Bucks County Zoo to Temporarily Close

The will be temporarily closing its doors to the public effective October 9, to regroup and refocus its efforts on constructing a permanent, state-of-the-art, LEED certified facility within the Bucks County area.

Special viewing hours will be available between Sept. 29 and Oct. 1 and Oct. 7 through Oct. 9 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on all days.

Mike Marshean, chair of the Bucks County Zoo’s board, stated in the release, “While we are taking a step back we aren’t losing sight of our vision to build a zoo in Bucks County, which will become a tremendous community resource educating hundreds of thousands of people and creating valuable jobs in our area.”

Since "Jungle" Joe Fortunato opened the facility in 2009 after retiring as a police officer, the Bucks County Zoo and its traveling show, Jungle Junction, has been met with a mixed reaction. It has been named Best of Bucks-Mont Award for Children’s Entertainment by The Intelligencer, won the People’s Choice Award for Best Children’s Entertainment by the Philadelphia Daily News and Fortunato has been featured on television programs such as the Late Show with David Letterman.

Opponents of the zoo, such as Marianne Bessey, founder of Animal ACTivists of Philly, have been vocal about what they feel are poor living conditions and the lack of information regarding the fate of animals that become too big for the facility, such as Yuki, the baby Bengal tiger .

A statement on the group’s Facebook page says, “The zoo’s announcement comes after a year-long campaign staged by local citizens calling for the zoo’s closure and accountability for animals temporarily housed in small wire mesh cages and plastic boxes at the windowless facility.  Of major concern were the dozens of baby animals used by the zoo for photo opportunities and birthday party rentals while they were small, but disappearing months later to unknown destinations.”

“It’s a warehouse with no windows,” said Bessey, “and the animals are kept in cages all day.”

The zoo’s statement says that as the board focuses the next 18 months on its effort to identify land and raise funds to build the new zoo, Fortunato is finding new homes for the animals with other Zoological Association of America (ZAA) accredited zoos and licensed facilities throughout the United States.

“We’re happy to see the zoo close, but we are worried about what will happen to those animals,” said Bessey. “Are they just going to be sold to the highest bidder that can afford it?”

Calls to Fortunato for comment have not been returned.

Although the zoo is temporarily ceasing operations, its website and progress reports will still be available by visiting www.buckscountyzoo.org. Members of the public can continue to make donations, which will be held in a secure fund and dedicated towards the building of the new zoo.

The zoo will be housed in Warminster until Dec. 1, 2011. From that day forward, the release states, it will exist as a “zoo without walls” until a suitable permanent home can be identified.