Zoo Animals Face Budget Knife

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Lions and tigers and budget cuts, oh my!

The famed Bronx Zoo could lose more than half its operating support from New York City, under the fiscal 2012 budget proposed earlier this month by Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

The mayor wants to chop $4.7 million from the zoo and the New York Aquarium, both run by the Wildlife Conservation Society.

Cuts of that magnitude could have a major impact on the zoo, the nation's largest urban zoo, according to the society. In an email plea to the public Wednesday, society officials wrote the reduction could force layoffs and program cuts.

"We're at a tipping point," John Calvelli, a society spokesman, said in an interview. "Everything is on the table."

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