NEWS

Brandywine Zoo gets pandas, plans expansion

robin brown
The News Journal
Brandywine Zoo director Gene Peacock

WILMINGTON – Plans were announced Thursday for a $9 million to $10 million expansion of the Brandywine Zoo, with a massive new rain forest center and more-immediate projects, such as addition of red pandas.

The rain forest "is a game-changer" for the state-owned zoo in Brandywine Park, Director Gene Peacock said. He expects it will enhance the zoo from an in-state favorite into a regional magnet. No timetable is set for the rain forest's completion, with fund-raising now in planning stages.

The massive blueprint for the zoo's future marks its rebound from last summer's low point.

In less than two weeks, a tree fell on the Monkey House and another tree crushed the commissary.

The commissary has been rebuilt, but Peacock announced Thursday that the Monkey House, under evaluation since its July damage, has been deemed too severely damaged to be saved.

The tree falls created the worst natural disaster in the zoo's 109-year-history, said Bill Montgomery, executive director of the nonprofit Delaware Zoological Society, which supports the zoo.

He and others used hand nets and pet carriers to rescue 24 tiny monkeys and a baby toucan from the crushed building as staff and volunteers wept at the sight.

Later that summer, the crew put wet towels over their faces after a smoky dryer fire forced them to evacuate the monkeys from another building used to house them before out-of-state emergency placements through an inter-zoo pact.

With those woes in the past, he said Thursday, "we're building the zoo's future now.... We've got a lot we're doing in a short period of time."

Montgomery said there is no facility like the planned rain forest between Baltimore and Buffalo, New York. Along with the shorter-term projects, he said, the expansion is expected to significantly grow the zoo's yearly attendance from the current 80,000.

The monkeys that survived the tree-fall unhurt – almost all returned from other zoos – ultimately will live in the rain forest, along with the toucan and other animals now in the zoo and to be acquired.

In coming years, Peacock said, a jaguar will star as the rain forest's "marquee animal."

An area for special events, meetings and parties will overlook the habitat, he said.

Construction is to start in days on a short-term habitat for the popular monkeys, so they can return to exhibition this summer.

The raccoon-like baby panda sisters – born at the Detroit Zoo and placed here for future breeding – will be introduced to the public this summer with a party for their first birthday.

Gov. Jack Markell on Thursday unveiled the sign on their new habitat, shrouded during their quarantine. They arrived at the zoo Wednesday night after animal keepers Laura Martin and Leah Newman flew to Detroit and drove them back after meeting their parents and keepers there.

Markell got a brief peek at them. "They're really cute," he said with a smile. "I think people are going to love to have the opportunity to see red pandas right here in Delaware."

Also unveiled was Eagle Ridge, a home for two bald eagles – a baby-feathered one that can't fly after its wing was broken in a Pennsylvania tornado last year, and a mature one disabled by lead poisoning from ingested hunting shot and fishing weights.

Eagle Ridge, designed by zoo board member/architect Robert A. Grove, will include the otter pool and add accessibility to the one zoo area that is not yet wheelchair-friendly.

During a hard-hat tour of the roofless Monkey House – said to date from the Depression era with later changes – Peacock said it had more damage after the tree. Its water was off, but a sprinkler system last winter flooded the shell, he said.

Options for its site soon will be shown for public comment, said Delaware State Parks Director Ray Bivens.

Possibilities include rebuilding the Monkey House for office space with more surface parking, creating a plaza from its salvaged bricks with signs to honor the building and zoo history, and rebuilding the Monkey House and/or adjoining education center for office and program space over expanded parking.

Contact robin brown at (302) 324-2856 or rbrown@delawareonline.com. Find her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter @rbrowndelaware.