More changes for Zoo New York in Watertown

It wasn’t that long ago —  in 2023 —  that the New York Zoo at Thompson Park in Watertown was closed — many thought for good.

In one last move, the zoo welcomed a new interim director and things changed for the better. The zoo is not only back open, but thriving.

However, that director is leaving and the zoo is hoping the magic doesn’t leave with him.

“Well, at that point, we were in a financial crisis,” Mark Irwin said.

The fall of 2023. The gates of entry to Zoo New York at Thompson Park in Watertown were padlocked closed for what some thought permanently.

“There wasn’t a lot of people left on staff at that point. It wasn’t for the faint of heart either,” he added.

In November of that year, Irwin signed on to be the zoo’s interim executive director, perhaps to get the final ducks in a row.

“Interim was not expected to be more than a year, if that,” Irwin said.

But pretty quickly things started to take a turn.

Getting further away from COVID, Irwin was able to help get some funding, even publicity.

A profile in the New York Times brought in donations of food, Amazon items from a wish list and checks from around the world.

In all, it was hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“Cumulatively, that’s really been the fuel that’s helped us take it to the next level,” he said.

A move up from a historic low of less than 200 members to now four times that amount. The zoo is financially on the right track and no longer in immediate danger.

“It’s been a great, crazy, wild ride. But we’ve got a purpose here and it’s been amazing to be a part of,” he said.

He says it that way because his ride is over.

At the beginning of September, Irwin left this interim job to fully focus on his main one, teaching.

It’s something he’s been doing here and hopes will shape the direction the zoo heads — as it welcomes its new interim director.

“Bringing the zoo to the community is a big part of my focus and what I’m looking to,” Kathryn Allen said.

Allen came to the zoo at the end of 2024 as its newest curator, and then taking on the job as director of operations.

She’s now moving into Irwin’s interim role.

“There’s a lot to do still, but we are on a really good note. We got a lot of fun, exciting things coming up, and I’m looking forward to,” she said.

And from afar, so is Irwin.

“There’s a whole team effort to make that happen. So, that’s really what we’re seeing today is that coming to fruition,” he added.

It’s staff that Irwin believes the zoo would not be open today without.

Allen says her background is in education, and says she can’t wait to get the animals in front of donors and lawmakers — funding decision—makers — to show them what this zoo will be capable of.