Nay Aug Park, Genesis Wildlife Center, cruel relic from the past? (Erie: appointed, credit)

[weluvpa]

Here is a copy and a link to a letter to the editor from the Times. This just shows what our current city gov't is doing to our resources here in the city. We have $35,000,000 for a garage and we have $7,000,000 for Southern Union and we have spent $6,500,000 on Nay Aug and this is what we get for it. We cannot even update and fund our own zoo and what does that do for the image of the Electric City? Sure Paul the city is looking good depending on where they are telling you to look. I wonder if the center is going to have to endure another winter of frozen water pipes and lack of funding again while our council is trying to push the mayors RECORD SETTING budget of $84,500,000 in city of less than 70,000 while places like Reading with a pop. of 81,000+ is in at $72,100,000 and Erie with a pop of 104,000 in at $57,100,000 but noooo we have to have a budget of $84,500,000 and our zoo is a laughing stock with out of state folks that have come here to visit. Nice, My pride has been restored! Disgraceful

Disappointing visit

Editor: As an animal lover and a native of Scranton, I was looking forward to visiting the Genesis Wildlife Center in Nay Aug Park. I was dismayed to find that the center is more like a creepy museum than a modern zoo or animal sanctuary.

The staff and volunteers seem to genuinely care about the animals, but they evidently lack the resources and expertise needed to give their charges a truly humane home. The animals are crowded into an antiquated, substandard facility. Their cages have thick iron bars and slippery tile floors, there is very little natural lighting and the ventilation is poor.

The Association of Zoos and Aquariums (America’s leading accrediting organization for zoos and aquariums) requires that animals be displayed, whenever possible, in exhibits that replicate their wild habitats. At the Genesis Center, little or no effort has been made to simulate the animals’ natural environments. This limits the animals’ ability to behave naturally and also severely limits the educational value of the facility. I would not recommend taking children to the center, as it is a poor example of how to care for captive wild animals.

The Genesis Wildlife Center is a relic from the past and an embarrassment to the city. Scranton can and should do better.

MARY SWEENEY

WINDSOR, N.Y.

[FightinPhils]

that place is more of a prison for animals than a zoo or "wildlife center." You'll never see more depressed-looking animals. The cages are dirty, with old tile floors, and a few old children's toys scattered around the cages. And hold your nose walking through there....the ventilation is non-existent and you can hardly breathe walking through there. Nothing to be proud of, in my opinion. (not to mention the monkey in the last cage who exposes himself and does his best Joe McDade impression for the kids.)

[to570717]

I completly agree, i took my neice and nephew there, who have been to real zoo's before and they were pretty shocked as was I. They should donate the naimals they have to real zoo's and work on making that place not soo asylum like. That poor tiger looks comatose!

[weluvpa]

The city worked out some sort of a deal with the Gensis Center so the animals are actually theirs not ours and they do have another facility, but Nay Aug is our sh&t hole and we are responsible for the facility. Its a shame that they want to push that park down our throats as a sign of recovery or restored pride and when people actually go there and see that they are soo disappointed that they will never come back. If a city cannot even fund a zoo or wildlife center then how in the hell are they going to be able to take care of the people that live in the city? Taxes well spent in my mind. My pride has been restored!

[to570717]

The Park itself looks great. The wildlife center does not.

[weluvpa]

The park itself is a mess. Where did you go? The tent is still collapsed isn't it? The city does not have the money that is needed to maintain the park and actually after they blew close to 3/4 of the parks budget on Nay Aug they had to ask the state if it would help fund the maintenance of Nay Aug park alone. The park looks good at a passing glance upon further inspection you would have noticed that its a mess and alot of it is desperate need of help.

[SteelCityRising]

While I enjoy the tree house and the Davis Trail, I'll agree that the Genesis Wildlife Center leaves much to be desired. Every time I visit I leave $10 as a donation, hoping that if everyone else does the same these poor animals won't be living in such heinous conditions. The birds near the exit are always squawking loudly and trying to bite their way out of their cages; they don't seem very happy to me at all. Most of the other animals just lie around. I have never been so depressed by a mini-zoo in my entire life.

I'm actually wondering now why Mayor Doherty is securing grant funding for his new greenhouse and veterans' memorial at the southern end of the park while the animals at his existing "pet" project (pun intended) are suffering? Nothing against our veterans, but they have many memorials in the city already, and surely they can wait until PROPER upgrades are made via grant funding for the Genesis Center.

[to570717]

Well I walked all around it and covered a pretty good portion of it. The tree house looked fantastic, the pool looked great, the grass was full, the walk ways where clean and the garbage cans where attended to. The jungle gym and playground eqipment was in good shape and safe to play on. I was not nit picking. My neice, nephew mother and I had a great time there walking around. There where a lot of people there as well.

[FightinPhils]

The playground isn't being properly maintained, in my opinion. Its a great playground...but they need to start cleaning up the vandalism, fixing broken equipment, and for Pete's sake, replenish the sand in the sandbox. They haven't put new sand in it since the year it opened, and the sandbox now is pretty much a garbage pit. Some simple maintenance would go a long way.

Not to mention the asinine placement of that playground....at the bottom of a steep, treacherous hill which has a path riddled with potholes....a recipe for disaster with small kids.

The Davis Trail could be very nice as well....but once again, a lack of simple maintenance. The trail has a lot of erosion and is filled with treacherous ruts.

The park could be very nice with just routine maintenance. For some reason, the city likes to build nice things, but then see the money go to waste by just letting it rot away to crap. We need to maintain what we have and do simple things like clean up garbage and vandalism before more new things are built.

[Lehigh Valley Native]

Not to get off topic here, but as a transplant from The Lehigh Valley, I have to say that the city parks here leave much to be desired. Just to cover the two big ones:
Kirby Park:
Trash, Vandalism, graffiti, porta-johns that are disgusting, crime, really small playgrounds for little kids, a pond that on my last visit had a tire and two pairs of boots in it, not to mention the 2 inch algae coating the water.

Nay Aug:
Everything already mentioned. But in its defense, the x-mas light display was nice.

City parks should be an oasis, not an eyesore. The sad thing about many of the issues, is it doen't take a lot of money to fix them. It just takes people who care enough to do it.