The Honolulu Zoo is in danger. Actually, it’s been in danger for some time, but now a real hammer could be coming down.
The city announced on Tuesday that the zoo has lost its accreditation. The Association of Zoos and Aquariums denied the request for renewal because the Waikiki facility lacked a consistent and adequate funding source.
The consequence is likely to be dire: About 10 percent of its 900 animals are on loan, and an unaccredited zoo is unlikely to be eligible for such exchanges. And that means as many as 90 exotic animals would have to be returned.
The right course of action at this point is to chart a course back to accreditation, one that’s affordable to the city for the long term.
The rejection could not have come as a surprise, and that’s its most appalling aspect. The zoo has had warning signs for years, and its staff and nonprofit backers simply have not come to grips with the problem.
This has been part of a pattern: The AZA sounds the alarm, there’s a boost in the zoo’s budget and then the institution falls back to its hand-to-mouth existence.
The pattern is repeating now: Mayor Kirk Caldwell is seeking a $6.8 million operating budget for fiscal 2017, which starts July 1, and would cover 86 employee positions. That’s up from $5.6 million in the current year and a staff of 76.
That boost is a necessary stop-gap effort but falls short as a solution, which should include a reasonable business plan — something that should have been crafted long ago.
City Managing Director Roy Amemiya acknowledges it, and work should begin on it now. The zoo can reapply for accreditation in a year, and the plan needs to be in place to do so.
The nonprofit Honolulu Zoo Society has been criticized for its insufficient private fund-raising campaigns. Its officials need to fulfill its vow, which was echoed by Amemiya, to work more closely on the plan.
Some alternate funding streams, such as private sponsorships, should be explored and developed fully. There’s also a suggestion to return the parking lot and its revenue to the zoo; that’s another possibility.
The longstanding dysfunction is evident in the turnover of executive leadership — five zoo directors in six years. With that level of managerial and budgetary instability, it’s easy to see why whittling the list of repair and maintenance projects has lagged.
The city is weighing whether regaining accreditation is a priority. It should be. Accreditation brings with it inspections to ensure standards of animal management and care, access to animal-loan programs and other advantages that are well worth having.
The nature of zoos has surely changed over the past several decades. Some would argue that the animal facilities are anachronistic and should be shut down.
We disagree with that extreme prescription.
An accredited zoo has importance to an island community, where most children have no other realistic opportunity to see wild animals up close. These encounters are safe, enjoyable and meaningful ways to understand other creatures who inhabit this planet — and depend on its environmental health.
One of the previous Honolulu zoo directors, Manuel Mollinedo, sat down for an interview when he got the job in 2011. He described his hopes to raise money with foundations and donors to create a robust educational program with the schools.
“To me, the zoo is an educational facility,” Mollinedo said. “It’s an outdoor living classroom.”
That goal, or one like it, should still lie within reach of this city — if those at the helm would work in tandem to achieve it.
