Summary of Zoo Operations

Even without a major new attraction in 2004, Woodland Park Zoo maintained strong visitor appeal, posting attendance figures of over 1 million for the fifth consecutive year. In 2004, the zoo recorded over 1.050 million people choosing to spend their day at the zoo. Highlights for visitors in 2004 included Masters of the Web, a tribute to spiders that presented these misunderstood creatures in a new light. Aza’s Maze provided a temporary educational exhibit, designed to teach children about the rain forest. And the zoo’s endangered snow leopard exhibit received an attractive facelift.

The zoo was gratified to experience the births of a number of endangered animals, including rare sloth bear cubs, golden lion tamarin monkeys, and Sumatran tiger cubs. The zoo also acquired an arctic fox, discovered as a stowaway in a garbage container at the Port of Seattle by way of the Aleutian Islands. In 2004, zoo staff also attempted the first-ever artificial insemination of a Malayan sun bear.

The zoo reached nearly 100,000 students in 2004, both in programming at the zoo and outreach into the community. In recognition, the zoo received the Award for Organizational Excellence from the Environmental Education Association of Washington. The zoo’s television ad for Masters of the Web also garnered top honors, the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions prestigious Brass Ring Awards.

Special events at the zoo continued to thrill zoo visitors. Washington Mutual ZooTunes concerts brought more than 35,000 music lovers to the zoo’s North Meadow, and strong revenues to support zoo programs. Bon-Macy’s Mom & Me at the Zoo, Bunny Bounce and Pumpkin Prowl continued to attract crowds.

On October 11th, the zoo passed a long-awaited milestone as the City Council unanimously passed the zoo’s Long-Range Physical Development Plan. The plan established a roadmap for the zoo’s development over the next 20 years. This set the stage for zoo planning activities in 2005, leading to future groundbreaking for the Family Science Learning Center “Zoomazium.”

Financial Accounting
Attached is the 2004 audited financial statement for Woodland Park Zoo in PDF format.

Use of Levy Proceeds

The Pro Parks Levy provided a little under $2.7 million to Woodland Park Zoo in 2003. These funds were critically important to the zoo’s education and outreach initiatives, animal care and health, maintenance and repair of zoo grounds, exhibits and interpretive displays, and fundamental zoo operations such as safety, security and admissions management. Through the levy funds, underserved or low-income Seattle school children were able to experience the myriad activities and programs that are unique to Seattle’s only zoo -- a top award-winning zoo in the county. Levy funds supported the following program and operating expenses in 2004:

Admissions and Transportation Subsidies:
School-to-Zoo: This program, fully funded by levy monies, is open to any Seattle school with 30% or more students qualified for free- and reduced lunch programs. Schools receive free zoo admission for every class and reimbursements for their bus transportation. In addition, the School-to-Zoo staff developed programs for students in kindergarten through 4th grade aligned with Seattle Public Schools science materials. As a result of extended outreach to Seattle teachers, and a broadening of the eligibility criteria, School-to-Zoo reached 11,407 students in 2004.

Education Programs:
Forest Explorers: Forest Explorers, partially funded by the Pro Parks Levy, is the zoo’s award-winning program for 2nd graders in King County. This program became a fee-based program in fall 2004 but, thanks to levy funding, was available at significantly reduced rates to Seattle schools and free for those Seattle schools with 30% or more students in the free- and reduced-rate lunch program. The program features a comparison of temperate and tropical rain forests through zoo exhibits and an interactive auditorium program. In 2004, Forest Explorers reached 1,824 Seattle school children.

SOAR: The Save Our Amazing Raptors (SOAR) outreach program touches K-12 students through classroom presentations by keeper staff with live birds of prey. In 2004, through partial funding by levy proceeds, SOAR programs were presented to 2,055 Seattle students.

Wild Wise: This outreach program was developed for 4th through 7th graders throughout the state. The award-winning program, partially funded through the Pro Parks Levy, includes a high impact multimedia presentation and hands-on, field-based, wildlife observation and documentation. In addition to taking field notes on what they observe, students sketch wildlife and map their locations. In 2004, the Wild Wise staff presented the program to 5,170 Seattle students.

Zoo Corps: With the assistance of levy funding, Zoo Corps staff runs this teen service-learning program that combines hands-on learning about animal stewardship with volunteer assistance to zoo visitors and activities. Zoo Corps recruits an ethnically and economically diverse group of teenagers ages 14-18, and promotes science and environmental education through training and real work opportunities. Zoo Corps volunteers earn required service learning credits for high school graduation. In 2004, 143 teens were involved with Zoo Corps, with 110 of them coming from Seattle.

Teacher Training: Woodland Park Zoo provides accredited teacher training through workshops, lectures, hands-on activities, tours and other materials to help teachers gather information about plants, animals, the environment and cultures for classroom instruction. These trainings, assisted by Pro Parks Levy funds, reached 286 teachers; 46 of them were Seattle schoolteachers.

Public Programs: Pro Parks funds partially support numerous education programs for visiting families, including Jaguar Quest, African Village Theater and Habitat Ramblers, as well as partially funding staff for the Contact Area in the Family Farm and the education animal keeper. In total, in 2004, one or more of these free programs at the zoo touched over 330,000 visitors.

Volunteers: In 2004, Woodland Park Zoo staffed 14 separate volunteer programs, involving 750 volunteers and 66 service groups, and representing over 84,500 volunteer hours contributed to the zoo. Pro Parks Levy funds partially supported the zoo staff that runs the volunteer programs.

Web Site Support/Fiber Optic Network:

• Salary expense for 50% of a programmer position.
• All costs related to web server host, backup system and firewall.
• Domain name certificates and renewals.
• Internet access, anti-virus software and firewall protection for zoo staff.

Security/Emergency Response:

• Maintained 24/7 security and certified emergency medical response during public hours
• Continued zoo wide CPR/First Aid training

Admission/Cashiers:

• Maintained and operated new scheduling software to coordinate admissions, events, maintenance setup and school group registration

Positions Supported by Levy Funding

Repairs, Maintenance and Major Maintenance

Three significant projects were funded by levy maintenance project funds.

1) Completed the main loop path renovation. The last bit of concrete left over from the 1930s was removed and replaced with asphalt. This portion of the pathway runs from the jaguar exhibit to the penguin exhibit.
2) Restored and re-coated the bear grotto roof, in the Asian bear exhibit.
3) Modified and restored two facilities and plaza area to turn these areas into the “Masters of the Web” spider exhibit.

Smaller projects and maintenance:

1) Replaced and upgraded heaters in the west gorilla shelter. Zoo staff affectionately called this project, “Heat for Pete” (referring to Pete the gorilla).
2) Design work was started for Willawong Station, the new exhibit for 2005. Design modifications to facilities were done to provide restoration and construction for Willawong.
3) Various animal holding upgrades.

Capital Investments

In addition to the major maintenance activities noted above, Woodland Park Zoo raised restricted and unrestricted funds from private donors to begin the following capital project.

Family Science Learning Center: Construction Documents for the building and program elements of this new interpretive center were completed. To be located at the site of the old Primate House, the new building will provide whole-bodied exploration and nature play, powerful interactive elements, physical objects, and video and audio surprises primarily aimed at kids from toddler to 8 years old. The new exhibit is scheduled to open in 2006.

Evaluation of Customer Service

Woodland Park Zoo continued comparison of customer satisfaction, begun during a yearlong project conducted in 2002-2003. Data indicates a high level of satisfaction, with 95% of visitors describing their zoo visit as either having met or exceeded expectations. There remained a few areas of concern, however; primarily animal visibility. In conjunction with Animal Management staff, evaluation of specified exhibits is underway and the zoo is working to address these issues. In the summer of 2005, visitor exit interviews will be conducted to determine whether progress has been made in alleviating those concerns.

Visitor exit interviews, conducted over the summer of 2004, found no significant differences in overall customer satisfaction compared to the summer of 2002, when baseline data was conducted. There was, however, a statistically significant increase in the mean score for way-finding (that is, visitors’ perceptions of their ability to find their way around the zoo). On a 1 to 5 Likert scale (5 being high), visitors gave way-finding a mean score of 4.3, compared to a mean of 3.8 in the baseline study. This is likely a result, at least in part, of the changes made to the zoo map prior to the summer of 2004; these changes were designed to incorporate visitors’ comments and concerns regarding the previous zoo map.

Ethics and Conflict of Interest Policy and Compliance

Woodland Park Zoo has required signature acceptance of its Conflict of Interest and Ethics Policy since 1999. Initially, this policy was requested only once--when an individual was elected to the board. On the advice of the zoo’s auditing firm, beginning in 2004, all members are asked to sign a Conflict of Interest and Ethics policy at the annual meeting in May. In May 2005, on the advice of the zoo’s General Counsel, the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Policy was revised and to conform to recent recommendations by the Internal Revenue Service. These revisions were approved by the Board of Directors at the Annual Meeting May 26, 2005. All members of the Board of Directors have been asked to read and provide a new copy of the new Conflict of Interest and Ethics Policy for their files. The policy requires the disclosure of any real or apparent conflict of interest, abstention from discussions or transactions that have a conflict of interest and the preservation of confidential and proprietary WPZS information, among other things.

New employees sign attestation of compliance on file and all new directors and employees must similarly read and attest to the zoo’s policy.