Syracuse, New York: Even porcupines could get pink slips in the slumping economy as US states consider cutting or eliminating funding that supports zoos, aquariums and botanical gardens.
As part of his plan to help New York address a potential $15.4 billion (Dh56.5 billion) budget shortfall, Governor David Paterson has called for cutting funding for the Zoo, Botanical Garden and Aquarium Programme from $9 million to $4 million in the state's 2009 budget and for eliminating funding in 2010.
"We can't fire our bears or furlough our sea lions," said John Calvelli, executive vice-president of public affairs for the Wildlife Conservation Society, which operates the Central Park and Bronx zoos and the New York Aquarium in Brooklyn, among others.
New York isn't the only place where hard financial times threaten government support for zoos, aquariums and gardens.
In California, city council members ordered work halted late last year on a new $42 million elephant exhibit at the Los Angeles Zoo because of the city's fiscal woes. In North Carolina, state lawmakers recently told the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro it won't get $4 million for repairs and new exhibits because of a budget shortfall.
Last year, city leaders slashed the Kansas City Zoo's budget by 20 per cent, while The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore closed four weeks early this winter to save money and offset budget cuts from the state Legislature.
