The Bronx Zoo funding endangered

BY DORIAN BLOCK
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

The Bronx Zoo wants to know: How do you lay off a bear or furlough a sea lion?

Gov. Paterson’s budget proposal would eliminate the zoo’s state funding in two years, along with living museums across the state — including the New York Botanical Garden and Wave Hill in the Bronx.

With their city funding already snipped and private donations down, the proposal has left the institutions reeling.

“We don’t understand. It’s a complete elimination of the program,” said John Calvelli, vice president for public affairs for the Wildlife Conservation Society, which runs the city’s zoos and aquarium.

Calvelli said the cut is equivalent to 30 staff positions between the zoo and New York Aquarium in Brooklyn.

If passed, the 2009 budget for zoos, botanical gardens and aquariums across the state, most of which goes to New York City programs, will be cut from $9 million to $4 million. Funding will be eliminated entirely in 2010 under the proposal.

A snow leopard enjoys the seasons first snow storm at the Bronx Zoo.

A spokesman for the state’s budget division said the governor has chosen to focus the state’s more than $200 million of environmental funding on “critical capital initiatives that provide ongoing environmental benefits” rather than “annual operating support” to organizations.

“These institutions tend to have diverse revenue streams, including patron revenue, philanthropy and other sources which we hope will mitigate the impact of these reductions,” said spokesman Jeffrey Gordon.

The New York Botanical Garden says it will have to cut its educational programming and/or lay off employees if cuts go through.

“These will have a catastrophic impact,” said garden spokesman Karl Lauby, who noted that it has added a link to its Web site urging patrons to write letters to their legislators to prevent the cuts.

The zoo’s leadership, along with thousands of supporters, have already sent 10,000 protest letters to the governor’s office.

“The cultural institutions and living collections that abound in this state are precisely what make living in New York so desirable,” said Claudia Bonn, Wave Hill’s executive director.

“Here is where our communities seek the solace, the serenity, the beauty, the fresh air and the refuge that gardens and living museums offer.”

Calvelli said the zoo may be forced to send some of its animals out of state.

“Is this the message we want to send, that the state can’t care for the animals in our zoo? Or at the garden are they just going to let the flowers die?”

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