Anger. Hostility. Bad Blood.

June 22, 2006
State reduces Mill Mountain Zoo funding

"Nina" is one of the zoo's newest attractions.

Mill Mountain Zoo did not receive quite as much
money as it hoped in the latest state budget. The zoo requested
$200,000 but found out this week it's being allotted $40,000 in the
two-year budget, less than it received in recent years.

Zoo
Director Sean Greene says, "Well it wasn't what we expected,
hoping for a little bit more, then again, when you get $40,000,
you can't be sad about that. It's better than nothing."

In past
years, the zoo has received more than $80,000 in the state budget.
Greene says the zoo is paying down debt from the winter when the zoo is
staffed, but visitors don't come out.

The zoo does have a new
cougar, Nina, new paint, and some other improvements. Greene says
that's helped bring more people out. (via. WDBJ7.com)

$20k a year to run a zoo. Thats the equivalent of giving $200 bucks per school kid per year to educate them. What kind of outcome are you expecting when you decide to be that pig-headed and ignorant. That's not funding, thats an outright insult.

All local communties, governments, and businesses must dig deep now and make this a record breaking year for donations to the Zoo. People need to go, and break all attendance records, show some love for the Zoo. Perhaps the Zoo could be named a "possible terrorist target" and get some federal funding, I mean - if New York is no longer a target - then something else must be.

This is a disgrace, at which we can only lay the blame on the ignorant jackasses in the State legislature.