Group works to save beloved animal exhibit in Riverside

On summer nights as a child, Sharon Powell Quincy could hear the lion roar.

She didn’t live in an exotic place. She lived on Spaulding Street near Riverside Park’s zoo.

“I remember vividly going to sleep and hearing Rufus roar. It wasn’t scary. I thought it was magical,” said Quincy, who grew up there in the mid- to late-1950s.

If you’ve been in Wichita long enough, you’ve probably visited what’s left of the zoo, which is now officially called the Kansas Wildlife Exhibit. Animal enclosures have been there in some form or another for generations – since 1901.

It’s long since lost the lion and alligators and other creatures it once housed. Now, it’s filled with a variety of birds, a bobcat, a turkey vulture and other native Kansas animals.

Earlier this year, the exhibit was on the city’s chopping block – again – but a group of supporters is trying to organize to save the exhibit and a part of Wichita’s history.

The group, Friends of the Kansas Wildlife Exhibit, has about 10 to 15 members and is trying to gather more support. They’ve spoken with City Manager Robert Layton, who has delayed potential funding cuts until next year to give the group more time to organize. Layton says he wants to find a solution to make the exhibit sustainable and not considered for cuts every five to 10 years, as it has been.

The city pays about $60,000 each year to maintain the exhibit, said City Council member Janet Miller, whose district includes Riverside. In addition, Friends of the Great Plains Nature Center contributes between $5,500 and $6,500 each year for the animals’ food and medications, said Lorrie Beck, Great Plains Nature Center director. Veterinary care is donated.

There are several discussions related to the future of the exhibit, Miller said.

“Do the citizens of Wichita get $60,000 worth of expense experience from that exhibit being there? I think there are many, if not most people, who would say ‘Yes,’” Miller said.

There is also a philosophical question raised by some about whether keeping the animals and teaching about wildlife should be a municipal function, she said.

Many of the animals on display were orphaned or cannot be released because they cannot fly or have imprinted on humans, said Connie Storrie, animal display attendant at the Kansas Wildlife Exhibit, who has worked there for about 30 years.

Another question is whether the current enclosures are adequate for the animals.

“There are some folks that say ‘Yes,’ but with the exception of the cat. (It) has a permit from the USDA, and for some, that permit is in their minds adequate,” Miller said.

“Given the amount of enjoyment and meaning Wichitans get from the exhibit, I think it’s important to continue to work to find creative ways to fund it. We want to work with the advocacy group and see if they can help raise some funds to improve the enclosures.”

Kathy Dittmer, who is active in Riverside neighborhood events and is past president of the Riverside Neighborhood Association, helped form the group.

“We’ve been given a year’s reprieve to see what we can do,” Dittmer said. “We need to find a way that every five or six years this doesn’t come up. … Whenever there’s a budget crunch they have to look at these things.”

She hopes to grow the group and get more people in the community involved to help brainstorm a plan for the exhibit. In addition to families being able to visit the animals for free, a big draw is the educational value it provides for children, she says.

“It teaches children about the critters that live right here with them in their state,” she said. “Most of us feel it’s a cornerstone of Riverside Park.”

The group is in “organizational mode” right now and will likely get more active after the fall election. The main goal will likely include finding ways to raise money to enhance the exhibit, though she says the animals are well cared for in their current exhibit.

“Do they need more space? Maybe. They probably need an opportunity for them to be more interactive,” she said.

Claire Willenberg, another group member, said a lot of research and a fundraising campaign lie ahead.

‘Quite a menagerie’

Jim Mason, a naturalist with the city’s park and recreation department, wrote a book in 2011 called “Wichita’s Riverside Parks,” which has detailed accounts of the history of the zoo.

“The first animals kept on exhibit there were white-tailed deer and some elk and pronghorn. They proved to be very popular and they started getting more critters: black bears, ostriches, alligators, all kinds of stuff. It developed into quite a menagerie,” Mason said. “It was popular from 1908 to the late 1960s.”

In the ’60s, there was a slogan of “Boo Hoo! We need a new Zoo,” he said.

“There wasn’t room in Central Riverside Park to put a modern, large zoo. So at that point the city bowed out and property was acquired on Bickel Avenue, which is now Zoo Boulevard,” Mason said. That was the birth of the Sedgwick County Zoo.

The larger exhibits in Riverside were replaced by smaller cages in the 1970s and ’80s.

“Then the park department talked about doing away with it and a lot of citizens came forward and said ‘No.’ The decision was made to rebuild the facility to what is there now,” Mason said. “The Kansas Wildlife Exhibit had a Halloween 1988 dedication. It’s focused ever since on displaying only Kansas native animals.”

“It’s obviously not as elaborate as it used to be. In the 1930s, it was a premier tourist destination that would sometimes draw a million visitors a year. In the Depression, there was nothing like it. There was a lot of tradition there and something that means a lot to a lot of people,” said Mason, who remembers as a boy the spring and fall transfers of the alligators by zoo handlers each year.

Three alligators lived at the zoo from 1910 to 1972: Grandpa, One-Eye and Lady. Droves of school children would come and watch them move from the alligator pit to their winter home and vice versa.

“It’s not something any zoo in their right mind would do nowadays,” he said.

This story was originally published September 24, 2014 at 6:07 PM with the headline "Group works to save beloved animal exhibit in Riverside."