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The AZA is not going to give the Salisbury Zoo another chance, it's over! So why isn't Barrie Tilghman and the City Council telling any of you so? Because they want to build that $2,000,000.00 quarantine building at taxpayers expense.
There's no Zoo Director and there's no Vet. Tech at the Zoo any longer and the people applying for positions there don't have what it takes at the salary the Zoo is offering.
I'm NOT going to expose how I know this information but I can tell you from 1st party information that the Mayor & Ron Alessi have screwed that Zoo right into the ground and people have been leaving left and right because they knew many months ago the AZA was dumping them, period.
John Jacobs screwed up at the WWTP AND the Salisbury Zoo. Jim Rapp never had a clue what he was doing. Carrie Samis was a paper pusher who was useless without the Rapp connection and Steve Sarro saw the writing on the wall and bolted as fast as he could get out.
So the GEM of the City of Salisbury is screwed, period. I ask again, why haven't you read ANY of this in the Daily Times? Because it's the Tilghman Times!
No matter what the City/Zoo does, there is NOT enough time now to hire a Director and continue with the AZA. Barrie Tilghman absolutely 100% knows this but she's keeping it from the Public because she wants to claim they lost it because they couldn't find a Director.
Let me send this message right to Barrie Tilghman. Do you think people that applied for the job wouldn't contact me and fill me in? So what's the game plan Folks? My guess is typical politics. They'll come out telling everyone they lost their accreditation with the AZA and now we have to spend MILLIONS making the Zoo a better place and get it back. Oh, you'll hear stuff like, the AZA truly wants to continue being a PARTNER with the Zoo, IF we're all willing to bite the bullet and get OUR Zoo back into shape.
BITE ME! The Zoo is in a 100% flood plane zone and when, (NOT IF) the Zoo floods out, most of the animals will die! It's now time to close the Salisbury Zoo Ladies & Gentlemen. They have come out of the wood work to play their rolls on PAC14 whenever they desperately need or want something but let me assure you, at the maximum there are 15 people, (mainly young adults in their early 20's) that actually support the Zoo. You have been tricked into believing the Zoo has the bullshit 300,000 visitors each year and while the counters have been BROKEN for many, many years, they're NOT going to spend the $100.00 to replace it because the numbers are in their favor.
So look what you did Jim Rapp & John Jacobs! The MDE visits were probably the final straw with the AZA and trust me, the AZA was well aware of the lies Jim Rapp stated about the illegal pipes being installed 30 years ago, before his time. That was a HUGE lie as those two exhibits were built while Jim Rapp was the Director of the Zoo. The pipes may have been old but Rapp tapped INTO those pipes and illegally dumped into the Wicomico River and Ron Alessi knew it as well. They flat out LIED to all of you and that's a fact.
So squeeze those cheeks again Ladies & Gentlemen because Barrie Tilghman & Co. will now ONCE AGAIN go into Damage Control Mode because that pesky Albero broke yet another HUGE story and you know the end result way ahead of time.
Ron Alessi should bow his head in shame.
ReplyDeleteMayor Tilghman is just as much to blame with all her cover ups. I heard that when they lose their accreditation with the AZA they'll come into the zoo and take back a bunch of their animals. Is that true?
ReplyDeleteThat's very possible. The AZA allows the Salisbury Zoo to get animals they couldn't get anywhere else. If the AZA pulls their accreditation they will in fact come in and take back the inventory as the Salisbury Zoo is obviously not capable of caring for these animals the way the AZA demands the standards to be.
ReplyDeleteThe future not a pretty sight for the Zoo and I have to say that there are several key people that are to blame for this mess and that would also include the AZA for buying Jim Rapp's BS for all those years. He kept promising things he knew darned well the City couldn't and or wouldn't do. It is part of the politics of being involved in that kind of business but the AZA was told that building would be built more than 10 years ago and Rapp never even attempted to get anything started for it till only recently. Years of fund raising could have been performed but Rapp and Alessi completely ignored the situation and now the Zoo has fallen completely apart.
IMO, Barrie Tilghman needs to go Ladies & Gentlemen. She has driven every department with Yes Men and professionals would have walked years ago because they would have known the infrastructure not being regularly maintained would crumble the City. Instead, Barrie Tilghman blew all that money elsewhere, including developer reimbursements, TIF's and the list goes on and on.
Face it Folks, the Zoo is going to close and or should close. I'm NOT saying that because I want to watch these people fail. I am saying so because the animals have suffered enough!
Look at the Jag death. That animal SUFFERED a horrible death. Yet the Tilghman Times claims the animal looked fine the evening before he died.
Let me ask you this Folks. If you pet, (dog or cat) wasn't feeling well, wouldn't you know it ahead of time? There would be signs that something was very wrong. NOT at the Salisbury Zoo though. Everything is always a mystery. I do NOT accept their excuse. That animal was hurt, somehow, some way. I have spoken to a professional veterinarian with experience with exotics and they informed me that the necropsy report would have stated there was some kind of disease if that had anything to do with a ruptured spleen. That's why my guess is that they dropped the door on that animal. I'm NOT saying they did so on purpose. I'm just saying that's more than likely what happened.
I don't think many can say we didn't see this coming. It's just a shame the animals have to suffer to fill someone elses ego. So what is the city going to do with that $1 million budget now?
ReplyDeleteThe way this administration manages money and the net results on many fronts, the best thing for the animals is to just shut the zoo down and send the animals where they will be better cared for.
And my answer about sick animals, yep, I know when my dogs are just having a bad day, that doesn't take a rocket scientist. When they get older they ache just like people.
Joe...seriously, what would you and Jennifer propose to get this train wreck back on the tracks? I think it's time you guys threw something out there, some type of outline or something on some place to start getting this place back up to speed. I think you guys have some ideas you could offer. The place is an embarassment and movement of some sort needs to begin sooner rather than later.
ReplyDeleteI'm the one whose comment you posted about the AZA approval before. Thanks, I think.
ReplyDeleteAgain, what makes me mad is that we were led to believe that ALL was cool with the AZA EXCEPT the need for that animal isolation building.
From reading that DT article the other, it sounds like it's more than just that building. I figure if an applicant is making a comment like that, it's not just about the building.
So, I admitted Albero was right.
You mentioned the whole City Council in this post of yours. Well, back when the ( ) hit the fan over the budget, I contacted Cohen as to why she and Campbell were going after the zoo people. She explained to me they didn't want to eliminate positions but to get them underwritten through other governmental support.
I can't remember all the details of how the whole thing turned into a cluster ( ), but it had to do with wrong position labels in the budget and other miscommunications, and stuff that just didn't make it into the paper. In the end, Cohen submitted a compromise budget that didn't involve positions except the savings on the director resigning.
I remember Cohen asking Rapp at a meeting if the building couldn't be built for less than $1.5 million. He said yes, that it could be built in stages.
Fact is, I was hot at first about Cohen and Campbell's approach to the zoo, especially since I voted for Cohen based on friends' recommendations. But after talking to her about it and understanding where they are coming from, it seems like they do have the zoo's best interest at heart.
I confess I still wasn't totally convinced. But that article in the DT sealed it for me.
If people really love the zoo, then they'll want it competently run. And information about it, good, bad or indifferent, to be up front. Not all this "things are great
For years, I took my kids and their friends there, went to Night of the Living Zoo a few times. Didn't really get to do the camp thing or other programs. But the zoo's always meant a lot to us.
Sorry for the rant. I swore I'd never post on any of these blogs, but something finally pushed my button, and that article was it. So, this is my big follow up. And I guess I'll stop now.
ANother instance where Terry and Debbie tried to do the right thing for the city and were crucified by the zoo staff and volunteers. How many more times do they have to prove that Barrie and company are sinister criminals with no other motive than to rip off the taxpayers? We need a complete and thourough audit of all expenditures made by the city, everyday there are articles about local governemnt officials caught with their hands in the cookie jar, my hunch is that ole Barrie and company are doing the same. How do you explain such phenomenal screwups like the water dept. surplus? How else do you explain the absurd amounts spent for firehouses and zoo buildings. THe evidence is somewhere, we gotta look.
ReplyDeleteWhere were all of you good folks when Joe and I kept going to the Zoo Commission meetings two years and more ago? We asked good, clear
ReplyDeletequestions that were never answered. Oh, Alessi would send us a letter that said next to nothing, but that was OK with all on that commission. Then this guy decided that we couldn't verbally ask questions, they had to be in writing to get the no answers. And now the no answers are coming back to bite them, which is good.
I still think the zoo needs to be moved, first of all and then get some really concerned staff on board and we can have a decent collection of animals that are properly cared for. But first, I think we need to have big changes in City Hall! The Jag's demise is a prime example of poor zoological management, right from the top!
A. Goetz
Mr. Goetz...I for one sat back thinking things were and would get better. I'm as guilty as the next person for not getting involved. Job and Family constraints make it difficult but not impossible I have to admit.
ReplyDeleteWe need to get invovled people. We need to let this farce of a zoo managment team know that we're putting them on notice. And we're putting them on it NOW.
Art, you are right. A lot of people probably viewed Joe, Jennifer, and yourselves were just trying to make trouble. The problem was, we were all listening to our elected officials who we thought had our best interests at heart. Boy were we screwed. I will also put my hand up in shame that I didn't look at all sides, when I pride myself on doing so. You and Joe and Jennifer have been right all along, and I think when it started coming out about the deaths and the dumping of animal waste, I started thinking that you all were on to something. The fact that Director candidates are coming out saying the things they are just proves that there is far more going on over there than the city wants any of us to know.
ReplyDeleteI know someone posted earlier about having an independent audit, and someone today echoed the same. I think that is what should be done. Between the fiscal mismanagement at the zoo, the civic center, and the WWTP, there is more than enough to bring in someone else to look at the book.
John Jacobs needs to have a conscience and squeal on the whole bunch of them
ReplyDeleteJoe, you go on and on about the Daily Times not covering this story. What what about the 2 local TV stations? Have they done any stories on the problems at the zoo? If they have and I missed them, then ignore this post. If they havn't, why not? Are they in the Mayors ass as well?
ReplyDeleteJust wondering as this could be a major news story for some reporter.
WBOC mostly reports on Delaware news and Kenny Beck left WMDT, someone over there should take up where he left off, I would hope.
ReplyDelete