This is really sad for me! I was looking forward to taking the new grandbaby to visit all of the animals, especially at Christmas! I thought Jerry would have fun taking his new nephew to the place we took him almost every Christmas. Wish I could win the lottery and buy the whole place!
ME's Zoo owners call it quits thestarpress.com The Star Press
June 24, 2009
ME's Zoo owners call it quits
Owners of popular attraction cite tough economy for closingBy JOHN CARLSONjcarlson@muncie.gannett.com
PARKER CITY -- It was 1988 when Max and Eileen Oren's longtime dream came true with the opening of ME's Zoo, their family-friendly attraction that eventually featured more than 200 animals on 55 acres of rolling country south of here.
Tuesday, in the harsh glare of economic reality, its owners awoke to that dream's end.
ME's Zoo will close its gates on Sept. 27.
"We've been looking at it the last five years," said an emotional Eileen, her voice breaking and a tissue clutched tightly in her right hand. "It's gone down.
Max died of leukemia in 1993, and Eileen married architect Bob Taylor in 2003.
"It was our decision to close it," said a downhearted Taylor, looking over the zoo as visitors gazed into bear cages and watched monkeys cavort. "Essentially, obligations and expenses exceeded revenue."
He blamed the present crunch on the flagging economy, a late wet spring which kept visitors away, plus what he called a "sad" lack of interest among many East Central Indiana residents for matters involving animals and the environment.
"It's pretty distant from the minds of most," he said. "Inquisitiveness is desperately lacking. ... It's a sad set of circumstances."
Waning school funds for field trips to the little zoo, which featured up-close viewing of the animals, was also a factor. Lately, 600 to 700 students might visit in a week, figures which were low by comparison to better days.
"We had weeks when we were running 1,800," Taylor noted.
Eileen knew the importance of the bottom line. She talked about mounting veterinary bills, mowing bills and insurance bills, the last of which they lowered by cutting some coverage, a move that also required limiting use of volunteer workers.
Then there were feed bills, as detailed on a long list she removed from a wall rack. Feeding a pair of Capuchin monkeys, for example, totaled $1,440 a year.
Recently, she said, they had sold some of their "hoof stock" to bring down feed bills.
But money matters notwithstanding, it is now the animals that are Eileen's primary concern, "my animals" being two words that dominated her speech Tuesday.
"My animals aren't just animals," she said, with a stricken look. "They're like children. My animals have had a lot of attention and a lot of love. I couldn't live here without my animals."
Given that, Eileen's first preference is that she and Taylor find a buyer to purchase the entire operation, animals, grounds, buildings and all. Such a sale would include the grand old house that has become a dazzling Christmas attraction, decorated with more than 200,000 white lights.
Given the economic climate, however, that appears to be a long shot.
What she is absolutely committed to, is seeing that her animals wind up in good hands.
"I'll make sure my animals go somewhere where I can see where they're gonna go," she said, noting that unknown keepers need not apply to adopt them. "People don't have to worry about them. I'm not answering every call that comes in here. ... I know a lot of animal people, and I know good animal people."
Informing her employees of Tuesday's news was painful. Encountering one young man she'd hired as a mower, she told how he had learned to care for the creatures there, and know their preferences.
"He told me, 'Now this one likes melon, and this one likes strawberries,'" she said, as her voice broke again.
Her husband, she said, and her daughter, Kim Oren, were "devastated" by the closure. Her friend and gift shop manager, Patty Foster, couldn't even talk when asked to comment on it.
Outside, Chris Duncan, from Wisconsin, and her friend Michelle Dancer, of New Paris, Ohio, also expressed disappointment at the news, as they ushered small children around.
"I think it's sad," Duncan said. "Especially because you can get so close to the animals here."
Over at the goat enclosure, Neshell Wert, another Buckeye, said the same.
"I think it's awful," she said. "Such a nice place to come."
Meanwhile, Paul Cross, the right-hand man here for 21 years, stood inside a cage with a beautiful Siberian tiger, showing off the big cat to a group of Youth Opportunity Center visitors, as it rumbled deep in its chest, huge paws swiping at a chewed plastic container.
Trained long ago as a diesel mechanic, the father of two said he might find work at that, or on a farm, but he would miss the people at the zoo, especially the children.
Wearing a straw cowboy hat, he admitted the zoo's closure didn't really come as a surprise.
"I don't see the books and never have," he said, while his 15-year-old daughter, Alex, worked nearby. "But I see the parking lot."
The closure, he reflected, was just another sign of the times.
"You just really don't know if anything's safe or not," Cross added. "It's a sad thing, but times change for just about all of us."
Additional Facts
ME's Zoo
WHERE: County Road 500 South, Parker City
HOURS: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday & Saturday; 12 p.m.-5 p.m. Sunday; Closed Monday & Friday
ADMISSION: $5.50, Children 1-12; $6.50 13-Adult
CONTACT: 765 468-8559
http://www.meszoo.com/
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