“That’s another thing that’s been hard for us who’ve been laid off – just seeing the time, the care and the money they spend on these animals that aren’t even being used,” Madura says. “All of the zookeepers, if I could say that we agree on one thing, it’s that if we had our choice, we would have a reptile building.”
Most agree that a nocturnal house would be an asset as well.
“One of the things we need to look at is how to complement what other area zoos have,” Peeler says, noting, for example, that Springfield wouldn’t want to try replicating the Peoria Zoo’s $25 million African exhibit opened in 2009. “It’s finding our niche, looking at what we can do really well, but being realistic as well.”
The zoo recently learned it would receive a $200,000 reimbursement grant from the state for improvements that could include new walkways and a new shelter for the bald eagles. The grant is cause for more excitement, but a master plan can help bring in more grants and help the zoo solicit dona tions
from corporate sponsors who would be more willing to give knowing in what direction the zoo is heading, the zoo society’s Ploskonka says.
Regardless of what the plan eventually entails, much of the small zoo’s intimacy will remain intact. Its small size is one of the things that makes Henson Robinson Zoo special, says the zoo’s second most senior zookeeper, Shelly Lutes.
Lutes, who was born one year after the zoo opened in 1970, remembers her grandmother bringing her to the zoo as a child.
“She could watch us walk around the whole zoo from the center,” she says, adding that the donkey she had her picture taken with when she was five years old is still around. “You don’t have to be here all day to look at stuff. It’s great for little kids. You get closer to the animals than at any big zoo. … It feels like it’s your zoo.”
In that same vein, Estep says ultimately it’s up to the public to guide the future of the zoo. “There’s a lot of blame to go around. … It’s not the fault of the employees or the zookeepers because they’re working with what they have,” Estep says. “We need to decide as a community, are we going to keep the zoo or let it fail?”
Contact Rachel Wells at [email protected].
