Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.life From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Moscow Zoo hunts for new ideas on U.S. trip Date: Sat, 21 Nov 92 17:35:41 EST Message-ID: \SE B;LIFE \HD Moscow Zoo hunts for new ideas on U.S. trip \BY Siobhan McDonough \CR THE WASHINGTON TIMES Visiting delegations of fact-gathering Russians are hardly anything new to Washington, but in these days of struggling democracy and economic peril in the former Soviet Union it is perhaps a bit unexpected for the visitors to be touring zoos. Officials of Moscow, however, see nothing extraordinary in the timing of their recent U.S. tour aimed at gleaning tips for improving the Moscow Zoo. "Zoos are a cause of the people," says Igor Bugaev, chairman of the Committee on Culture of the Moscow City Government, when asked about the seemingly incongruent nature of focusing on animals and the zoo during a tumultuous period of economic, social and political restructuring at home. Mr. Bugaev's colleague, Vladimir Spitsin, couldn't agree more. "No matter how hard people have it, they love zoos," says Mr. Spitsin, director of the Moscow Zoo. "During World War II when Leningrad was under a 900-day seige, many died of hunger. But people tried to preserve the animals living in the city's zoo by offering their dead domestic animals to the zoo to be mixed with sawdust and rat meat for food for the zoo animals. It saved the zoo animals from starvation." The 128-year-old Moscow Zoo has never closed, even during the roughest times in Soviet history, Mr. Spitsin says proudly. But today, the zoo's buildings, cages, facilities and operations on its 50-acre lot are in desperate need of a grand-scale face lift. "The Moscow Zoo is like other old things that need a lot of help," Mr. Spitsin says, reinforcing the need to mend old facilities, build new ones and update the philosophy of the 19th-century institution. By visiting several zoos in different regions of the United States, he hopes the delegation - which includes two architects in addition to Mr. Bugaev and Mr. Spitsin - will avoid administrative and developmental blunders when new construction begins at the Moscow Zoo. "You can never have an ideal zoo. You can only try to make fewer mistakes. The more we see what's been done at other zoos, the better we will do," says Mr. Spitsin, an internationally known biologist who has headed the Moscow Zoo for more than 20 years. Since mid-October, the Russians have visited several zoos around the country, including Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo, the New York Zoological Park (Bronx Zoo), the San Diego Zoo and the Chicago Zoological Park (Brookfield Zoo). The Moscow Zoo - located in the center of the city - is known for its more than 100 rare species of animals, including cranes, orangutans, waterfowl and red-breasted geese. Despite its outdated facilities and financial hardships, it attracts about 3.5 million visitors each year. "No matter what the circumstances wherever you go, the attitude toward zoos around the world seems to be the same. People in Moscow and the U.S. have the same interest in animals," Mr. Spitsin says. "People love zoos no matter where you go." In addition to renovating existing facilities and updating programs, by 1995 zoo officials hope to begin building a scientific research center, veterinary hospital with a laboratory and a bridge to connect the two parts of the zoo that currently are divided by a street. Admiring one of North America's largest freshwater tanks at the National Zoo's new Amazonia Exhibition, the Russians inundated zoo officials with questions about the structural, architectural and biological aspects of the impressive 60,000 gallon aquarium and rain-forest setting. "This is a crazy house," says museum specialist Ed Smith, standing in an area that is home to sloths, blue-gray tanagers, silver-beaked tanagers and Brazilian cardinals. "Yes. But it is a nice crazy house," Mr. Spitsin says, watching two titi monkeys get used to their new surroundings. The visiting Russsians are curious about the cost, manpower and time that went into the new facility. "Only America can help with certain things. The technology and the implementation of some things can only be achieved by American sources," says Mr. Spitsin, expressing an interest in hiring American companies to help with the Moscow Zoo project. He is busy operating a camcorder and taking measurements by walking from one end of an exhibition to another. It's been an exhausting day for the delegates, typical of their three-week venture. They browse the Reptile Center, Cheetah Conservation Station, Small Mammal House and Veterinary Hospital and meet with zoo officials to discuss general contractors, the mechanical aspects of exhibitions and how such structures are financed and maintained. "They are astounded by the magnitude of the volunteer program at the zoo," says National Zoo Associate Director for Biological Sciences Ben Beck. The Friends of the National Zoo (FONZ) includes 400 volunteers who do about 60,000 volunteer hours each year. "They've become more aware of the potential way to increase the work force at little expense," Mr. Beck says. "The delegates had an opportunity to view modern methods of facility design and exhibition philosophy of North American zoos, which are about a century ahead of the Moscow Zoo." "They were exposed to the new generation of zoo philosophy," Mr. Beck says, explaining that ecological processes and relationships are more evident in modern zoos. In the future, National Zoo officials expect to help the Moscow Zoo with research programs and increasing natural activity among animals in zoo exhibitions. The main areas of collaboration, Mr. Beck says, will be in the areas of reproductive physiology, genetics and behavior. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM