Zoo loses hippo, cancels Halloween event

It’s been a summer of change for Dickerson Park Zoo.

Springfield’s public zoo is losing a beloved animal, Henry the hippopotamus. The zoo is also canceling the 2015 edition of its annual Halloween party, Spooktacular.

Facility issues and attendance concerns are at the bottom of both changes, said Mike Crocker, zoo director.

•Henry the hippo — who can chomp a whole watermelon with ease — just needs upgraded space. He has lived all but the first few months of his 34 years at the zoo. “Our hippo exhibit has been an item of concern in past (Association of Zoos and Aquariums) accreditation reviews, most recently in 2012,” stated an article in the zoo’s most recent newsletter. Crocker put it this way: “Our facility’s just not a good facility for hippos. The pool’s small, it does not have a good filtration system, we don’t have the space to bring in more hippos.” It’s normal for hippopotamuses to live in a social structure with other hippos, and Crocker said the conservation management program for hippos recommended Henry be matched with two females living at the Cincinnati Zoo.

•“Henry’s very popular with staff and guests, but we can’t really provide the best kind of environment for him,” Crocker said. The facility where Henry will live when he reaches Ohio costs approximately $7 million — something that’s cost-prohibitive for the Springfield-Greene County Park Board. Dickerson Park Zoo explored a couple other areas on zoo grounds where Henry could be relocated, but Crocker said none turned out to be good options.

•Crocker does not necessarily expect to see declines in zoo attendance after Henry leaves. “People will miss him,” he said, “but with one animal leaving, I can’t imagine it would have a major effect on (attendance). It’s hard to predict those things.”

•The good news for hippo fans: Henry will remain in Springfield a few months longer than originally expected. Cincinnati’s new hippo environment won’t be ready until early summer 2016, Crocker said.

•Spooktacular — a trick-or-treat-style walkabout for kids and families — just can’t happen because of some aging wood. A boardwalk running through the zoo’s South American exhibits is more than 30 years old. Some of the wooden structure collapsed, meaning Spooktacular’s path couldn’t pass through that part of the zoo this year. “We figure it’s better not to have it,” Crocker said. He said the zoo’s other options for routing the October celebration weren’t that great for guest service: Either send Spooktacular guests down a steep hill near the zoo cafe — which wouldn’t work for folks with disabilities or children in strollers — or ask guests to double-back from a dead end. If the zoo chose that route, guests would see the same Halloween decorations and activities for roughly half the time they were on zoo grounds, Crocker said. The zoo determined that wouldn’t be much fun.

•The zoo hopes to have the boardwalk repaired by spring 2016, Crocker said. It may cost about $200,000, though that number is in flux as the zoo determines whether steel trusses and bridge piers supporting the old boardwalk can be reused. Engineering and design efforts are in progress, and the zoo plans to bid out the job, though on no specific time frame.

•Then there’s the issue of declining Spooktacular attendance. The event started in 1984 as a way to bring people to the zoo during the slower fall season, and for many years the strategy worked, Crocker said. But today, Springfield has more entertainment options than 31 years ago, and the zoo evaluates Spooktacular on a year-by-year basis to determine if it’s worth the staff time for building decorations, setup and teardown. “There’s lots of competition now that didn’t used to be there for Halloween- and fall fest-type events,” Crocker said.

•Crocker said that in past years, Spooktacular developed into a 12- or 15-night extravaganza, depending on the day of the week when Halloween fell. “Whereas for many many years, we would budget for average attendance between 25,000 and 28,000 people — and there were years that there were 30- to 33,000 people — some years were as low as 13- to 15,000,” Crocker said. “Now, if we’re doing 25,000, we’re doing really well.”

•It’s not all sad faces at the zoo right now, though. Crocker said that repairs to the wheels on the Titus Express train this summer only took the popular attraction out of service for a week or so. Train-track improvements should happen this winter. Meanwhile, the zoo replaced a defunct water play area with a series of misters throughout the park so folks, especially kids, could cool off during the summer. Crocker also said that in response to customer feedback, the zoo is adding a new public restroom on the west side of the park, near the lions. “It’s not an exciting thing in terms of a feature, but something from the standpoint of guest services that we’ve noticed for a long time,” he said.

•Construction on the new loo should start in 30 to 60 days.