Tag: Chuck Brady

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At Large Opinion

Greensward Redux

Cars parked on the Greensward (Photo: savethegreensward.org)

Let us hearken now to those halcyon days of 2016, back to the difficult final months of the Great Battle of the Greensward. For those of you new to the history of the Kingdom of Memphis, let me share the tale: The Memphis Zoo — led at that time by a rather intransigent fellow named Chuck “You and the Horse You Rode In On” Brady — had begun to allow increasing numbers of cars to park on the Overton Park Greensward, a large, flat, grassy field used by park patrons for Frisbee football, soccer, picnics, and the occasional drum circle.

Over several years, the zoo kept expanding its parking footprint, finally going so far as to set up temporary fencing across the middle of the Greensward — usually on nice weekend days. On one side of the fence were people doing the aforementioned park things. On the other side were cars, SUVs, trucks, and the occasional bus, which left dead grass, mud, and deep, rutted tire tracks in the Greensward, rendering it useless for recreation even when it wasn’t being parked on.

Things started getting really heated in 2014. Park lovers formed groups: Get Off Our Lawn (GOOL) and Citizens to Preserve Overton Park (CPOP). Activists stood on nearby street corners urging zoo patrons to park on nearby streets, rather than despoiling the Greensward. Aerial photographs were taken that showed just how much of the people’s parkland was being taken over by a private entity. The pictures got national attention. Protestors were arrested. Houses all over Midtown bore signs urging Memphis to save the Greensward. Then the zoo cut down some trees. Some activists threatened to begin spray-painting cars. A zoo sign at the park entrance was defaced. Things were tense.

And then, in the winter of 2016, newly elected Mayor Jim Strickland managed to get both sides into mediation. After months of costly negotiation, a compromise was struck. The zoo would be allowed to enlarge its lot to 415 spaces, taking some of the Greensward, but with the great majority of the land being preserved. The zoo subsequently announced that it would build a parking garage on nearby Prentiss Place and wouldn’t need to expand its lot. Huzzah! Parking on the Greensward was a thing of the past. Peace reigned in the Kingdom.

At least it did until last Friday night at 5:06 p.m., when the zoo and city issued a joint press release stating that the Prentiss garage project was being scrapped because it was too expensive and that the zoo would go back to the lot-expansion plan, and, oh, while it was being expanded, the zoo would once again be letting its customers park on the Greensward. Enjoy your weekend. Nothing to see here.

This is some seriously tone-deaf policy and very stupid politics. The zoo has amply demonstrated over the past five years that it can operate without parking on the Greensward. The zoo has also amply demonstrated that it has the resources to raise millions of dollars from its patrons and funders. Now it can’t afford a parking garage? There’s an aroma of fish here. You don’t do a Friday night news dump unless you know you’re doing something that doesn’t bear scrutiny in the light of day.

Activists are already meeting and planning. This move is not going to play well with those who went through all this drama five years ago. And I need not remind those who’ve lived here a while that Overton Park has been under assault before, and that its supporters (then derided as “little old ladies in tennis shoes”) once managed to defeat the mighty U.S. government when it announced plans to split the park with Interstate 40 more than 50 years ago. Overton Park is the only place in the country where I-40 was stopped and forced to take a detour.

The force is strong in this place, this Old Forest, this people’s park. There is a history here, and the Memphis Zoo and the city of Memphis would be wise to take a cue from it.

Categories
News The Fly-By

Zoo Suit

CREDIT: Memphis Zoo/Twitter

The Memphis Zoo denies that a former female employee “was discriminated or retaliated against” because of her gender.

Kimberly Terrell, a female conservation biologist, sued the zoo in December. She claimed she was fired from her job as the zoo’s director of research and conservation based on gender discrimination.

Her attorneys are suing the zoo for damages in excess of $75,000, including back pay, lost benefits, employment reinstatement, punitive damages, and all court fees.

J. Mark Griffee, the attorney for the zoo, responded to Terrell’s original lawsuit in mid-March, saying her claims of discrimination were unfounded.

In that original suit, Terrell painted a picture of an ongoing tension that grew between her and zoo president Chuck Brady. She said she’d built a “strong record of success at the zoo,” but Brady increasingly attacked her performance and she felt it was because she was female.

Memphis Zoo/Twitter

Brady (left), Terrell (right)

The zoo’s attorney refutes this, noting Terrell was giving a “substandard performance of her duties.” It was the reason, he said, Terrell received only standard bonuses and no pay raise one year.

“… On November 27, 2017, Dr. Terrell was terminated for failure to perform job duties as instructed, dereliction of duties, and willful misconduct,” reads the attorney’s answer to Terrell’s complaint.

As for direct misconduct, zoo officials said Terrell “willfully disobeyed a clear, written, and direct order in September 2017” regarding the planned artificial insemination of one of the zoo’s elephants.

The zoo’s attorney said Terrell created a hostile work environment when she “fired or forced the resignation of multiple employees.” Though, Terrell claimed her employees had “cordial relationships.”

The zoo denied a long list of accomplishments Terrell claimed in her two years with the zoo, including 15 new science projects and partnerships with groups like the University of Memphis, and the Omaha Zoo.

The zoo refuted the claim that Brady did not give Terrell regular performance reviews until she suggested his treatment of her was related to her gender. Also, the zoo’s attorney said Brady did take notes during the meetings, provided “pages” of feedback during subsequent performance reviews, and did give those notes to Terrell when she asked for them.

However, the zoo admitted Brady called Terrell “emotional” at one point. But Brady said it was because Terrell demanded he fire all three of her employees. Terrell claimed Brady “repeatedly” called her “emotional” when “she expressed an opinion with which Dr. Brady did not agree.”

The zoo also admitted Brady once described an internal conflict between Terrell and a colleague as “cat fighting.” Terrell said, though, Brady tempered the remarks by adding that “cat fight” wasn’t about gender because cats can be male or female.

However, the zoo attorney dismissed Terrell’s claims that Brady ever said, “there’s always some kind of drama going on that hen house,” in reference to the zoo’s marketing building. The zoo also denied Brady ever said (about women in the marketing department), “you know how women are. I can’t control those hens.”

U.S. District Judge Jon P. McCalla ordered the case to be heard in a jury trial on January 14, 2019. The trial is expected to last four days in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee Western Division.

Categories
News News Blog

Memphis Zoo Sued For Alleged Gender Discrimination

CREDIT: Memphis Zoo

Memphis Zoo

Memphis Zoo president Chuck Brady

A former employee sued the Memphis Zoo in federal court last month for gender discrimination and retaliation after alleged actions by Chuck Brady, the zoo’s president and CEO.

Kimberly Terrell, a female conservation biologist, sued the zoo on Friday, Dec. 22 for damages in excess of $75,000. In November, she was fired from her job as the zoo’s director of research and conservation. She is seeking back pay, lost benefits, employment reinstatement, punitive damages, and all court fees.

Terrell, who holds a Ph.D in conservation biology from the University of New Orleans, was hired by the Memphis Zoo in August 2015. In the suit, Terrell claimed a “strong record of success” in the job by increasing conservation donations by about 300 percent and reducing fundraising expenses by about 95 percent. She also established 15 new science projects in her two years with the zoo, published papers, and led regular talks with community groups.

“Kim is outstanding and we and the conservation mission are fortunate to have her leadership,” wrote a past board chair, according to the suit.

However, in July, Terrell “became concerned about how (Chuck Brady) treated her in comparison to the men who worked for” the zoo. Brady criticized her budget and questioned her grant funding requests, though both were in line with her male predecessor’s previous requests.

“Dr. Brady repeatedly told her that she was ‘emotional’ when she expressed an opinion with which Dr. Brady did not agree,” reads the suit.

When Terrell expressed concern to Brady about “how a female marketing specialist had forged an email” to her, Brady gestured to the marketing building, “which is occupied almost entirely by women and said, ‘There’s always some kind of drama going on in that hen house.’”

Brady was copied on an email in which Terrell was having a professional disagreement with a third party. He said, “I see you’re in a cat fight,” according to the lawsuit.

Later in July, Brady gave Terrell a performance review, though she’d never had one in her previous two years at the zoo, the suit says. In that meeting, Brady criticized her work, though none of the criticisms were ever written down and some of the actions he criticized he “had, by his own admission, supported and approved at the time.”

In that meeting, Terrell said she thought Brady was treating her differently than her male predecessor and it was on account of her gender.

“Dr. Brady grew visibly angry as a result of her complaint of gender discrimination,” reads the suit. He denied calling Terrell “emotional,” said a cat fight isn’t a “gender thing” because cats can be male or female.

“Dr. Terrell reiterated her objections to these comments, and Dr. Brady stated that the meeting was over,” reads the suit.

After that meeting, Terrell’s suit claims Brady began a “campaign of retaliation” against her. Brady withheld her annual salary increase. When asked why in August, Brady responded to Terrell, saying he was “not impressed” with her work. Terrell told Brady withholding her increase was retaliation, given her accomplishments and “the lack of any documented performance issues.”

“At that point, Dr. Brady became visibly angry, interrupted Dr. Terrell, and told her to ‘be quiet,’” according to the suit.

In the months that followed, Brady allegedly continued to criticize Terrell’s work, was unresponsive to her, undermined her authority of the zoo’s giant panda conservation program, and more, according to the lawsuit. In October, Brady excluded Terrell, the zoo’s director of research and conservation, from the development of a summary about the zoo’s research and conversation programs for its annual impact report.

In November, Terrell was returning form a trip promoting the giant panda program, but was told by the zoo’s human resources office that she was prohibited from returning to her office and was to work remotely. The zoo said Terrell was “not permitted to enter the Memphis Zoo and would not be held responsible for any duties that required her presence at the zoo.”

Later in November, Terrell filed a gender discrimination charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

The original complaint was filed by Bryce W. Ashby with Donati Law PLLC in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee. On December 22, the zoo was given 21 days to respond to the suit.

Categories
Letters To The Editor Opinion

What They Said…

CREDIT: Greg Cravens

Greg Cravens

On Chris McCoy’s The Legend of Tarzan review …

This is what I thought. But, my wife wants me to look like this Tarzan fellow. So, I am sure we will see it soon enough anyway. Sausage Factory.

Dwayne Butcher

Dwayne, hang in there. My wife eventually settled for me looking like a gorilla.

Crackoamerican

On Bruce VanWyngarden’s Letter from the Editor, “Bombs Over Midtown” …

Ya know … I like to think I’m as patriotic as the next person, but clearly not as patriotic as the hump that lives way too near to me. This person shot off very loud, bomb-like fireworks from before sunset until after 11 p.m. Monday night, a few after 8 Tuesday night, and another very loud one, albeit just one, around 9 p.m. last night. Pyromania, perhaps? Maybe, but definitely annoying … and made my cats very nervous.

Mejjep

On Toby Sells’ News Blog post, “Greensward Vote Delayed Two Weeks” …

I remain cautiously hopeful. Midtown Memphis can not sustain a Disneyland-like entertainment sprawl.

Susan Butcher Barnett

But it can sustain a Disneyland-like bus system to transport people to the zoo? Hmmm … Who buys the buses? Who pays for the insurance to cover transporting people in the buses? Hmmm …

Firefox

Categories
Editorial Opinion

Dear Chuck Brady …

If Memphis City Council chairman Kemp Conrad has his way, the council will postpone immediate action on the compromise plan for the Memphis Zoo and the Overton Park Greensward announced last week by Mayor Strickland.

Memphis Zoo CEO Chuck Brady

We think Conrad’s motion is appropriate, and we hope the other council members utilize the two-week pause to give the plan the careful appraisal it deserves.

With gratitude, we see most of the contending parties responding positively to Strickland’s well-considered approach to solving a civic debate that has festered far too long. Regrettably, however, zoo director Chuck Brady continues to be adamant in resisting the compromise plan.

We do not fault Brady for wanting to maximize his advantages or to enhance the appeal and ease of entry to the zoo or to upgrade the facilities there (as, to give him his due, he has consistently managed to do during his tenure). Brady also has expressed concerns about the effect of Strickland’s plan on the zoo’s revenue levels. All these are reasonable concerns for the zoo’s CEO, and you would find few in Memphis who would dispute the institution’s value to the community and as a tourist attraction.

But Brady needs to understand that as the CEO of a public/private enterprise using public land, he also has the obligation to consider the bigger picture. Compromise is the way forward, here.

The city of Memphis and its citizens and its public land are what nurture the zoo and provide the larger context for the tourists who come to visit, to spend money, and, upon their departure, to spread the good news about their time spent here. They do not come here with blinders on. The health and charm of Overton Park and its Greensward are the immediate context of their zoo experience in Memphis. What enhances one element enhances the other.

Strickland seems to comprehend this. His plan constitutes an effort both to shore up the park that serves as the zoo’s home and protect it from the ravages of automobile traffic. The plan increases the zoo’s access points and its parking footprint. Properly imagined and outfitted, the shuttle portion of the plan could even be an enjoyable add-on to the zoo experience.

In any case, for the director of any major urban attraction to express a desire to carry on with the “status quo” at a time when the great majority of objective observers can see that change is called for is disappointing, to say the least.

We’re puzzled as to how Brady hasn’t seen that there has been a significant change of mind among key members of the city council coalition that voted to give the zoo board absolute authority over the Greensward. He reminds us somewhat of a Japanese soldier discovered on a Pacific island, years after World War II is over, unaware that the battle has long been lost.

The Strickland plan is a compromise, as any enduring solution to a long-running controversy tends to be, but in its own right, it is an intriguing proposal to diversify and conjoin two marvelous urban attractions that are — and ought to be — complementary to each other, rather than at cross purposes.

Chuck Brady, come aboard! It’s time to end this pointless set-to and work together.

Categories
News News Blog

Zambezi River Hippo Camp to Open Friday

Memphis Zoo officials said Monday that the brand new Zambezi River Hippo Camp exhibit will open Friday, April 29. 

The event will kick off with a ribbon cutting ceremony at 11:30 a.m. Friday. It will be the first major exhibit to open at the zoo since Teton Trek in 2009. 

“This is the most ambitious exhibit we’ve constructed to date – in terms of both the architecture and animals curated,” said Matt Thompson, director of animal programs at Memphis Zoo. “The Zambezi River Valley is a lesser-known, but extremely important part of the world. We can’t wait for visitors to learn about this area through a cultural experience like never before. Besides our new and rare animals, there will also be interactive stations throughout the exhibit for both children and adults to enjoy.”

The four-acre exhibit will feature hippos, Nile crocodiles, okapi, nyala antelope, patas monkeys, yellow-backed duikers, lesser flamingos, cape vultures, and other African birds.

Categories
Letters To The Editor Opinion

What They Said …

CREDIT: Greg Cravens

Greg Cravens

About Toby Sells’ post “Greensward Protest Caused ‘Almost Irreparable Harm'” …

A recent statement from the Memphis Zoo to the Flyer regarding last weekend’s protest on the Greensward was filled with false insinuations, half-truths, and outright lies, and I cannot let it be disseminated to the general public without responding. 

Here is a portion of the zoo’s version of what transpired last Saturday: “Many families parked blocks and blocks away because they were directed by protesters acting as zoo volunteers, only to arrive to see plenty of paved parking available but blocked by protesters. Still others were unable to visit the zoo at all.” 

Wrong on all points. 

I am a proud member of the Free Parking Brigade. I was at the corner of Galloway and McLean with my friends last Saturday, and at no point did we impersonate zoo employees. What we did was work our tails off from10 a.m. to 12:45 p.m., directing cars to available parking on city streets. Most of them were from out of town, had no idea what all the fuss was about and, when told, were horrified that the zoo would park vehicles on the grass.

We must have directed over 1,000 zoo visitors to free parking, and a Memphis police officer helped them cross the busy street safely while a zoo employee stood there and took a video of us working. We probably brought in an extra $10,000 for the very zoo that seems to despise us. 

Though they did stand their ground on the Greensward, it is not true that protesters blocked any zoo patrons from using paved parking. 

The Memphis Zoo is held in such low regard at this point simply because they continue to be arrogant and obstinate, and issue false information through the media to support their claim to the Greensward.

It’s way past time to act like a responsible adult, Chuck Brady, and join thousands of other Memphians who love their park and seek to become part of the solution to this controversial issue, and not part of the problem.

Gordon Alexander

Two solutions for the zoo: It should build its own parking with the support and help of the community for funding and planning, as any other responsible community partner would. Or they can choose the path they are on: spin, pivot, and lie to avoid the inevitable. The protests will continue, and eventually people will stop coming, thus also resolving the parking problem.

I’m good with either one.

Fitz Dearmore

Wouldn’t it be hilarious if this whole zoo parking debacle turned out to be part of the conspiracy perpetrated by the old money, East Memphis land speculators and developers to diminish the livability of Memphis proper in order to continue to fuel their ill-conceived (yet so far perfectly executed) concept of “growth”? Or, more correctly, what has been spoon-fed to us as growth but in truth has resulted in nothing more than personal gain at public expense. 

You hear the argument in the news even now; it’s the underlying truth behind “de-annexation” and “tax base.” This phenomenon, this conspiracy, is precisely what has given us the precariously imbalanced city we all know and love, with so much economic power focused out East, while the vast majority of the city (geographically speaking) is an economic wasteland.

Either way, you can rest assured that the real forces behind this situation have little or nothing to do with the big bad zoo bullying a bunch of peaceniks. Ask yourself why so many politicians, people supposedly elected by you and me, are inexplicably siding with the zoo. Or why they seem not only deaf to reasonable compromise, but adamantly opposed to it? I’m not quite ready to watch it all go to hell just yet. I believe I shall take a stand.

Aaron James

Categories
Opinion Viewpoint

Memphis’ Central Park

CREDIT: overtonpark.org

overtonpark.org

Some describe the clash over the Memphis Zoo’s frequent and unacceptable practice of parking cars on Overton Park’s Greensward as an absurd battle over a grassy lot. In fact, it is about the right of Memphians to actively craft their urban environment.

When I moved to Memphis in 1998, Overton Park’s playgrounds were in disrepair, its infrastructure was crumbling, and crime was common. Today, Overton Park is thriving, thanks to the work of the Overton Park Conservancy and the advocacy and volunteer efforts of park users. Every day, a diverse spectrum of Memphians enjoys renovated playgrounds, large picnic tables for family reunions, a weekly farmers market, fenced dog parks, and more, all without charge.

The Memphis Zoo has also grown during that period, adding four major exhibits, most recently the Zambezi River Hippo Camp, but not one additional parking spot. In response to increased parking pressure, the zoo was temporarily permitted to park cars on Overton Park’s Greensward during times of peak demand.

The Greensward is not an unused field or stretch of vacant land. It is an integral aesthetic design feature of the park, offering pastoral views created with specific scale and proportion. Parking cars there is akin to erecting a cell tower in the middle of the zoo’s beautiful China exhibit. Nevertheless, park users endured this ill-conceived stopgap measure in silence for many years.

Unfortunately, Greensward parking has increased and now occurs on virtually all weekends and holidays when the weather is nice, exactly when people want to use the park. Even when cars aren’t present, tire ruts carved in the soil make the area unsightly and unsuitable for intended uses such as walking, playing Frisbee and soccer, and kite-flying.

In response to rising calls to end Greensward parking, the zoo has sabotaged the efforts of community partners seeking alternative parking solutions. For example, the zoo actively discouraged its members from using shuttles during a trial run in 2014. They refused to partner in or contribute financially to the OPC’s expert-led, public traffic and parking study currently underway.

Recently, the zoo has become more aggressive. They uprooted 27 trees to accommodate more cars, trees that were donated to the OPC by a long-time park supporter and planted in memory of her mother. They are attempting a landgrab by suing for management authority over part of the Greensward. They plan to install a parking surface, a prospect that is unacceptable to park users. The zoo clearly views Greensward parking as a permanent entitlement, not an interim measure.

The Old Forest is another wonderful Overton Park amenity. It is heavily used by runners, cyclists, and walkers; it is an educational resource; and it provides the tonic of wilderness for city dwellers. It is home to an uncommonly wide range of plant and animal species.

Sadly, the zoo has done significant harm to this ecosystem and threatens further injury. In 2008, without warning or soliciting public comment, it clear-cut four acres of rare, old-growth urban forest to make way for its Teton Trek exhibit, which was built in such a way as to expose park users to the kind of industrial views that they go to the park to escape. The zoo plans to develop an additional 17 acres of forest, again with no scheduled opportunity for public comment.

Such development would radically and permanently damage the Old Forest. The zoo should honor its stated values: “The biodiversity of ALL [emphasis theirs] flora and fauna have value and as a zoological and botanical garden we have a responsibility to support their preservation. The destruction, degradation, or loss of functional ecosystems and the species that occupy them is unacceptable.”

Memphians are tired of the zoo management’s elitist and destructive tactics. “Save the Greensward” signs are present in hundreds of yards and businesses around town. Our elected officials have received hundreds of emails criticizing the zoo. Letters to the editor, responses to zoo board members’ editorial columns, and posts on the zoo’s own Facebook feed tilt heavily against the zoo’s heavy-handed tactics. The zoo’s characterization of its critics as a “vocal few” is demonstrably inaccurate.

The zoo is a beloved Memphis institution, but we have accommodated their selfish behavior long enough. We taxpaying Memphians want our park back. It is time for zoo leaders to solve the problem created by their failure to plan for adequate parking within their own boundaries. Whatever form this solution takes, this much is clear: All Greensward parking must end, and no additional park land can be allocated to the zoo.

Eric Gottlieb is a proud Memphian, a daily commuter through Overton Park, and a member of the Memphis Zoological Society.

Categories
News The Fly-By

Memphis Zoo President Talks Parking and Public Perception

Equal access to Overton Park is at the heart of the Greensward argument for Chuck Brady, president and CEO of the Memphis Zoo.

Zoo visitors come from “every part of the city,” and without Greensward parking, they’ll be turned away, he said. Overton Park is not a neighborhood park for a few but a community park for all, which is basically how Brady justified the Zoo’s decision earlier this month to remove some trees that had been planted on the Greensward by the Overton Park Conservancy.

The Zoo does have authority over one-third of the Greensward, according to a legal opinion by Memphis City Council attorney Allan Wade. Brady said he hopes this will be made clear with a judge’s order, which is why Brady said he and the Zoo’s board filed their lawsuit last week. — Toby Sells

Chuck Brady

Flyer: So you felt that Wade’s opinion gave the Zoo the right to take those trees?

Chuck Brady: It gave us management authority on that area, which we’ve always had.

To a lot of folks, it looks like the Zoo was just a bully and did this without anyone’s permission.

That’s the same way the trees went in. I think more importantly, you have to understand, that area is the only parking area for about 75,000 people per year. That’s a big number. Those are citizens, too. But you have a small group that is saying, no, we don’t want them. Everyone can call the other side a bully. But there are two sides to every story.

Another criticism I’ve heard about the Zoo and its future plans is that if you knew that the Zambezi River Hippo Camp was going to bring in 15 percent more visitors, why didn’t you plan on constructing 15 percent more parking?

We [already] have parking that’s adequate. What the push is, is to take some of that parking away.

You’ve said there was misleading information in the news and social media. Is there anything you want to set straight?

One of the things I saw, I think Jessica Buttermore [chair of Citizens to Preserve Overton Park] wrote a letter to the editor saying that I said that the Zoo makes a $1 million on overflow parking in Overton Park. That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. We make maybe $25,000.

Do you think the Zoo is a good Overton Park neighbor?

Are we a good park neighbor in the sense that we clean up when people park in the neighborhoods? We send crews out to clean up any litter every time. We’ve used the Greensward for almost 30 years. It’s virtually the same as it was 30 years ago. We aerate it. We clean it. I think we’re a good neighbor, but I think you’ll find a lot of different opinions on that.

I was going to show you one last thing. (Brady is shown a Facebook photo in which someone has cut their Zoo membership card in half with the caption: Fire Chuck Brady).

There are as many — and probably more — responses to us that say, good, we need the parking, and the Zoo is a vital part of this community. We get far more of them than we get of those. It’s very vocal, but it’s not the principal sentiment around Memphis. We have 27,000 members. By and large, they want what is right for the Zoo and the city, and they want equal access for all people. Nobody wants Overton Park to be a park for a few people.

Check out the full interview with Brady on MemphisFlyer.com. Brady talks about how the parking problem was created and why a parking garage is not the solution.

Categories
News News Blog

Updates on the Upgrades to New Hippo Home at the Zoo

CREDIT: The Memphis Zoo

The Memphis Zoo

The Memphis Zoo is six months away from having its African exhibits vastly expanded to include a brand new home for the hippopotamuses.

The four-acre Zambezi River Hippo Camp is meant to feel like a safari along a river. The exhibit, which opens in March 2016, will give visitors a glimpse into the wildlife of the region in Africa that doesn’t just stop at hippos; it also includes flamingos, crocodiles, and birds — complete with an aviary. The entire camp is modeled after a fishing village in the region, along with a plantation that will show the region’s relationship to coffee.

The exhibit will also feature open multipurpose buildings housed in rondavels — South African-style huts. The second story will allow visitors to have a higher view of the animals below with the ability to see all parts of the Zambezi River Hippo Camp.

[jump]

The hippo exhibit falls in line with a trend of zoos in recent years to focus on regions or groups of animals rather than just one classification of animal. According to Chuck Brady, CEO and president of the Memphis Zoo, that’s the way the Memphis Zoo has been going for the last ten years.

“When we developed ‘China,’ for our giant pandas, we made a turn in our thinking in a sense where we went to a themed exhibit that was far more than just an exhibit of wildlife,” Brady said. “We wanted to have aspects of culture, conservation interests, [and] information about the people, what they were like. We did a great job with ‘China,’ and we wanted to stick with that.”

Brady said by 2000, the original hippo exhibit was “antiquated” and inefficient through its use of “dump-and-fill” pools, where the water is dumped out every day.

“It wasn’t pleasant to look at,” Brady said. “We have a long history with hippos. It was time. That structure and facility was passed its useful life. That’s what we tried to avoid throughout our campus.”

One reason the new hippo home stands out is due to its aquarium-like observation points, under covered walkways for visitors to see how the hippos and crocodiles interact and live underwater. There will be three hippos total in the exhibit. The newest one to be added, a male, comes from Disney World’s Animal Kingdom. Four Nile crocodiles will be shipped to the zoo from a farm in South Africa.

The exhibit will be heavily interactive on top of its park-wide Keeper Chats — where zookeepers talk to the public about the specific animals — including drums ripe for beating and canoes for kids to play in.

The Zambezi River Hippo Camp is the last major exhibit out of the 20-year master plan. A new 20-year plan should be ready in about a year in a half, according to Brady.