Belle Isle Zoo (leasing, house, casino)

[beans213]

So ive been wondering if there any plans for the old zoo on Belle Isle. I havnt seen anything about it and i haent been able to find any information either. Has anyone heard any future plans for it?

[animatedmartian]

Nothing official, but DNR would collaborate with the Belle Isle Conservatory to develop a Master Plan after leasing the park. The Conservatory has stated that they would definitely need funding for some upgrades and maintenance. I can't find the news article it was stated in, but I know some of the things included improving the Casino, reopening the aquarium, and fixing up the roads and bridges as well as other things in the park. Not entirely sure if they mentioned the old zoo.

[beans213]

the zoo is in rough shape but its not horrible yet. The wood walkway things that goes around the whole zoo is still pretty solid. Besides the few trees that fell onto it and a few missing boards here or there. The buildings are sorta gutted but not to bad, with the exception of what used to be the bathrooms. I think all the roofs are still intact. Of course there is some stuff torn down or smashed and there is a good amout of grafffiti. But over all it is still totally salvagable and not in horrible shape. but i dont anticipate it remaining that way for too long. Hopefully someone does something with it soon before it to late.

I find it strange that the old zoo hasnt had any intrest and very few if any talk about its future. I wonder if it has kinda been forgotten about. When kwame closed to "save money" but then turned around and had the nature zoo built a year or 2 later by some of his buddies im suprised there wasnt more people fighting it. I dont see the island needing 2 zoos so i dont know what they will do with it if they ever even do anything.

[fmax]

Go look at the deer on the island. Lack of genetic diversity if ya know what I mean.

Stop beating around the bush, another Zoo tax is the clear answer. What's another 0.1 mill??

[jackmichigan]

Hopefully, they will just tear down the old Belle Isle Zoo. It was an absolutely horrible place to keep animals. They built it on wetland soils, ya know.

Originally Posted by fmax

Go look at the deer on the island. Lack of genetic diversity if ya know what I mean.

When's the last time you were on Belle Isle? They removed the deer from the woods years ago.

[danwilsonbsee]

Originally Posted by jackmichigan

Hopefully, they will just tear down the old Belle Isle Zoo. It was an absolutely horrible place to keep animals. They built it on wetland soils, ya know.



When's the last time you were on Belle Isle? They removed the deer from the woods years ago.

Odd- since I saw deer there when I visited last month.

[jackmichigan]

Originally Posted by danwilsonbsee

Odd- since I saw deer there when I visited last month.

What kind of deer did you see? And where?

[fmax]

Jack,

I was to Belle Isle a month or so ago. You?

I walk all around the place - woods, fishing piers, yada, yada.

O/T - over the summer I didn't see one freighter on the river.

[jackmichigan]

Originally Posted by jackmichigan

They removed the deer from the woods years ago.

Just to follow up: European fallow deer freely roamed Belle Isle for decades and people would always go down to feed the deer in the woods. That's what a lot of people remember--and I thought that might be what you were referring to.

However, about 10 years ago--after the deer population reached 300-400 or so, the City decided to round them all up, since the deer are not native and they were wrecking havoc on the forest understory. The City tried to keep it quiet, but many deer were shipped off to private sanctuaries and many were euthanized. Only a very few were kept within the confines of the old Belle Isle Zoo.

Fallow deer no longer roam the island as they used to, but there are about 15 or so which are still kept at the Belle Isle Nature Zoo (the former Nature Center). I know that on occasion native white-tailed deer have swum to the island--just as Wild Turkeys have flown there--but people shouldn't go down to Belle Isle expecting to see the deer of yore.

Now it's entirely possible that some fallow deer may escape--or white-tailed deer may take up residence--so I was asking about that as much as anything.

Originally Posted by jackmichigan

What kind of deer did you see? And where?

[beans213]

Originally Posted by jackmichigan

Hopefully, they will just tear down the old Belle Isle Zoo. It was an absolutely horrible place to keep animals. They built it on wetland soils, ya know.



When's the last time you were on Belle Isle? They removed the deer from the woods years ago.

The majority of the island was at one time or still is wetlands. So im not sure how that makes an agrument for the old zoo being tore down. Yes i agree that when originally built the zoo was a horrible place for animals but that was also the norm then and people didnt think or realize how cruel it was. The Belle Isle Zoo was redone at least once if not twice to stay current with the trends of other zoos in creating habitats more like the ones the animal would live in if they were still in nature. The last of the major renovations were done in the 1980's and at the time was the standard and believed best way to house animals at the zoo. I would assume if the zoo were still open today the animals would not be kept in the same cages or style of cages/habits as they were in the 80's and would continued to change and evolve as other zoos did as well. Personally i think zoos for the most part exploit the animals and it is cruel to remove them from their homes and put them on display for profit. I dont visit zoos and would just assume they didnt exist and that they would stop using the animals to make money for themselves.

I would however love to see something done with the old zoo that would keep as much of what is left of the old zoo and its history intact. Reuse whats there to create something new and great.