Zoo Zoo (Wildlife Conservation Society) leading the discussion. From then on, zoo professionals became increasingly aware of the need to engage themselves in conservation programs, and the American Zoo Association soon said that conservation was its highest priority. In order to stress conservation issues, many large zoos stopped the practice of having animals perform tricks for visitors. The Detroit Zoo, for example, stopped its elephant show in 1969, and its chimpanzee show in 1983, acknowledging that the trainers had probably abused the animals to get them to perform. Whipsnade Park in Bedfordshire, England, was opened in 1931 as the first safari
Rosamond Gifford Zoo and injure about forty animals. The city's financial position and the break-in fueled public debate over the future of the zoo. Despite the creation of the "Friends of the Burnet Park Zoo" in 1970 and a grant received by the city to enlarge the zoo to , add a boardwalk, a western plains habitat, and construct a new perimeter fence, the city of Syracuse transferred control of the zoo to "Onondaga County Parks" in 1979. A study by County Parks staff produced a forty-page renovation plan for the zoo which involved shutting down the old zoo and constructing another. The