It just goes to show if the OAG and the 2006-2009 board of directors took my allegations (which have now proven true) seriously, the WAO could have been saved. Oh well...
http://www.statesman.com/news/local/new-day-for-the-austin-zoo-1159335.html
New day for the Austin Zoo
Animal sanctuary overcoming problems, board says
By Andrea Ball AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Updated: 9:16 a.m. Monday, Jan. 3, 2011
Published: 8:17 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 2, 2011
As Patti Clark walks along a dirt road winding through the Austin Zoo and Animal Sanctuary, two lions roar raucously from within their covered enclosure. A black bear paces around his cage. Babe, the 500 pound pig, lounges in the dirt.
There's a lot going on at the western Travis County nonprofit, says Clark, the zoo's executive director. They're expanding the monkey area, building new trails, making plans for a new water system, paying off debt and attracting new donors.
But getting here hasn't been easy.
Just a few years ago, the Austin Zoo was saddled with serious problems: financial records in disarray, high employee turnover, decaying facilities and more than $60,000 in credit card debt. When Clark took over in 2007, she and the new board members found receipts, veterinary records and bank statements stuffed in bags stored in the barn, the gift shop and other zoo buildings, Clark said. More than $700 in cash and checks was discovered in boxes. The board unearthed a truckload of documents in a rented storage shed they didn't know existed until the owner demanded payment.
Meanwhile, unhappy visitors routinely took to the Web to brand the nonprofit a third-class rescue operation with mangy animals, shabby habitats and surly staffers.
"The online reviews when I took over were scathing, horrible, embarrassing," Clark said.
Zoo leaders say they have spent the past three years trying to change perceptions by changing how they operate. They say they've brought in new management, revamped their financial policies, hired an outside bookkeeper and expanded their donor base. "I'm very proud of the progress we've made," said board member Brian Falbo , a lawyer at Dell Inc. "I think we're building the foundation we need."
Located off U.S. 290 West near the junction with Texas 71, the rescue sanctuary for unwanted exotic and domestic animals has a 350-creature collection that includes lions, tigers, peacocks, bears, tortoises, lemurs and monkeys. The nonprofit, which draws more than 200,000 visitors a year, has a $800,000 budget and 17 employees.
It was created in 1990 as a part-time business by Jim and Cindy Carroccio, an Austin couple who turned their cadre of petting zoo animals — like goats, pigs and ponies — into a children's birthday party staple. They named it Good Day Ranch .
Business grew so much that in 1992, the ranch opened full-time. That year, it drew 1,000 visitors. By 1995, it was attracting 120,000 people annually.
Birth of a rescue
The couple changed the name and began taking in unwanted domestic and exotic animals donated by individuals, zoos and others groups.
"We took animals that didn't have anywhere else to go," Jim Carroccio said. "That was our passion. That was what drove us."
Cindy Carroccio, who now lives in Costa Rica, declined to be interviewed for this story.
In 2000, the Austin Zoo became a nonprofit in order to become eligible for foundation, government and corporate grants. The founders also wanted to protect the animals by ensuring the long-term operation of the zoo, Jim Carroccio said.
The pair stayed involved in the group, leasing the land to the organization and taking jobs at the zoo. Cindy was the executive director; Jim served as curator.
"The things that Cindy did, I'm not sure anyone could have done," said board member William Yarnell, an Austin lobbyist. "She put her time and energy into her beliefs. She built a rescue zoo from scratch with her own money."
But the transition from a private company to a nonprofit was bumpy, said Clark, who owns and manages real estate. Although tax documents filed with the IRS show the nonprofit operated in the black, internal financial records were in shambles, she said. The board met sporadically, and multiple board members quit because of personality conflicts.
Growing pains
By 2005, the Carroccios were getting divorced. New board members — including Clark, Yarnell and Falbo — were demanding that Cindy Carroccio give them more detailed information about the finances. Meanwhile, the zoo was being ravaged in online reviews by visitors.
"This zoo has the rudest staff I've ever come in contact with," one person wrote on Citysearch.com. "We've taken my family to several zoos, some big, some small, but never have we experienced staff that acts as if they hate the patrons who help support them."
Jim Carroccio agrees that some employees treated visitors poorly. The staff's behavior had come to reflect the dysfunctional culture at the zoo, he said.
In 2007, Cindy Carroccio left the organization. Clark took over as executive director.
Jim Carroccio was fired in February 2008. Clark says it was because "the board wanted to go in a different direction." But Carroccio maintains he was pushed aside so the board could do things their own way.
"It was brutal," he said. "My heart and soul was in that place. I haven't been back since the day I left."
On the right track
Once Clark became executive director — a position for which she does not take a salary — she and the board began trying to organize the scattered records and documents and discovered the nonprofit has no complete financial records prior to 2006.
Falbo said the board has no evidence that any money was used inappropriately. The Carroccios "had a great commitment to the animals and wanted to provide a safe place for them," he said. "But they almost had an hour-to-hour management style."
Jim Carroccio said he had nothing to do with the finances.
Zoo leaders started keeping detailed financial records, which allowed them to secure several grants and donations. They focused on improving the facility by repairing broken plumbing and revamping buildings, Clark said. They're working with a water supply company to replace the current water system. They paid off the credit card debt in December. And the staffers who once made visitors feel unwelcome were either fired or quit, Clark said.
The board also started reaching out to donors like Beverly Seffel, who gave $8,000 to the charity last year.
Seffel had worked with the zoo years ago in her former position with the Lower Colorado River Authority, where she distributed grants to nonprofits. She now donates because she believes the facility is being run better.
"The place is not like it was three years ago," said Seffel, now director of community relations at Ronald McDonald House Charities of Austin and Central Texas. "It has been greatly improved. It's not Patti's personal zoo. It belongs to the people of Austin and Central Texas."
In 2009, Cindy Carroccio sold the nonprofit 54 acres — a tract that included the zoo's roughly 20 acres — for about $400,000 . Because the nonprofit didn't have enough money for the required down payment, Clark put her name on the loan and is personally responsible if the zoo defaults.
"It was the right thing to do for the animals," she said. "If this closed, what would happened to them? Where would they go?"
Board members hope to expand the facility with more animals. They also want to spread the word that, despite its name, the outfit isn't the traditional zoo with extensive exhibits and frills. That means adjusting expectations by educating people about the nonprofit's mission and purpose, Clark said.
Zoo leaders also want those who may have had a bad experience at the zoo to give it another chance.
"Things have changed." Clark said. "Things are good, and we're moving in a new direction."
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