entry Sept 2007 updates Nov 2012
& 2015, Apr 2016
The Naples Zoo— with
links to updates
If you don't like
zoos, I understand. The animals in zoo posters all
look —well, not too unhappy about being in prison. The
giraffes look sufficiently goofy, the tigers still look
proud and menacing, and the elephants seem unperturbed. In
real life, however, I still have to be convinced that wild
animals should be contained in anything less than one of
those wild animal safari parks, where there is at least
the illusion of open space. If I hear that well-maintained
zoos are one of the ways in which we help endangered
species survive, then I guess I have to accept that.
Grudgingly. And so I accept the newly reopened Naples zoo
for what it seems to be: relatively small but
well-designed and properly maintained.
The recent
history of the zoo in Naples has been a disaster. It was
founded in 1940 on the premises of the gigantic Mostra d'oltremare—Overseas Fair
Grounds—in the Fuorigrotta section of Naples, though it
didn't begin regular operation until after WWII. Over
the next few decades, it acquired some sort of a
reputation as a decent zoological facility, or so they
tell me, but the first time I visited it (in the 1970s)
I didn't like it. As I say, some people don't like zoos
at all. I never went back. In the 1990s, the zoo,
financed and run by the city, started to decline badly.
By 2002, animals were suffering (and dying) from
neglect. Volunteers and unpaid staffers struggled to
keep it open. (Private citizens were going to
butcher shops, buying whatever they figured a lion might
like and carrying it over to the zoo!) It was closed in
2003. I remember how good I felt for the animals that
they were being shipped out to facilities elsewhere.
The
zoo has reopened recently under the private management
of the owners of the adjacent amusement park, Edenlandia, so I took my
second visit to the place the other day. The literature
for the zoo guarantees that the animals are properly
cared for, so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt on
that score. I didn't visit the whole place, but I saw a
well-landscaped facility, an elephant, a few tigers, a
camel, some flamingos, and even a small farm-animal
petting enclosure for children. (The children liked it
and the goats didn't seem to mind.) There was even a row
of smaller cages ("The way they used to pen up animals
in zoos") for exhibit purposes only. (Maybe those are
the ones I remember.) The new enclosures are much
larger. If private management can make it a going
concern and fulfill the plans to expand into the
currently unused spaces of the east end of the Fair
Grounds, then I'm satisfied. Not happy, but satisfied.
There is still something not right about a tiger in a
cage. The elephant I saw was leisurely tossing dust on
herself (but, alas);
the camel was just staring at the starers; but the
tigers were pacing. That's what they do. Pace.
updates, Nov 2012, Nov 2015 & Apr 2016
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