WILD-FIRED BY THE ZOO--CUTS WILL OUST HUNDREDS OF BRONX BEASTIES

Situation wanted: Will work for hay.

Layoffs in the city have spread from the piggy traders on Wall Street to the animals at the Bronx Zoo.

The institution is closing four exhibits and shipping hundreds of creatures to zoos and aquariums around the country, officials told the City Council Cultural Affairs Committee yesterday.

Deer, bats, porcupines, foxes, lemurs, caimans and antelopes will be pink-slipped as part of the 114-year-old zoo's effort to cope with a $15 million budget shortfall.

"We plan to close four exhibits, four areas of the zoo . . . and we will have to reduce our collections in order to handle the cuts that we already know about," said Bob Cook, executive vice president of the Wildlife Conservation Society, which runs the zoo.

Councilman Domenic Recchia (D-Brooklyn), who chairs the committee, was incredulous when Cook told him the loss of "hundreds" of animals would be permanent -- not a temporary fix during the recession.

"It's much, much more serious than what I even thought it was going to be," Recchia said.

"When I heard that the animals were going to be impacted and that we are going to have to ship our animals off to other zoos, I'm devastated by this. We are losing our zoos and wildlife."

The Bronx Zoo -- the country's largest urban zoo, which 2.1 million people visited last year alone -- is shutting its World of Darkness, Rare Animal Range and exhibits of the Arabian oryx and blesbok, two types of antelope.

The World of Darkness houses bats, caimans, porcupines and primates, including lemurs and night monkeys.

The Rare Animal Range is home to deer and guanaco, a South American relative of the llama.

The shuttered displays were chosen based on maintenance costs and popularity among visitors, zoo officials said.

Mayor Bloomberg's budget cuts will slash the city's contribution by $1.7 million.

Another $13.3 million is being lost because of reduced donations and cuts from other levels of government.

This will mean human layoffs also.

"I think the Bloomberg administration has to wake up and say it's time that we save the animals," Recchia said.

"Corporate donations are down. This is going to be devastating to the institutions of New York City."

Councilwoman Helen Foster (D-Bronx) said that during hard times, families who cannot afford summer vacations come to the zoo in droves.

"We have to do these cuts so they make sense," she said.

Courtesy of Mike Naughton