Why You Shouldn’t Be Surprised That The National Zoo Lost A Red Panda
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/06/24/2203051/why-you-shouldnt-be-surprised-that-the-national-zoo-lost-a-red-panda/?mobile=nc
Rusty, the adorable red panda pictured above, escaped from Washingtons National Zoo today. While everyone is hoping for Rustys safe return, its worth taking a moment to reflect on the decrepit state of Americas zoo system and what that says about Americas budget priorities.
Though zoo officials still arent sure how Rusty got out, the National Zoo has been hard-hit by sequestration cuts. The Smithsonian Institute, which operates the National Zoo, is facing a cut to the tune of $40 million. Zoo officials told the Washington Post that theyd deal with the shortfall mainly through freezing hiring, reducing training and delaying new equipment purchases and construction.
Again, no one knows yet if sequestration-related cutbacks set the stage for Rusty to fly the coop (ThinkProgress has put in several calls to the Zoos press office and will update if and when it gets back to us). But in general, Americas zoos are chronically underfunded, leading to all sorts of unintended dangerous consequences. In their book American Zoos During the Depression: A New Deal for Animals, political science professors Jesse Donahue and Erik K. Trump document the way in which huge public outlays for zoos during the New Deal helped create the modern American zoo. They also tell a darker story: how the Great Recession destroyed zoo endowments and, absent enough private donations, funding for Americas zoos fell apart: