Is it time to throw in the towel on the Jackson zoo? The latest revelation — the zoo owes the city of Jackson a staggering $6.5 million in water fees — could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.
The Jackson Zoological Park has been in existence since 1919, 106 years. It was first established in Livingston Park, the same place it’s located today. At the time, Hinds County had 57,000 people; Madison County had 29,000 people; Rankin County 20,000 people. That’s a total of 106,000 people.
Today, over 100 years later, Hinds, Madison and Rankin populations are 227,000, 109,000 and 157,000, respectively, with a total population of 493,000 people.
During the last 100 years, per capita income has increased 506 percent.
That means the Jackson metro area has roughly eight times more money today than it did back in 1919 when the zoo was founded. Given that, you would think we’d find a way to support a Jackson zoo.
But times have changed. In 1919 there was not much to do. You didn’t have TV or the Internet. No Wild Kingdom or thousands of high definition videos displaying every animal in the world in their natural habitat. Back in the day, going to the zoo was a big deal.
And we didn’t have smooth, fast, air conditioned cars with high speed Internet, perfect stereos, streaming music and autopilots to get us comfortably and quickly to New Orleans or Memphis, both of which have magnificent zoos that make the Jackson zoo pale in comparison.
Back in 1919, Livingston Park was the heart of the metro area, booming and affluent. Today, it is a challenged area with high poverty rates, dilapidated housing and intractable high crime rates. There are many suburban residents who wouldn’t dream of going to that area of Jackson.
According to Chat GPT, when the zoo first opened, it had a small collection of local animals: deer, rabbits, squirrels, alligators and the like housed in simple pens and enclosures. Over the next few decades, it added exotic animals such as elephants, zebras, giraffes, etc.
The Jackson zoo peaked in the 1970s and 1980s with reptiles, aviary houses and a variety of exotic animals. Now the number of animals is now 120 animals. It had 338 animals in 2017.
I can remember the great nighttime zoo fundraisers. They were big social events that attracted thousands.
In 2007, the Jackson Zoo was named a “Southern Travel Treasure” by AAA Magazine and “Travel Attraction of the Year” by the Mississippi Tourism Association.
Now the zoo struggles financially. In 2003, zoo attendance was 170,000. Now it’s down to 16,000 visitors a year. It’s so mismanaged that the zoo doesn’t even accept credit cards, cash only. Visitors who show up and don’t have cash have been turned away. It doesn’t get much worse than that.
This is not a national trend. In fact, zoo attendance is up 30 percent nationwide over the last 30 years.
The zoos that are thriving are the bigger ones that have invested in large natural environment enclosures and have been closely affiliated with conservation efforts to help fundraising. Basically, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
So what is to be done?
There are really only two options: rejuvenate or shut down.
Rejuvenation is a big ask, especially given the significant decline in the city of Jackson tax base. The zoo is primarily funded by the city to the tune of $1.2 million a year.
Mayor John Hohrn said recently, “I’ve said before that we’re either going to have to shut the zoo down or we’re going to have to build the zoo up. We can’t continue to spend $1.6 million a year and take in $800 a month.”
The recently revealed $6.8 million in debt to the JXN Water was caused in part by a big leak in the monkey exhibit moat. The fact that this was not caught and fixed is a disturbing indication of continuing mismanagement.
This past spring, former Jackson Mayor Chokwe Lumumba announced plans for a new 200-seat amphitheater and a frisbee disc golf course at Livingston Park. This plan, even if it happens, would be far too little far too late.
There are a few examples nationwide of small zoos being on the brink of closure and reviving, but only a handful and none had the challenges facing the Jackson zoo.
Revitalization is only possible with state funding. State funding would probably require relocation. The area around the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science has been mentioned or somewhere in Madison and Rankin, both of which have more available land and better demographics.
To make this happen, the state government would have to be all in. It would be a state zoo not a Jackson zoo. This would require abandoning the current zoo infrastructure which would cost millions to replace.
It’s a hard thing facing the music, especially with a 100-year-old zoo that was once a crown jewel for Jackson. I have wonderful memories of countless trips to the zoo with my young children. The thought of it closing makes me sad.
But things change and life moves on. I don’t see a lot of enthusiasm among state leaders to found a new state zoo. Jackson is struggling financially and doesn’t have the resources to sustain the zoo much longer. Sad to say, but it seems to me the writing is on the wall.
