Pandas? Zoo has other plans

Dennis Pate is going to change Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo.

When he's done, some familiar structures will be gone, with animals moved to more natural surroundings.

Finding your way through the 112-acre zoo will be easier, lines will be shorter and parking will be better.

And a full-fledged high school on the zoo grounds will serve 350 teenagers.

What the zoo's executive director and CEO is not doing is making plans for any pandas.

Pate, 58, is starting his second year at the helm of Nebraska's top tourist attraction and a zoo that consistently ranks among the top zoos nationally, including No. 1 in attendance by population percentage.

He said his goal is to make the zoo a fun science center.

He wants to get visitors “out of lines and into the park learning about animals.” He also wants happy, engaged animals that thrill and teach zoo visitors.

One focus of his master plan for zoo projects will be on the largest of the zoo's animals.

But one of the biggest animals does not make the list of priorities: the giant panda. While Pate said he would never completely rule out pandas for the zoo, “the expense and other requirements that must be met for a loan are at present prohibitive.”

American zoos with pandas pay China $1 million a year to display adult pandas and $500,000 annually for each cub born. On top of that is the cost of building and maintaining an exhibit. And there's no assurance that when a rental agreement runs out another can be negotiated.

Money that could go to pandas can be better spent elsewhere at Omaha's zoo, Pate said. And the 36 acres where Rosenblatt Stadium now sits and which will become zoo property in 2011 can be better used to give some of his plans elbow room and to address parking, he said.

Pate expects exhibits on the east side of 10th Street will “ooze westward” but sees no big new exhibit for the stadium property. He said some of that space is desperately needed for parking.

He and other zoo officials have been working on the zoo's master plan. The timetable for getting it accomplished will depend on membership sales and donor support. The plan will be presented to the board of directors for approval in May, so Pate didn't want to share too many specifics just yet.

But he did talk in broad terms about modest changes that will be in place this summer and more elaborate plans to unfold over the next several years. He said his predecessor, Lee Simmons, has been involved in creation of the master plan and has been very helpful.

Pate said he likes to sit out in the park “to see how people use the zoo.” Those observations give him lots of ideas.

Aging facilities are on his to-do list. The Scott Aquarium, the largest in a North American zoo, is 15 years old and needs updating, he said.

But Pate said some facilities, such as the cat complex and nursery, have outlived their usefulness.

The “cat house” was built in the 1970s when, he said, the main concern was breeding tigers to increase the population. And it was a success.

But now the focus is on seeing animals in natural surroundings. Pate sees multiple tiger and lion exhibits, moving from a concentration in one location to more logical groupings near other animals that share a common habitat. That approach would mirror what's done in the Desert Dome or Lied Jungle.

“We want to put big animals in bigger spaces,” he said. Instead of measuring those exhibits in square feet, he wants them measured in parts of acres.

“That's a huge difference,” Pate said. “We want to focus on the quality of the spaces. We want to give animals homes with better views.”

That makes the animals more interesting, he said, and visitors get to see more animal behaviors.

The zoo's nursery “is no longer needed,” Pate said. The zoo has done extensive research on what animals need to take care of their young and knows how to help new mothers without removing their young from an exhibit. A recent example is Hadari, a baby gorilla with a broken arm. Even though separated from family while it healed, the young animal was in an enclosure attached to where the gorillas live. Hadari was able to see, smell and interact with the gorillas so he wouldn't forget what he is.

Pate said the zoo still will breed animals, but on a more selective basis. Instead of breeding a female tiger every time possible, he said, the animal may be bred only twice in its lifetime.

Pate sees especially big changes for the elephant exhibit. He wants to increase from two to a half-dozen adults (four females and two males) and their offspring. “Elephants need social interaction,” he said. “It's fun to watch.”

Right now, the Henry Doorly Zoo has the third-oldest African elephant in North America (47 years old) and another that is in its 20s. Both are female. “And they don't like each other,” Pate said. In fact, zookeepers fear that the younger elephant could hurt the older one, so there is a barrier between them.

Pate also expects to do more with a part of the zoo that hasn't always been highlighted: the science. “We're exceptional in conservation and research. We need to show that.”

A first step will come May 7 when the new Expedition Madagascar exhibit opens. Visitors will learn about the facilities and the work being done by zoo personnel now on that island.

And that work extends to more than animals, although many new species of lemur have been discovered. The exhibit also will spotlight plant conservation and the staff's efforts to help the people who live in Madagascar understand and save the riches they have.

Exhibits are one way to learn about animals. But Pate envisions another an actual school. Ten years from now Pate wants to see a school built on the zoo grounds for 350 high school kids who are interested in conservation, wildlife and botany or biology.

“We would call it a school with an attraction,” Pate joked.

A pilot program is in place now. The Zoo Academy allows 40 high school students from the Papillion-La Vista school district to take classes at the zoo. In addition to the usual English, math and science coursework, they help in animal care, marketing and conservation.

The zoo also hosts kindergartners from neighboring Bancroft Elementary School in the Omaha Public Schools. One classroom operates from the zoo.

Pate said he hasn't forgotten there's a second zoo campus at Simmons Safari Park near Ashland, Neb., but “we're just working on one zoo at a time.” He has plans up his sleeve for that space, too, but they'll have to wait.

Pate said his first year has been all about learning about the animal collections, the physical layout, the people (200 year-round staff, 500 when you add seasonal workers) and the people who love the zoo.

And he has additional duties as a member of the board of directors of both the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and the National Elephant Center.

Pate came to Omaha in March 2009 from the Jacksonville (Fla.) Zoo and Gardens with more than three decades of experience in zoo operations and management, including two stints at Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo. In an interview a year ago, he said the chance to move to Omaha was like “going from college ball to the pros.''

Pate said last week that he wouldn't trade a day of all the challenges the Omaha zoo presents.

“I love it here. It's the perfect job for me.”

Contact the writer:

444-1067, carol.bicak@owh.com

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