Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 11, 1995 TAG: 9506150001
SECTION: EDITORIALS PAGE: D-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARGIE FISHER EDITORIAL WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The North Carolina Zoo at Asheboro is one of the best in the country - second only, some say, to the San Diego Zoo in California.
Even with the current route - a curvy U.S. 220 that takes you through downtown Greensboro - it's worth the trip to see the hundreds of species of animals, birds and plants in the natural-habitat park that now, with the opening of the 200-acre North America ``continent'' last year, includes a climate-correct desert, prairie, swamp and Arctic region.
Visiting the zoo recently, my granchildren and I started in Africa, the 300-acre "continent" completed in 1984. Suddenly to see giraffes reaching up to eat the leaves off tall trees, to watch ostriches strut their stuff, and to walk among leopards, zebras, baboons, chimpanzees, crocodiles and rhinos brought squeals of delight. (Mine - but the grandkids enjoyed it, too.)
I intended it as an educational experience for the children, of course. (``Where does a 400-pound gorilla sleep?'' ``Any ol' place he wants to, kiddo.'') I hadn't reckoned on them finding it more entertaining than ``The Lion King,'' but they said it was. Their favorite exhibit, and mine, was the Arctic world re-creation with its pools for sea lions, seals and polar bears.
At these facilities, you can look down at these aqua-bats, or you can go underground and see them up close in their playgrounds. Be prepared to stay awhile. These guys are underwater vaudevillians; they take seriously their job of hamming it up for their audience. The sea lions, I swear, grin at you when they swim by.
Even the signs describing the various critters are fun. One, describing a particular desert creepy-crawler that imitates other species as his protective instincts require, asks: ``But can he do Humphrey Bogart?'' And instead of the stern warning signs you find in most zoos, North Carolina's show a sense of humor:
``Would the zoo bears eat the zoo visitors? You bet your life they would!''
Roanoke Valley residents are fortunate that such a splendid zoological adventure is less than three hours' drive away. We owe a debt of thanks to our North Carolina neighbors who ``visioned'' it back in the late '60s and got their act together to make it a reality.
What's that, you say? That a handful of Roanokers visioned a similar project when Explore Park entered the local political vernacular? Indeed, a few optimists still imagine that Explore will resemble the North Carolina Zoo one of these days - it says so right there in the master plan. And the master plan plus 40 cents will buy you a cup of coffee at the Texas Tavern.
Sorry, but a bit more - about $60 million - would be required to turn Explore into a North Carolina Zoo-like attraction. The North Carolina legislature had the good sense to make that investment; count on Virginia's General Assembly to do the same when pigs fly.
It is a shame. The North Carolina Zoo, created on 1,448 acres of donated land (the land package fashioned by Randolph County), put Asheboro (population: 17,000) on the nation's map as a tourist destination. The zoo expects some 900,000 paying visitors this year, up from 600,000 last year.
The projected increase in attendance, mostly due to North America's opening, will likely swell the zoo's annual economic impact on Asheboro and Randolph County to $40 million. Calculated into that figure are the zoo's 300 full-time and 200 part-time jobs, plus spin-off benefits to area hotels, restaurants and other businesses patronized by zoo visitors, nearly 20 percent of them from other states.
This tourism bonanza for a community of which it once could be said there's no there there! And the zoo has more than 900 acres yet to develop. Plans call for Asian, European, South American and Australian continents and a sea world.
Contrast the locations: The zoo in Asheboro is 26 miles from Greensboro, 69 miles from Raleigh, 73 miles from Charlotte. Explore Park is on the edge of a metropolitan center, and is only a spur away from one of the most heavily traveled roads in the world - the Blue Ridge Parkway. Given that advantage, it's easy to imagine the local economic impact of a North Carolina Zoo-like Explore.
Imagination, though, is likely all it will ever be under the current level of public support. To date, Virginia has invested about $12 million in Explore as a state-owned park, including funds to buy the 1,300 acres for it. Starting this year, the state will contribute $400,000 toward Explore's $925,000 operating budget. Roanoke County is putting up $100,000 for operations; Roanoke city has ponied up $50,000. (Meanwhile, in addition to North Carolina's $60 million investment to develop its zoo, that state kicks in half of the zoo's $13 million-a-year operating budget.)
Maybe Explore will grow beyond what it was when it opened last year: a handsome piece of land; a few structures of historical interest; a project with educational and environmental values. Maybe with the planned construction of the spur off the Blue Ridge Parkway and other enhancements, it will eventually draw more than the 50,000 visitors it expects this year.
But 900,000? When pigs fly.
by CNB