To Our Guests and Members

The Wildlife Conservation Society is undergoing restructuring as we reduce our budget during the ongoing global economic crisis. The economy is affecting us all, but with our restructuring we are making sure we keep our 114-year old institution strong on conservation and our parks the best places to bring your children and families year-round.

A part of this restructuring includes opening new exhibits and phasing out the old at our five facilities in New York: Bronx Zoo, Central Park Zoo, Queens Zoo, Prospect Park Zoo, and the New York Aquarium.

This summer, we will open hyena and aardvark exhibits at the Bronx Zoo and unveil the new Allison Maher Stern Snow Leopard Exhibit at the Central Park Zoo.

At the Bronx Zoo, we are closing the World of Darkness and relocating animals in our Rare Animal Range and an area in the southeastern corner of the zoo.

As we go through this process, we will relocate some of our animals to other areas within our family of zoos in New York. We will be transferring some animals to facilities that meet or exceed the guidelines used by accredited institutions of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Exchanging animals is a practice that zoos regularly engage in to ensure that our populations are genetically diverse and demographically stable.

The wellbeing of our animals is of utmost importance to us, and we will never do anything to compromise that. That's part of the DNA of the Bronx Zoo. Our cost savings will be achieved in part with operational cuts, not with any compromises as far as the care and safety of our animals.

Updated: 4/29/2009