Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 15, 1994 TAG: 9403150082
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The director of the Mill Mountain Zoo finally coaxed some cash out of the General Assembly, which included $48,500 for the hilltop menagerie in the budget passed last weekend.
It's not the $97,000 she had asked for, but it's enough to keep some of the zoo's educational and breeding programs going.
"It'll probably just take us a little longer to do it all," Poff said Monday.
It's the first time the zoo has received state funding, though not for lack of trying.
In 1989, the zoo sought $75,000 to help build a pen for Ruby, the zoo's Siberian tiger and fund-raising poster animal. The tiger had been confiscated by the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, and without the genetic credentials for endangered species breeding, had nowhere to go.
Mill Mountain took the cat but couldn't get the state to help pay for her housing.
Historically, Poff said, the legislature hadn't supported zoos, "So we were kind of in there brand new." But then the lawmakers gave some money to the Norfolk zoo for its educational program, apparently beginning to view zoos as more than just private amusement parks, she said.
Mill Mountain's budget this year is $302,000. Most of that comes from visitor fees, concessions and souvenirs. Twenty percent of the zoo's budget comes from membership fees, and another 15 percent comes from corporate donations.
The zoo will use the state money to support its its summer zoo camp and its outreach program, where animals are taken to schools, Scout troops and other groups. Some will also be used to start a Mexican wolf breeding program in cooperation with Explore Park.
When the 1996 General Assembly rolls around and the legislators prepare another two-year budget, it might be easier to get money from the state. "We indeed will be back next time around," Poff said.
The zoo must match the state funding, she said, but added that private money generally comes more easily when contributors know the state is behind a project.
Also, the zoo is going through an accreditation by the American Zoological and Aquarium Association, a professional organization that holds zoos to ethical and humane standards.
"It's like getting the Good Housekeeping seal of approval," Poff said.
The zoo is holding its annual St. Patrick's Day fund-raiser Thursday, from 8 p.m. to midnight, at the Star City Ballroom in the City Market Building. Tickets are $3.
Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1994
by CNB