Anonymous donor looks to help zoo

HARBOR SEALS BUBBA and Action lounge in early spring at the Roger Williams Park Zoo. While the exhibit is currently closed for repairs, a new community fund raising match has been put in place to help it reopen by late summer. / COURTESY ROGER WILLIAMS PARK ZOO
HARBOR SEALS BUBBA and Action lounge in early spring at the Roger Williams Park Zoo. While the exhibit is currently closed for repairs, a new community fund raising match has been put in place to help it reopen by late summer. / COURTESY ROGER WILLIAMS PARK ZOO

PROVIDENCE – An anonymous donor is offering fundraising support to help the Roger Williams Park Zoo raise the money needed to restore its harbor seal exhibit by late summer.
Closed since mid-May, the exhibit is the focus of a community fundraising campaign, “Bring the Boys Home,” that began in late June to raise $100,000 to complete repairs. The work is an unplanned but necessary expenditure, Jeremy Goodman, the Zoo’s executive director, said.
An anonymous donor has offered a dollar for dollar match up to $50,000 to encourage more timely community support.
The need for repairs was discovered when the zoo drained the seals’ pool, one of the zoo’s oldest exhibits, for routine maintenance. A window cracked, revealing more structural issues with the enclosure’s outer viewing wall, Goodman said.
Deemed unsafe for animals and visitors, the wall was demolished in June. Construction is planned to begin this month.
Goodman said that there will be an additional benefit once the new pool is completed. “The upper viewing area will be improved and the lower viewing area will be constructed to create a cave-like access, making it even more fun for kids and families to enjoy [harbor seals] Bubba and Action,” he said.
The two harbor seals were held in the zoo’s indoor facility while more appropriate summer quarters could be located for them. They were moved at the end of June to suitable accommodations at the Aquarium of Niagara in Niagara Falls, N.Y., for the summer.
The zoo is supported and managed by the Rhode Island Zoological Society and is owned by the city of Providence.
For more information, or to make a donation visit www.rwpzoo.org.

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