By Ted Schnell • BocaJump
Less than a week after the death of the older of two bison remaining at Lords Park Zoo, the Elgin City Council will be asked Wednesday to consider soliciting bids to replace the fencing around the aging pen at a cost to the city of as much as $51,370.
The timing of the request to replace the pen’s fencing comes even as city officials entertain the possibility of repopulating the bison pen, which has been a popular fixture at the zoo since it opened in the late 1960s.
If it seems unusual that the city staff would bring a fence replacement project before the City Council, it is.
“We normally don’t do that on these types of things, but recognizing … the sensitivity of this issue, we’re bringing it before the council and asking permission to go out for bid,” Assistant City Manager Rick Kozal said Monday.
Cahoya, a 24-year-old bison at the zoo, died Friday afternoon. Bison typically live about 15 years in the wild, and Cahoya was considered old. Her death leaves Pokey, a 20-year-old female, as the sole occupant of the pen.
The city had considered closing the park’s bison, elk and deer pens in 2009, when it did close the Lords Park Petting Zoo. It was one of many cost-cutting measures implemented in Elgin as the Great Recession of 2008 continued to wreak havoc on the financial affairs of local government.
The move galvanized a grass-roots zoo preservation effort by a group that calls itself Friends of Lords Park Zoo. In 2010, the city appointed the Lords Park Task Force to identify short- and long-term needs at Lords Park. That panel targeted the fence replacement at the bison pen as No. 5 among 12 capital needs for the park when the task force made its report to the City Council last November.
The staff report on the proposal points out that the projected total cost of the fence replacement is estimated at $68,370. But Friends of the Lords Park Zoo has solicited $17,000 in cash contributions and another $8,000 in pledges to apply toward the project. Less the cash from Friends of Lords Park Zoo, the city’s share of the project cost is $51,730. The staff report states that would be financed with special project and contingency funds budgeted in 2011. If the remaining $8,000 in pledges to Friends of Lord Park is received, the city’s contribution level would drop to $43,370, assuming the project’s cost estimates hold true.
Rebuilding the herd
Replacing the fencing would open the door to the city being able to replenish the bison herd. According to the staff report to the council, the fence fix would put the city in a position to add one or two additional male bison, that are offspring of Dakota, who passed in 2009, from Midwest SOARRING Foundation, as well as another female donation from Fermi Lab in 2011/2012.
In addition, Brookfield Zoo has offered to donate two young female bison to the herd if the city is willing to accept them, the staff report states, so the city has several options for rebuilding the herd.
