HAS THE JACKSON ZOO LOST IT’S COOL?
By: Aaliyah Davis
The Jackson Zoo visitor attraction is decreasing and the state cannot afford that.
The Jackson Zoological Park located in the capitol city of Miss has been around for 100 years. It sits on 110 acres of land and house over 300 species of animals from across the globe.
The zoo, or any zoo for that matter is an ideal place for families and the community to come learn and be entertained. However, over the past couple of years the zoo has not been thriving as it was years ago. This means that the zoo is not bringing in many tourists to Jackson, Miss or bringing in much revenue into the state.
“I have been working here at the zoo for seven years and the ticket sales have definitely decreased over time,” stated a ticket booth worker.
The decline in sales means that the zoo accumulates less money to expand in their pursuits for attractions and resources. In an effort to aid in the problem the zoo host events annually to raise funds.
“Each year we have Zoo Brew, Zoo Blues, Ice Cream Safari, and Zoo Olympics,”said Ginger Morrison the educator curator of the zoo.
These events are always open to the public and are ways for the community to gather, donate money, and enjoy the particular festives.
The Jackson Zoo in whole looks desolate and forsaken. The maintenance of the property and the grounsds are unkept. One of the children’s play yard has piles of dirt and weeds growing on it and high grass around it.
Is this because of the lack of funds? Yes, indeed it is.
Councilman Kenneth Stokes stated in an interview April 5, 2019, that the new management for the zoo needs to hurry and finalize to fix the issues with the funds, look of the zoo, and overall attraction with events for the community.
Events this year were postponed and cancelled because of lack within the zoo, funds being one of them.
In 2018, a city council meeting was held with a heated conversation about the zoo. Kenneth Stokes entertained a topic of moving the zoo and stated that, “The zoo did not necessarily need funds because it only had a few parakeets left.”
It is apparent that the zoo has had some issues dealing with finance and location for some time now. This is the main reasons why people do not attend the zoo as much from earlier years.
Zoos have not lost their cool. The Jackson Zoo, however is in desperate need of financial aid to bring back tourist and change the drastic decline of visitors.
The Jackson Zoo is the state’s capitol zoo and holds much history. It must be preserved and funded for the future generations to be able to come learn and be entertained. Every animal at the zoo should be assured that they have a place called home that the zoo will not fail, including the parakeets.
