The city of Los Angeles is allocating $34 million to the L.A. Zoo. Of the $34 million, $10 million will go to general animal care, Councilmember Bob Blumenfield told KNX News’ Craig Fiegener.
Blumenfield said the 133-acre zoo is one of the last big American zoos that's managed entirely by a city, and that this move may not help put the L.A. Zoo back on its feet.
“We have a zoo that is not a first-class zoo,” he said. “It's an amenity for our city, but it's not going to be magically fixed just by saying it's a nonprofit.”
Blumenfield added that the city zoo's upkeep problems could potentially be solved by converting the L.A. Zoo into a privately funded non-profit organization, but that transition would remove the city from managing how the zoo is operated.
“If you completely cut off the city, then you're giving someone an opportunity to monetize that zoo in a better way, but you're also cutting off a spigot of funds where the taxpayers have been subsidizing,” he said.
The just-passed city budget will go into effect on July 1st.
