Saturday, April 19, 2008

Zoo expansion takes a heavy toll

Letters to the Editor
Saturday, April 19, 2008 - Commercial Appeal
Zoo expansion takes a heavy toll

I've lived near Overton Park for a decade and walk in the park on a daily basis. When my husband and I bought a house in the neighborhood surrounding Overton Park five years ago, we were overjoyed. We love the zoo and join it every year.

However, the encroachment of the zoo into the Old Forest, inspiration for Pulitzer Prize winner Peter Taylor's "The Old Forest," a publicly designated space, which a group of citizens fought to keep from destruction when the highway was going to be built through it years ago, is a public shame. I love the zoo, but the clear cutting of old forest will encourage me to boycott zoo attendance.

I see the interest of zoo profits winning out over the public use of beautiful land. Shame on Memphis.

Tina Barr
Memphis

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