Commemorating the 150th Anniversary of the Founding of the Philadelphia Zoo: America's First Zoo.

WHEREAS

, Dr. William Camac, a legendary Philadelphia physician, led a concerned community of citizens, educators and scientists to charter the Zoological Society of Philadelphia - America's First Zoo - on March 21, 1859, and house it on a bucolic, 44-acre property in Fairmount Park along the West Bank of the Schuylkill River; and

WHEREAS

, The Philadelphia Zoo has emerged over the past century as a national and global treasure and as one of Philadelphia's most cherished, enduring and significant educational, scientific, conservation institutions and cultural attractions; and

WHEREAS

, The Philadelphia Zoo was the site for breakthrough research that led to the award of the 1976 Nobel Prize for Medicine; and

WHEREAS

, The Philadelphia Zoo has from its inception, acted consistently and successfully to protect, promote, and preserve through its myriad research and curatorial activities, numerous rare and endangered wildlife around the world; and

WHEREAS

, The Philadelphia Zoo has welcomed more than 100 Million visitors - including millions of school children from the greater Philadelphia community over generations - since its landmark gates opened to the general public; and

WHEREAS

, The Philadelphia Zoo's celebration of a sesquicentennial on March 21, 2009, is an achievement of historic proportions for Philadelphia, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the United States of America, and the world conservation community; now therefore, be it,

RESOLVED,

That the Philadelphia City Council hereby Commemorates March 21, 2009, as

Philadelphia Zoo Day

, and

FURTHER RESOLVED,

That an Engrossed copy of this resolution be presented to the Philadelphia Zoo as a Sincere Expression of City Council's Appreciation and Recognition of the Philadelphia Zoo on the Occasion of it 150th Anniversary.

End