collection is less diverse than it was a decade ago, the total number of animals has declined, and many of the zoo’s well-known animals have gotten older,” Spelman told the congressional hearing.

Attendance at the zoo this year is down about 30%, with 1 million visitors so far, Fields said. Last year 2.1 million people visited the zoo. He attributed the drop to several factors unrelated to the media attention, such as this year’s unusually snowy winter and wet spring.

Visitors have begun to return, Spelman said, noting that attendance for July was up 10% over the same period last year.

For a time, zoo staffers found it difficult to assume a positive attitude amid the bad publicity. Yet amid its criticisms, the national association’s report also cited “an atmosphere of optimism, of looking forward to positive change amongst the staff.”

Indeed, Spelman said in the interview, she intends to focus on “bolstering the staff in the area of day-to-day animal care, to make sure animals are the thing that come first.”

Spelman has managed to squeeze more money from Congress during her tenure, Xanten said, with appropriations for capital improvements more than quadrupling, from $4 million in 2000 to $18.7 million this year.

And the Friends of the National Zoo has had no trouble raising funds even as attendance has fallen. The membership group usually contributes more than $5 million a year on top of the federal appropriation, Fields said.

In collaboration with zoo administrators, Spelman has kicked off a 10-year, $250-million improvement project she and others hope will revitalize the park.

The flagship construction project in the planned improvements is the Asia Trail. This winding, multi-animal development will begin at the zoo’s Connecticut Avenue entrance and meander past relocated exhibits featuring sloth bears, fishing cats, red pandas and giant pandas. Groundbreaking is set for early next year, with construction ending in 2005.

By 2007, the elephants will move from their substandard 70-year-old enclosure to a yard along the trail that is several times the size of their space now.

The project, which groups the animals geographically, will upgrade several exhibits. “It’s going to rehabilitate almost a quarter of the zoo,” Xanten said.

He is eager to capitalize on the renewed sense of enthusiasm and bring new animals to the zoo. In his first months as general curator, he has overseen the acquisition of a new zebra and two howler monkeys, along with a variety of rodents and insects. In addition, over the last 18 months, an elephant, a tiger and a gorilla -- all endangered species -- were born.

Zoo officials hope to put recent events behind them and look to the future.

“There are a handful of great zoos in the world; the Smithsonian National Zoological Park -- the National Zoo -- used to be one of them,” Spelman says on the zoo’s Web site in an introduction to the expansion plans.

But, she also says, she is confident that as the National Zoo corrects its problems, it will again be among them.

“What I see is a busy zoo, our public enjoying themselves and our staff working very hard to take the zoo into the future,” Spelman says. “I think the zoo has the potential to really grow and expand in every way.... It’ll be the best.”