New buildings had also impacted the view of the zoo from the harbour, Ms Eccles said. “From the Mosman ferry, the view used to be mainly one of tree cover with very few buildings. Now there are buildings and fewer trees.”
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Ms Eccles praised the zoo for its conservation, research and indigenous program: “The education role is also taken seriously. Sometimes this is at an infotainment level, but all ages and levels of education are catered for.”
But she said the zoo was under pressure to generate money because governments were not prepared to provide adequate funding.
“The expenses of animal care, research and education must be huge, but there must be a way of getting around this without Disneyfying it,” Ms Eccles said.
“Upgrades lean more to the human animal. Play areas for children seem to have become as important as animal habitat.”
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Mr Kerr said he was extremely proud of Taronga and the modern zoo it had become, the experiences offered to guests “and the role we play as the first responders and the last line of defence to help save wildlife”.
Exhibits were designed to provide state-of-the-art facilities for animals, while also offering “ways for guests to engage with wildlife and enjoy the visitor experience,” he said.
Upper House Animal Justice Party MP Emma Hurst said zoos were “primarily entertainment venues”.
“Too many structures and too much concrete may be an eyesore for humans, but it is also a completely unnatural habitat for the animals held captive at the zoo,” she said.
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“There is nothing natural about a lion, an elephant or a giraffe living in the middle of an Australian city.”
Previous building plans at the zoo have also attracted concern, with Mosman Council joining residents to oppose construction of an eco-resort.
“Council was of the opinion that a ‘hotel’ was not a permissible use at the zoo or an appropriate use of public land,” Mosman mayor Carolyn Corrigan said.
Cr Corrigan said the council had not opposed building plans for the exhibition and care of animals, but had asked the zoo to consider the traffic and car parking implications of its developments.
“Council has recommended that all applications consider the visual impacts of any structures when viewed from the harbour and to ensure that the existing tree canopy cover is maintained and enhanced,” she said.
Linda Bergin, founding president of the Headland Preservation Group and advocate for Sydney’s heritage parklands, said Taronga needed to ensure it does not “overdevelop its extraordinary bushland headland location to maximise tourist dollars”.
“Education is a valid purpose, but does public viewing of sick animals in the proposed new hospital cross a moral line?” she said.
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Source: SMH
