Tag: Memphis Zoo

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Letters To The Editor Opinion

What They Said…

CREDIT: Greg Cravens

Greg Cravens

About Toby Sells’ post, “Urban Land Institute: Save the Coliseum, Youth Sports for Fairgrounds” …

I see nothing new here, minus the fact of complete demolition of the Coliseum. The idea of a “shell” of a building was introduced at the Roundhouse Revival, and carried along by a very few to the charrette meetings the following week. I see nothing that we did not expect. What was the fee for this study?

SmoothieMovie

The report does not call for saving the Coliseum, but repurposing part of it in homage to the original, the same recommendation as the preliminary report.

TjonesMfs

Move the Zoo! The Fairgrounds property is roughly three times the size of the current Zoo property, and there is room to expand even beyond that. The Zoo is one of our best attractions. Double its size and provide enough parking to create a world-class facility that would likely become the No. 1 attraction in Memphis. Move the Zoo and solve umpteen problems at once, not just for today but for decades to come.

Jeff

The only way moving the Zoo works (financially) is if the current Zoo property is sold to private interests for development. If it reverts to public-owned parkland, you get no return on all that capital and sunk costs. That’s the only way you would be able to raise the kind of seed funds to make it viable. Even then, there is probably too much money sunk into the current location. Where is this community going to come up with the $100 million or more that it would take to build a new world-class zoo from scratch?

Packrat

I suggest Corrections Corporation of America. Either location. The Zoo is obvious. The Coliseum, I believe, has been suggested as the next Thunderdome.

Dayn Rand

About Bianca Phillips’ post, “Officer Who Shot Darrius Stewart Will Not Face Criminal Charges” …

It is often said that a district attorney could indict a ham sandwich. I can’t help but wonder how enthusiastically Weirich made her case.

Randy Osborn

A young career criminal,who has two out-of-state outstanding warrants, assaulted a law enforcement officer with handcuffs while wrestling on the ground, which resulted in the officer shooting said criminal in self-defense. And now it’s time for Al Not-So Sharpton to come to Memphis and profit from the naive and the stupid? Or is it Jesse Jackson’s turn to fly in and line his pockets? Or maybe, just maybe, it’s time for Obama to metaphorically adopt another “son”?

Nightcrawler

Nightcrawler, do you know of any instances of police brutality or unjustified shootings?

CL Mullins

About Kevin Lipe’s post, “Warriors Hand Grizzlies the Worst Loss in Franchise History” …

Chris Wallace shouldn’t be allowed to GM this team after this season. He’s responsible for all this oldness on the team. The Grizz need a fresh vision for the future.

Dave Joerger hasn’t been the coach he was said to be — a guy who could renovate the offense and develop young players — but I’m not a fan of sacking coaches who consistently win 50-plus games a season. I think it’s the GM’s fault. We don’t have the personnel to play the kind of offense that is needed, and the team keeps adding old players, which makes it difficult to develop young players.

Iggy

I said before the season began that we have to attempt to trade Tony Allen for a younger wing player who can shoot. We cannot play four-on-five basketball on offensive and expect to win. While it may not be popular in town, we need to get rid of Allen while he still has some value. Until we do, why not start Barnes instead. Then let Beno, Wright, Jeff Green, Adams, and JaMychal Green come off the bench, and use Tony as a spot take-on defender with either unit from time to time?

Fred

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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.

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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.

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News The Fly-By

Fly on the Wall 1391

Paradise Lost

Where is this mythical place called Dystopia? According to this lovely, lion-faced sign, it can be found in Memphis’ historic empty parking-lot district, also known as the Pinch.

Zoo Fight

You’ve probably heard the stories going around, but here’s what really happened. The Memphis Zoo was trying out a new exhibit showcasing creatures from Madagascar. First, this radiated tortoise looked at the Malagasy tree boa like he was no better than a snake. Which he is obviously, but who does that? Anyway, to repay his amphibious roommate for the presumed insult, the Malagasy tree boa bit the radiated tortoise on his fool head. “You looking at me?”, he then demanded, ripping off his little snake shirt and wrapping himself around the tortoise’s neck in an attempt to constrict some sense into him. If a zookeeper hadn’t separated the two, who knows what might have happened next? And that’s why they can’t have anything nice in the Herpetarium.

Neverending Elvis

Outspoken atheist Richard Dawkins appeared on the religiously themed Irish television program The Meaning of Life last week to discuss his controversial views and to make a surprise confession about Elvis Presley, who, in addition to sparking a religious fervor in fans, may have also possessed the power to work actual miracles. In his interview with show host Gay Byrne, Dawkins revealed that he had spent some small amount of time as an ardent Christian and “Elvis prophet” after coming into contact with some of Presley’s gospel records.

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Film/TV Film/TV/Etc. Blog

The Keepers to Open Indie Memphis 2015

Memphis filmmakers Joann Self Selvidge and Sara Kaye Larson’s  documentary The Keepers will be the opening night film for this year’s Indie Memphis Film Festival. The film focuses on the people who keep the nationally acclaimed Memphis Zoo running, and their complex and sometimes heartbreaking relationships with the animals in their care. 

Carolyn Horton in The Keepers

The closing night feature will also be a documentary. Orion: The Man Who Would Be King, directed by British filmmaker Jeanne Finley, cuts to the origin of the “Elvis Is Still Alive” myth. In the late 1970s, a man named Jimmie Ellis who had a voice that was uncannily like The King’s made a name for himself as a masked singer named Orion, who, rumor had it, was actually Elvis. 

Orion

Among the other movies announced for the festival today are Todd Haynes’ Carol, starring Cate Blanchett, and a 25th anniversary screening of Metropolitan, a pioneering indie production that created a blueprint for countless low-budget ensemble pieces, with director Whit Stillman. The second opening night feature, Tangerine, is a surreal crime drama shot entirely on iPhones by director Sean Baker. You can see clips from all of the announced films in this short video. For more information, go to the Indie Memphis website. 

The Keepers to Open Indie Memphis 2015

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Two Great Beers, Two Great Causes

CREDIT: John Klyce Minervini

John Klyce Minervini

Church Health Center’s Marvin Stockwell and Citizens to Preserve Overton Park’s Jessica Buttermore enjoy craft brews for a tasty cause.

I’ve heard it said that Memphis is the biggest small town in America. To judge from the beer, I think it might be true. This weekend, Memphis Made Brewing debuted two craft beers, each tied to a local event and an important cause.

The first is Rocket #9, an IPA that will be served over the weekend at Church Health Center’s 9th annual Rock For Love concert series. (click here to see the complete schedule)

Where flavor is concerned, Rocket #9 is understated and oaky. Made with Pacific Gem Hops from New Zealand, it’s a contemplative pale ale with notes from the forest floor. Perfect for a late-night conversation, or unwinding after a punk rock concert. Pezz, anyone?

John Klyce Minervini

Memphis Made’s Rocket #9 IPA will be served this weekend at Rock For Love.

The cause is even tastier. For 28 years, Church Health Center been providing low-cost health and wellness care for the working uninsured. Today, more than 60,000 people in Shelby County are counting on them.

“We’re helping this city get healthy and stay healthy,” says CHC communications director Marvin Stockwell. “And one of the ways we do that is by taking care of Memphis’s hardworking musicians.

“What an amazingly generous group of people,” he continues. “Not to mention, they make the best music in the world. I mean, come on. You can’t go wrong with that.”

This year, in addition to a badass music lineup, Rock For Love will feature a dunk tank, a comedy showcase, and a pop-up fitness park. So drink a beer already! It’s for charity.

The second craft brew is Memphis Made’s Greenswarden. It will be served this Saturday at Get Off Our Lawn’s Party for the Greensward, which features a great lineup of local bands.

Here’s the issue. The City of Memphis allows the zoo to put their overflow parking on the Greensward (the big field in Overton Park, the one by Rainbow Lake). They’ve been doing it for about 20 years. But Citizens to Preserve Overton Park (CPOP)—the group behind Get Off Our Lawn—say they’ve had about enough. 

[jump]

John Klyce Minervini

Memphis Made’s ‘Greenswarden’ hefeweizen will be served at Saturday’s Party for the Greensward.

“It’s public land, and they’re making a profit off it. We think that’s wrong,” says CPOP president Jessica Buttermore. “They’re not planning for their parking needs. Instead, they’re dumping it on the city and the surrounding neighborhood.”

“Our mission is to protect the park,” she continues. “As public land, it should be free for us to use.”

As a hefeweizen, Greenswarden is slightly cloudy with a balanced, fruity flavor. Don’t laugh: at my tasting, we even thought we detected notes of bubblegum. Only we couldn’t decide which one. Bubblicious? Fruit stripe?

“I don’t know if I would go brand-specific,” cautions Memphis Made co-founder Andy Ashby. “I guess I don’t really chew enough gum to pin it down.”

As for Memphis Made, Ashby says brewing beers for important local causes is right in the brewery’s wheelhouse.

“We’re not like these big breweries,” Ashby says. “We can’t make it rain t-shirts and coozies. But one thing we can do is make a beer for a cause we believe in.”

John Klyce Minervini

Memphis Made Brewing co-founder Andy Ashby

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News News Blog

Memphis Zoo Launches Naming Contest for Baby Red Panda

CREDIT: Karen Pulfer Focht

Karen Pulfer Focht

A red panda cub was born at the Memphis Zoo on June 3rd. He’s currently being reared on-site in the red panda night house, but the zoo hasn’t yet given him a name. 

On Friday at noon, the Memphis Zoo launched a naming contest. They’re calling on the public to submit names on the Memphis Zoo Facebook page between August 28th and September 8th. And then, between September 10th and 18th, the public will vote on their favorite name. The winning name will be revealed on September 19th, which also happens to be International Red Panda Day.

The baby was born to parents Justin and Lucille, and Director of Animal Programs Matt Thompson said Lucille has been a great mother so far.

“Lucille is turning out to be quite an excellent the mother. Especially for a first-time mother, Lucille’s instincts have been impeccable,” Thompson said.

“Red pandas are a lessor-known and endangered species, so we wanted to hold this naming contest to help bring awareness about these cute little guys,” said Laura Doty, marketing and communications manager for the Memphis Zoo. “It’s also a fun way to name animals, and we hope to get children and adults of all ages involved. This will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for someone to forever be a part of the Memphis Zoo’s history.”

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News News Blog

Search For Missing Monkey Takes Over Memphis Twittersphere

As of 2:30 p.m. on Friday, Memphis Zoo officials were still searching for Zimm, the macaque monkey who escaped her enclosure around 3 p.m. Thursday afternoon.

Laura Doty, the Memphis Zoo’s marketing and communications manager, said zoo officials believe Zimm is hiding out in the zoo’s culvert system, where a zookeeper spotted her yesterday. 

Doty says they’re going inlet to inlet doing a systematic search in the culvert system. Once they establish that an inlet is clear, they’re shutting the inlet off to narrow down the search. Traps with fresh produce are set up in the culvert to lure the three-year-old monkey in.

Meanwhile, Memphians are having a blast with Zimm’s escape on Twitter. Zimm has an unofficial Twitter account at @Zimm901. Here are a few sample tweets from Zimm.

But non-monkey Memphians are much funnier. Here are some of our favorite Zimm-related tweets of the day.

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News News Blog

Citizens Make Demands of Memphis Zoo in Petition

This photo of muddy ruts in the Overton Park Greensward accompanies the petition.

A petition that issues a list of demands to the Memphis Zoo has, at press time, nearly garnered 800 signatures. Chief among those demands is the issue of zoo parking on Overton Park’s Greensward. 

Last year, park users protested the long-standing practice of Memphis Zoo patrons parking on Overton Park’s largest green space on peak days. That led to protester-led sit-ins on the Greensward, a brief test of shuttling zoo visitors from the Overton Square parking garage to the zoo, and the eventual reworking of the zoo’s long-term parking plans.

A reconfiguration of Memphis Zoo parking would add 250 new parking spaces to zoo lots and add up to 100 available on-street parking spots along North Parkway once bike lanes have been striped there. That is expected to ease up on Greensward parking, but it will not eliminate the zoo’s need to allow some overflow parking there.

The petition calls for an end to all Greensward parking though. 

“Over 20 years of parking on Overton Park’s greensward has killed the grass, compressed the soil, and carved muddy ruts that make the greensward unusable even when cars are not parked there. The zoo should till and reseed the affected area, making it suitable once again for its intended uses,” the petition states, adding that all future zoo enhancements should include additional parking. “Adding or improving exhibits draws additional visitors. The zoo should find ways to accommodate their guests without harming Overton Park or the surrounding communities.”

Other demands include:
* Canceling the zoo’s planned Chickasaw Trail exhibit and removing the fence around the 17-acre area of Old Growth Forest where the zoo plans to build it.

* Concealing the back side of the Teton Trek exhibit from the view of park users.

* Ceasing the use of park roads as service roads for zoo vehicles.

* Establishing a procedure to seek community input on all future zoo plans.

* Respecting the park’s boundaries. States the petition, “The zoo has claimed too much parkland already. It has no claim to additional park land, including the maintenance facility in the southeast corner of the park.”

* Partnering with Overton Park Conservancy and other park and environmental advocates to help the zoo “grow in a way that benefits, rather than harms, Overton Park.” 

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News The Fly-By

Fly on the Wall 1359

Neverending Elvis
A huge auction held at Graceland over Elvis’ birthday week in January resulted in the sale of the King’s first Phillips Recording Service pressing. The record, which features “My Happiness” on one side and “That’s When your Heartache Begins” on the flipside, sold to a mystery bidder for $300,000. The bidder turned out to be none other than a rocker who has since announced that his Third Man label will make 10-inch, 78-rpm copies of the historic disc available for Record Store Day on April 18th. Of course, none of that is as important as this snuggie-like blanket I found in a store in Middle Tennessee that turns the wearer into an Elvis Wizard.

An Elvis Wizard with the power to completely deflate his or her body.

Sadly, this is a superpower the actual Elvis never possessed.

Neverending Payton
It turns out that Elvis isn’t Memphis’ only white-suited megastar. Last week, the Memphis Zoo posted a video of Payton the polar bear rolling around in the snow to its Facebook page. The video quickly received nearly half a million views.

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News The Fly-By

The Latest on Parking, Permits, and Sidewalks

CREDIT: Brandon Dill

Here’s an update on some of the stories that we began covering in 2014 and will continue to follow in the New Year.

• Overflow parking for the Memphis Zoo will continue on the Greensward at Overton Park for a period that could stretch until 2019.

Memphis Mayor A C Wharton said while his “clear preference” was not to use the space for parking, the experience of this past summer made it clear to him that the Greensward “will be an important relief for zoo parking until such time as a viable alternative is realized.” 

The news came in a letter from Wharton to Tina Sullivan, Overton Park Conservancy executive director, on Wednesday, December 31st. The sentiment is a complete departure from a Wharton letter in May that said the city was committed to eliminating Greensward parking by the end of 2014.

“We were very surprised and disappointed to receive this letter from the city a few hours ago,” read a Facebook post from Get Off Our Lawn, a group organized to fight Greensward parking. “The fight for a car-free Greensward continues.”

Going forward, Wharton wants zoo and park stakeholders to work together to develop a viable plan for parking that does not include the Greensward. 

He called Overton Park a “great treasure” and called the zoo a “tremendous asset.” Wharton wrote, “The city will allow parking on the Greensward, as may be absolutely essential to zoo operations, until a plan is implemented, [or] Jan. 1, 2019, whichever comes first.”

Brandon Dill

Naomi Van Tol and Stacey Greenberg protest Greensward parking.

• Special parking permits will be issued to some residents who live around the Overton Square entertainment district but not as many as originally thought. 

The move to start a special parking permit program there surfaced in April. Residents complained to Memphis City Council Chairman Jim Strickland that Overton Square visitors were blocking their driveways and alleys with their cars and sometimes even parking in their yards. 

The program was approved by the council in August. Petitions were sent to neighbors in the proposed new parking district, an area bound by Cox Street on the east, Morrison Street on the west, Union Avenue on the south, and Jefferson Avenue on the north. A section of Lee Place North was also included. 

If at least 75 percents of residents on the individual streets approve permit parking for their street, they would be placed in the special parking district and permits would be issued to them. 

In all, only 10 permits will be issued to residents on a section of Monroe Avenue between Cooper and Cox. The council approved those permits on an unannounced agenda item during its last meeting of 2014.  

“Basically, [Restaurant] Iris agreed to pay for half of the first-year of permits for 10 permitees who live on the street,” said councilmember Kemp Conrad. “The neighbors … and Iris have agreed to basically split the north side of Monroe in the middle of the street.”

• The moratorium on forcing residents to fix their sidewalks was extended in late December.

City officials began enforcing a long-standing rule last year to make homeowners either fix their sidewalks or be hauled into Environmental Court. 

The council passed a two-month moratorium on the enforcement of the rule in May. Once that expired, a six-month moratorium was approved. 

The council approved its latest moratorium to last either six months or until the Wharton administration officials could propose a viable alternative. City engineer John Cameron said he and his office are working on the project and should present an alternative to the council in the first two months of 2015.