Bid for giraffe barn faces tall problem

Last week, as the first of a series of storms reached Northern California, rain began to pelt the dirt play yard occupied by the Sacramento Zoo's three giraffes, Val, Goody and Skye. Before it became dangerously slippery, the spindly legged animals would be led back to their not-so-venerable barn, a 50-year-old rotting structure plagued by rats.

Even absent severe weather conditions, winter presents a stressful challenge for the zoo's towering trio. Space heaters in the rafters offer little resistance against wind blasting through gaps in the wood siding. The animals don't do well in cold conditions and dislike being shut in the small structure, said Lindsey Moseanko, their keeper of 15 years.

"It's a dark, cold box," Moseanko said. "They deserve better."

A new barn is the zoo's top priority, said director Mary Healy. The zoo has moved forward with initial planning and has raised $350,000 for the new exhibit space, which would include a warm barn more than twice the size of their current home.

But in December, zoo officials were surprised to learn that the $1.5 million they hoped would be available soon from the city to fund the remainder of the project wouldn't be forthcoming.

Bond funds that could have gone to the barn have been used on unexpected costs for projects given higher priority by the City Council, including the Crocker Art Museum expansion, the Valley Hi-North Laguna Library and the George Sim Community Center in the Lemon Hill area, city budget officials said.

"Now, we're basically hoping for a miracle," said Terry Kastanis, president of the Sacramento Zoological Society, the nonprofit that manages the city-owned zoo. "We're hoping that the City Council gives this another look."

Kastanis and Healy said the three giraffes' comfort isn't all that's at stake. The future of keeping giraffes in Sacramento may hang in the balance as well.

The structure was deemed "substandard" during an accreditation inspection in December, zoo officials said. The official report will be completed this spring.

Once concerns are raised, zoos are expected to show they are making progress toward correcting the problem, said Steve Feldman, a spokesman for the accrediting agency, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

"In the long run, the choice is to make improvements or consider not having giraffes," Feldman said.

The AZA has asked zoos to close substandard exhibits as a condition of maintaining their accreditation, Feldman said.

The city's budget director, Russ Fehr, said the city made clear to zoo officials that funding for the barn was not guaranteed.

In 2006, the city approved $75 million for many needed projects, including help for expanding the Crocker Art Museum, money for two south Sacramento libraries and a veterinary clinic for the zoo. The clinic was completed in November 2006.

The city also created a second tier of projects, including the giraffe barn.

"At best, (the zoo) will have to wait a fairly long time," Fehr said. "We've got construction on our projects going into 2010 and those have to be done and paid for before we know if we have any more money or not."

The chances that any money will still remain for the giraffe barn plunged further after unexpected problems with other "tier one" projects. All but $3 million of the contingency fund has been wiped out, Fehr said.

In the case of the Crocker, the city had pledged to sell a piece of land as part of its contribution. However, a slowed real estate market meant the city couldn't get the price it expected. Instead, the city funneled $15 million to the Crocker using bond contingency money and $6.3 million that had once been approved for an Indian Heritage Museum that will now be in West Sacramento.

The city finding other money for the giraffe barn has little chance, said City Councilman Rob Fong, whose Land Park district includes the zoo. The city faces a financial crisis, with estimates of a deficit of as much as $55 million in 2008-09.

However, Fong said he'd keep a close watch over the funded bond projects to see if any money for the barn could come available.

"The zoo is a city treasure," Fong said. "We want to make sure the animals are kept in a humane condition and that we are an accredited zoo."

Moseanko, the giraffes' keeper, said she's seen Goody, "the sweet one," grow more vulnerable to the cold. She knows Val would like more room to roam. She imagines a barn large enough to add a male, and how the group could then reproduce.

The new exhibit would also include an elevated walkway, allowing the public to view her charges eye-to-eye, and even allow hand feeding.

Moseanko clucks and coos to the three, and allows a visitor to walk up a pathway next to the enclosure for a better look. Goody uses her long, black tongue (16 inches!) to take her favorite acacia leaves from a visitor's hand.

The more she speaks, the more passionate Moseanko becomes about the giraffe's future.

"This zoo has done a lot over the last few years to improve," Moseanko said. "I'll do anything – beg if I have to – to get the giraffes what they need."

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• Call The Bee's Terri Hardy, (916) 321-1073.