Wisconsin zoos are at a crossroads

The tiger exhibit at Irvine Park Zoo in Chippewa Falls now stands empty. 

In January, Lulu the white tiger died and now the zoo is down to two large animals, a bear and a hyena, with their structures in need of repairs.

The estimated cost to repair the three large animals exhibits is around $400,000, an amount Chippewa Falls Parks, Recreation and Forestry Director John Jimenez said is out of reach.

“We really can’t afford to put a new animal in that exhibit, knowing the potential hazard areas that are there,” Jimenez said recently on WPR’s “Wisconsin Today.” 

This free zoo, like many small zoos across the country, is at a crossroads. Leaders at Irvine Park Zoo are leaning toward showcasing local species instead of exotic non-native animals.

Jimenez spoke about the future of Irvine Park Zoo. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee animal history professor Nigel Rothfels joined the show to discuss the evolving culture of zoos and the revised edition of his iconic book called “Savages and Beasts: The Birth of The Modern Zoo” which was released in March. 

This conversation has been edited for clarity and brevity. 

Kate Archer Kent: Give us a picture of Irvine Park Zoo and what has it been like since losing Lulu in January?

John Jimenez: That was a difficult process that we had to go through, and losing such a staple within our zoo in our community was definitely challenging for not only our zookeepers, obviously, who have grown close and bonded with our animals at our zoo, but for the community alike.

I know a lot of people really enjoyed coming to visit Lulu amongst the other animals at our zoo. She’s been with us since 2010. I remember hearing stories of how Lulu and Lily, both of our tigers, got walked in on leashes and so you could imagine how little they were when they came in.

KAK: Lulu’s exhibit is old. It’s in need of pretty big repairs. What are you considering when trying to decide if Irvine zoo should revamp its large animal exhibits?

JJ: We have three large mammal exhibits, two of which are currently still housing animals. We have a hyena in one of them, then we have our black bear in the other exhibit — both of the animals are senior animals. 

It’s one of those things with having animals all come in at the same time. Unfortunately, they start meeting their end near around the same time as well.

The three exhibits really need a lot of work. 

They’re about 20 years old. They’ve gone through a lot of wear and tear. There’s fiberglass, faux rock features along the exhibits on all three, and in all three there’s different damages that need to be addressed. 

The last thing we want to do is to have a new animal enter the exhibit with pre-existing damages that could cause health problems to any new animal that would come into that exhibit. 

Our park board and our staff have really been having serious conversations around what is next, right? Some of the things that we really want to focus on is redeveloping those spaces to be more natural spaces for animals. 

So looking at getting rid of faux fixtures and bring in more natural resources that would match the climate and the animals that would go into those exhibits.

KAK: What is community reaction like in the Chippewa Valley about the potential for discontinuing a big cat exhibit?

JJ: It’s mixed. I know that there’s a lot of people who really enjoy the ability to come and see some of the exotic animals that we’ve housed here at our zoo. I know we have people who really would support the idea of moving towards more North American animals. 

In speaking to our zookeepers, our staff and park board, I think it is within our best interest as a zoo to be able to focus in on North American animals and really displaying those for the community and providing continual educational opportunities to learn more about the animals and wildlife that reside here within the the region. 

KAK: Now we turn to UW-Milwaukee animal history professor and author Nigel Rothfels. As you hear the situation they’re facing at Irvine Park Zoo in Chippewa Falls, what stands out to you? 

NR: What you’re seeing is a problem that is facing a lot of smaller municipal zoos around the country. The bigger zoos are getting bigger and more exciting and people are traveling further to see the more famous zoos. 

Local, small, municipal zoos are trying to figure out, where’s the spot for us? What kind of collection should we have? And what does our future look like? 

KAK: You say zoos are more for people than they are for animals. What do you mean by that? 

NR: People think zoos are where animals are and they’re for animals. But they’re obviously places that we make for ourselves. 

They are places of recreation, places of education, places that sometimes are really committed to a conservation mission or a scientific mission.

And so they are a creation of human culture. They reflect our values and they reflect where we are historically and our ambitions for ourselves and our communities.

KAK: You’ve studied Carl Hagenbeck, who was known for his work in displaying animals at zoos in Germany in the late 19th century, early 20th century. How have the physical spaces of zoos and exhibits changed over time, as we see a zoo in Chippewa Falls struggling with its exhibit and bringing it up to date? 

NR: At least in the world of zoos, Carl Hagenbeck is most famous for developing the moat. If you’ve been to a zoo and you’ve looked at an exhibit and instead of an exhibit with bars, you’ve looked across a moat and see animals appearing in a natural setting, that was something that was invented at a particular point. It was patented, actually, in 1896 in Germany. 

People refer to it as the Hagenbeck revolution, this moment in zoos when animals were, at least metaphorically, freed from cages and put into more naturalistic environments. 

I think you heard from John Jimenez that the naturalistic environments themselves might be made of materials like concrete and fiberglass. But it’s made to look natural. 

KAK: What will zoos look like 20, 30 or 50 years from now? 

NR: First of all, I think it’s pretty clear that there will be zoos.

As long into the past as I can go, there are records of animal collections of unusual animals. 

These collections are all over the world. At some level in our brains, somewhere hardwired, we want to have opportunities to look closely at animals. 

No. 2, I think that the smaller zoos are slowly disappearing and I think what you are seeing more and more is a concentration of resources, financial resources and the public interest in larger zoos with more animals and more unusual animals. 

I think it’s also true, and the Chippewa Falls case may just be one, that there will remain a sort of hyper-local audience for zoos. The tradition of the free zoo, which still exists in lots of communities around the country, could continue.  

So we may end up with some small places that are emotionally important for people to visit, and then the much larger places that people will travel to and spend an awful lot of money to visit.