![]() Signs identifying “30-Year Club” members are posted at their habitats.Įvery year since privatization has also brought additional improvements, more recognition, new events and education programming as well as a broadening commitment to conservation efforts. Visitors can also search for the zoo’s 30-year residents, animals who were residing at the zoo in 1992 and continue to live there, including Winifred, a western lowland gorilla hippos Daisy and Jonesy Mtoto, a southern black rhino and orangutans Chantek and PT. Visitors can find historical photos and a timeline of significant events, including new habitat openings, conservation milestones and significant animal births. To mark the 30 th anniversary of privatization this year, the zoo has been highlighting its accomplishments across its 64-acre grounds. It has continued to draw that many visitors each year since. In the first year after re-opening, the zoo welcomed more than a million visitors. The “new zoo” also showcased the zoo’s commitment to higher standards of animal care, habitat design and education programming made possible by privatization. The following year, the zoo staged a grand re-opening celebrating the “New Zoo in ’92,” introducing two groundbreaking new exhibits, the World of Primates and Asian Falls (both have since closed) accompanied by 64 acres of improvements that included shade structures, cooling misters and new food, beverage and concession areas – all demonstrating the zoo’s commitment to the visitor experience. The zoological association finally took operational control of the zoo in October 1991 and shut down the facility for the first time in its history. Ramona credits then-Mayor Bob Bolen and Councilman Bert Williams with shepherding approval of the plan, which was the city’s first public-private partnership and ultimately a model for zoos and museums nationwide. Association president Ardon Moore negotiated a contract with the stipulation that Lee and Ramona Bass would underwrite the financial risk of the partnership. The zoological association approached the city with a proposal to create a public-private partnership to manage the zoo. “That was it – it was the last straw,” Bass said. In 1990, a serval cat, native to Africa and resembling a small cheetah, froze to death on its concrete pad. “The neighborhood people didn’t want change.”Īmid the acrimony, a tragedy occurred at the zoo. “We did have resistance from the neighborhood and the City Council,” Bass said. “But there was always a lack of funding and a lack of will to do more because people liked their zoo the way it was.”Īnd then came a battle with the neighborhood over improvements that would expand the zoo’s footprint and reduce open space in Forest Park. “We did try to work within the limitations of the city for four or five years,” she said. ![]() The following year was pivotal to the zoo’s transformation as Ramona Bass and Kit Moncrief took over as co-chairs of the zoological association’s board of directors. In 1989, the zoological association took over construction management of the World of Primates exhibit to keep the project on track and within budget. ![]() The Zoo Ball remains the organization’s premier fundraising event. ![]() Undeterred, Ramona, Kit and philanthropist Whitney Hyder More (whose mother Martha Hyder was the driving force behind the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition) never wavered and in 1985 organized the first Zoo Ball fundraising gala. “Everywhere we went, people would ask, ‘Who are these kids?’” “Kit and I were young and we were trying to raise money,” Ramona recalled. Kit Moncrief (left) and Ramona Bass (Courtesy Fort Wlorth Zoo) ![]()
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