Zoo New England Caught with Pants on Fire

This weekend, Zoo New England let it slip that it might have to euthanize tons of animals because of state budget cuts. But guess what? They were completely lying. According to Steve Feldman, a spokesperson for the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, "It’s not part of modern zoological practice, except in very rare instances, to use euthanasia as a population management tool." Zoo New England has since issued a statement to clarify: It has "no plans...to euthanize any animals."

It's a war of the words now on Beacon Hill, where legislators preen over the prospect of overriding Deval Patrick's line item veto, which removed $4 million in zoo funding, and Patrick snaps back with the complaint that other state agencies are suffering as much or more than the Zoo, a private non-profit corporation. At risk in the fiasco, according to Patrick: the line item veto that preserved health coverage for tens of thousands of legal immigrants.

The Globe wonders why the Zoo isn't self-sufficient like the Museum of Science or the New England Aquarium, which don't receive state funds. Bloggers want to boycott the zoo (link via UHub), but Blue Mass Group sees the silver lining: "people like government programs," and this incident might make them realize that those programs will go away without a reasonable tax policy. That last one's probably just wishful thinking.