Ditto the Austin Zoo

From the Austin Zoo website:

The mission of Austin Zoo and Animal Sanctuary is to assist animals in need through rescue, rehabilitation and education. We currently have over 300 animals from over 100 different species at the Zoo. Last year, over 200,000 people visited Austin Zoo. Over 45,000 were students and teachers visiting on field trips. Austin Zoo & Animal Sanctuary is a pleasant Hill Country zoo where the people of Austin can come to learn about the animals close-up, spend some time outdoors getting exercise, and have fun. It's a place where we Austinites can truly make the most of our time together.

Austin Zoo is a 501(c)(3) registered non-profit organization, and we rely on private donations, gate admissions, grants and sponsorships to continue to care for the animals we have, and to be able to take in new animals that need a safe home.

Austin Zoo started out as a goat ranch. In 1990, it became the Good Day Ranch, which catered to animals in need. At that time, the animals consisted mostly of goats, pigs, fallow deer, donkeys and ponies... with just a few exotics. Today, the ranch is home to many more exotic animals, as well as domestic animals, that were either rescued from, or unwanted by, their owners.

The problem of unwanted or rescued animals is large. Austin Zoo is forced to turn down an average of 200 requests a month to care for additional animals, "from goats to elephants." Due to the growth of "roadside zoos" and private ownership of exotic animals, along with the release of older animals from big city zoos to smaller facilities, the number of animals in need of a safe and healthy home has multiplied at a rapid rate.

The Dakota Zoo

The Dakota Zoo in Bismarck is privately owned. From the zoo's site:

The Dakota Zoo began with the 67 acre Marc and Betty Christianson Farm located at what was then the north edge of Bismarck. Initially, the Christianson Farm operated as a kennel for the boarding of domesticated animals such as dogs, cats, horses and, at one point, was even used to raise mink for profit. However, over time, friends and neighbors who knew the Christianson family and knew of their love for animals began stopping at the farm to deliver stray and/or injured animals with the knowledge that they would receive the care they required.

As the number of animals increased and word got out about the farm and its collection of animals, curiosity about the farm also increased drawing an ever increasing amount of visitors to the farm to view the animals. The number of visitors to the farm would peak on "skip day" each year when school buses would transport bus loads of school children to the farm to view the animals housed there.

Publicity by the Marshal Bill Show on KFYR played an important role in the formation of the Dakota Zoo. Petitions were signed by 780 people who supported the idea of a community Zoo located in Bismarck. Marc Christianson took these signed petitions to the Bismarck Park Board to present his idea of a Zoo. He pitched the concept of the Zoo as a community Zoo which would be self-supporting and would require no funding from the City of Bismarck. The case presented by Marc to the Park Board was such that in 1958, with the support of the late George Schaumberg, then the Bismarck Parks and Recreation director, the Park Board made available to the Zoo an 88 acre tract of Park District land in Sertoma Park.

Ah. Well, private, but for the donation of the land.

The Dakota Zoo remains self-supportive and operates on monies raised through admissions, concession sales, animal sales, the adopt an animal program, memberships and donations.

Zoo Privatization

Looks like it is part of the plan to save Los Angeles from the financial maelstrom. Looks like they might be selling off a lot of things. From a reporter at the Los Angeles Business Journal with the most unlikely name of Howard Fine (sounds like one of the Three Stooges):

The city is facing a $450 million deficit in the 2009-10 fiscal year beginning July 1 and a projected deficit of at least $500 million the following year.

Re: Rock star incongruities

Here is a way that I would not expect Slash to spend his time:

Privitization: maybe he'll show up on conservative talk radio too.