WATERTOWN, New York (WWNY) – Zoo New York is seeing a skyrocket in donations from around the world after a New York Times article.
“A lot of gratitude and some disbelief,” said Mark Irwin.
The New York Times article was published on Thursday, and on Friday morning, donations were already coming in.
Five days later, more than $100,000 has been tallied.
“I took a quick look at the average, and it was $100. So we’ve had over 1,000 people donate,” said Irwin.
Some of that was collected through new memberships.
Zoo officials say 216 memberships were added, many of those from people who don’t live here, but wanted to donate the memberships to locals.
“I heard one case where someone donated 20 platinum memberships, which is our highest membership level, and they said, ‘give them away,” said Ken Mix.
It’s a lot of money, but for a zoo that was on the brink of closure just a handful of years ago, a lot of money is needed.
So what does a one-time lump sum do?
“We have to get through Winters, when we have very little income coming through. Hopefully, it will also give us enough to start making some physical improvements and making it a better experience up there for visitors,” said Mix.
As for years to come, officials say the zoo is in a position to offer what it currently does with the money it brings in and the funding it gets from the city and Jefferson County.
This year it got $100,000 from the city and $84,000 from the county.
“In 2024, we had to sort of take care of some deficiencies first and start solidifying our finances. This past year has been sort of, okay, let’s start growing it slowly,” said Mix.
While the recent deluge of donations may not be recurring, it buoys a zoo regaining its sea legs after years on choppy waters.
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