The Bronx Zoo, one of the borough’s most prominent cultural institutions, celebrated its 125th anniversary with a lively ceremony, cake cutting and a preview of a new exhibit on Thursday, April 18.
Since the zoo opened in 1899, it has welcomed 260 million visitors from around the world, and it offered a glimpse at its newest exhibit, Animal Chronicles, which highlights some of the zoo’s conservation efforts over the years.
Zoo Director Jim Breheny, a native Bronxite, boasted of the 265-acre zoo’s natural beauty, with rock formations and the city’s only freshwater river running through it, as well as its level of care for the animals. But he seemed to take most pride in the significance of the zoo to the borough and its people.
“It’s amazing how much we mean to the young people of the Bronx,” Breheny told the Bronx Times following Thursday’s event.
Breheny started working at the zoo at age 14, and now, about 50 years later, he’s the director. To the crowd that included a group of students from P.S. 205, he emphasized that the zoo is a career pipeline for local people — and one of those kids might end up filling his shoes someday.
Breheny said that he “saw how much we meant to the community,” especially during the pandemic. More than ever before, the zoo became necessary as a safe gathering place, and it has remained so. Breheny pointed to recurring events such as Brew at the Zoo, yoga and holiday light displays — attractions that actually have nothing to do with animals but take advantage of the zoo as a familiar, comfortable gathering place.
Borough President Vanessa Gibson, who attended the ceremony and issued a proclamation declaring April 18, 2024 as Bronx Zoo Day, said the zoo is a worthy investment that makes a difference for the borough and its people. The zoo is “shaping the narrative of what the borough is all about,” she said.
Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado came from Albany and shared fond memories of bringing his wife and twin 10-year-old boys to see the holiday lights. The zoo, he said, is a place for people to “reconnect with nature and remind us of our responsibility to the planet.”
City Council Member Rafael Salamanca, Jr., who grew up in the South Bronx, also shared fond memories of zoo trips — although he said his mother sometimes got annoyed at his father on the way there and would jokingly tell him, “We’re going to visit your dad’s family at the zoo.”
Breheny was one of those Bronx kids who visited the zoo and ended up making it his life’s work. The zoo employs 800 to 1,000 young people each year who help supplement the zoo’s full-time staff, he said.
Anyone could find a role at the zoo that fits their skills and interests; some young people work with animals, Breheny said, but others work in food service, admissions, parking and merchandise shops. He said it is common for teens to start at the zoo via the Summer Youth Employment Program and continue working there for years.
The new exhibit, Animal Chronicles, which was previewed during the anniversary celebration, is a quarter-mile walking trail featuring large sculptures of animals and their habitats made of natural materials such as stone, wood, Spanish moss and bamboo.
The sculptures and signage highlight the zoo’s animal conservation efforts over the years, such as cleaning the Bronx River to make space for beaver dams and creating monsoon-like conditions with sprinklers to enable Sunda gharials, a type of crocodile commonly found in Malaysia, to breed and lay eggs.
Animal Chronicles opens to the public on April 20, and the zoo is continuing its celebration throughout the spring and summer. Visit the zoo’s 125th anniversary website for more updates.
Reach Emily Swanson at eswanson@schnepsmedia.com or (646) 717-0015. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
