San Diego Wild Animal Park Project
Outline:
The San Diego Zoological Society became interested in developing a
wild animal park in 1964. They wanted to design the park in such a way that
it would complement the existing zoological garden which is also known as the
San Diego Zoo. This development was decided upon the Zoological Society in
order to accommodate the growing interest in wild life and to provide
opportunities for public education, specie conservation, and biological
research. San Pasqual Valley was chosen to be the site of this new
development because it was situated in a suburban area located approximately
thirty miles northeast of the existing San Diego Zoo. Three major drainage
channels, chaparral, cactus, and similar growth characterized this site. The
city of San Diego owned 1,090 acres of this site while a 160 acres of it was
San Diego County Property. Therefore, San Pasqual Valley was included as
part of the San Diego County.
During the year 1964, the Stanford Research Institute was asked to
evaluate the probable financial success of three alternative developments for
the San Pasqual site. The three alternative developments were a conservation
farm, a game preserve, and a natural environment zoo. Today the San Diego
Wild Animal Park is most like a natural environment zoo, which provides
facilities for the public's viewing of the animal collection. Why was the
natural environment zoo development chosen over the conservation farm or game
preserve when in fact it would cost the most money to develop. Obviously,
the cost of development was not the primary deciding factor.
Some sources I will be utilizing to answer my thesis question stated
above will come from newspaper articles published in the San Diego Union
Tribune and a book titled A World of Animals. I will have two sources that
are research-based on the financial success of the Wild Animal Park. One
strictly focuses on the development of the park while the other focuses on
the economics. There is not a lot of literature published on the San Diego
Wild Animal Park, but what I have found have been very informative.
References
- Berhman, J. "First two animals arrive at new park." San Diego Union Tribune. September 3, 1969.
- Bruns, B. A World of Animals. New York, NY: Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
- Crampon, L. J. San Pasqual Wild Animal Park. South Pasadena, CA: Stanford Research Institute, 1967.
- Davis, S. G. Spectacular Nature: Corporate Culture and the Sea World Experience. Berkley, CA: University of California Press, 1997.
- Gibbons, J. "A forest in five years." Zoonooz. May, 1973.
- Lundgren, G. "Zoo building its second campus." San Diego Union Tribune. May, 1969.
- Moran, L. Economic analysis of three alternative zoological developments in the san pasqual valley. South Pasadena, CA: Stanford Research Institute, 1965.
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