LITTLE ROCK — After addressing deficiencies found in an inspection last year, the Little Rock Zoo has been granted reaccreditation, a zoo spokesman said Tuesday.
Spokesman Susan Altrui said the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Accreditation Commission made its decision Monday at a hearing in Phoenix after being briefed on steps the zoo had taken to remedy shortcomings cited in the July 2011 inspection.
Those steps, made possible by a 1 percent sales tax passed by voters a year ago, included increasing spending on maintenance and repairs and hiring a full-time education curator and veterinarian.
“If we had not passed that tax last September and we were going into this hearing a year later, I would have been a lot more nervous,” Altrui said.
The Accreditation Commission, made up of zoo officials from across the country, met Sunday and Monday as part of the association’s annual conference.
The Little Rock Zoo’s accreditation came up for the five-year renewal last year, but the commission extended it for just a year while giving the zoo time to correct the deficiencies.
A day later, Little Rock voters approved a 1 percent sales tax increase, including a permanent five-eighths percent tax for citywide operations. The remainder of the increase, earmarked for capital improvements, expires in 2021.
Zoo officials have said they expect the tax to generate about $1.6 million annually for zoo operations and a total of $8 million for capital improvements over 10 years.
The money has been used to hire 10 people, including the education curator and veterinarian, Altrui said.
She said the zoo plans to hire about 11 more, including an education assistant, assistant guest services director, a cafe supervisor, a maintenance technician, three zookeepers and an employee who will focus on raising private money for the zoo.
She said the zoo has also increased its budget for maintenance and repairs to $435,000, up from about $80,000 a year earlier.
“For a facility the size of our zoo, $80,000 is just a drop in the bucket,” Altrui said.
The zoo has announced plans to use capital improvement money from the capital improvement tax to add exhibits of meerkats, Australian outback animals, hippopotamuses, nocturnal animals and Arkansas farm animals.
Altrui said the zoo submitted a report to the commission in July outlining improvements that had been made. On Monday she briefed commissioners and answered questions before its vote.
The zoo lost its accreditation in 1998 but regained it three years later.
City Director Brad Cazort, who is on the zoo’s board, said maintaining accreditation helps the zoo raise money from private donors and allows it to continue obtaining animals from other zoos through the association’s Species Survival Plans.
“Without accreditation, they might as well shut the zoo down,” he said.
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 09/12/2012