TODAY'S SPEAKER (Wednesday 11/29/23): Attleboro Mayor Cathleen Desimone
Cathleen Desimone is the current mayor of the City of Attleboro. Prior to attaining her current position, she was an Attleboro City Councilor and Chair of the Ordinance Committee. She was the director of the Bridgewater State University Attleboro Campus, a member of Self-Sufficiency Coalition, former member of the Be Heard community group, an organizing member of Neighbors in Dialogue, Attleboro Moving Wall Steering Committee member, Sturdy Memorial Foundation member, former ESL teacher at The Literacy Center, former Trustee of the Attleboro Public Library, and former Trial Attorney for the US Immigration Service. She has her Bachelors of Arts degree from URI, her J.D. from Roger Williams University School of Law, and her Masters in Education from Eastern Nazarene College. She is married with two children and too many pets.
Mayor Desimone spoke to the Rotary Club about the Capron Park Zoo. When she took office the zoo was operating at a loss. Half of the zoo budget is funded through the City and half is funded through zoo operations. The Zoo experienced a significant decrease in visitors during COVID and then in 2022 the area experienced a summer long heat wave. Both events affected the zoo's operational cash flow to the point of operating at a deficit. The City had to transfer monies to balance their budget. Mayor Desimone asked Kevin Dumas (prior Mayor of Attleboro from 2003 - 2018, and current Town Manager of Mansfield) to lead a task force that would report back with findings and suggestions for improvement. Mr. Dumas and his team reported back that there was a lack of leadership and financial responsibility at the zoo. They needed to hire someone. The City of Attleboro has hired an individual who has years of operational zoo management and financial expertise. This individual should start at the beginning of 2024. The Capron Park Zoo will continue on. (please scroll to the bottom of the newsletter to see some "fun facts" on zoo's)
ROTO 
: Bill Kelly.....but he drew the six of hearts. There are 19 cards left with a pot of close to $500. It may be a good idea to come to a lunch meeting and buy a roto ticket.
GUESTS:
1. Kathy Hickman, guest of Gerry Hickman
2. Keri Greenstein, North Easton Savings Bank branch manager, guest of Tom Kelly.
VISITING ROTARIANS: None
HAPPY BUCKS:
1. Bill Kelly gave $5 because he was able to spend the last five days with his daughter.
2. Kevin Cryan gave $10 because Cryan Landscaping was mentioned in the latest book in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series.
3. Mahesh Patel - he had 50 people at his house for Thanksgiving
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
1. The annual Thanksgiving food drive has begun and the donation forms have been handed out. You can donate by either filling out the form and being billed, or bring a check to the next meeting. All proceeds, up to $3000, will be matched by the club. All monies will be donated to four area food pantries.
2. Rotary Holiday Party will be held on Wednesday December 13th from 5:30 - 8:30 at The Sweet House. Please RSVP to Kathi Hague by 12/6.
3. The Holiday Happenings Parade was held on Saturday 12/2 - thank you to all that attended and walked with the club!
Fun Facts (Zoo's):
It's estimated that over 600 million people visit zoo's each year. There are approximately 2,800 zoo's and aquariums in the world with 414 alone in Germany (the most of any country). The US has 220 accredited zoo's and aquariums across 45 states, accommodating 800,000 animals and 6,000 species (about 1,000 are endangered). These zoo's provide 208,000 jobs. Busch Gardens Tampa Bay has the most visitors annually with 4,500,000. The oldest running zoo in the world is the Vienna Zoo in Schonbrunn which dates to 1752 (it was originally meant for viewing by the imperial family only, but was made accessible to the public in 1765). The Philadelphia Zoo was opened on July 1st 1874 and is said to be the oldest zoo in the US. The Berlin Zoo in Germany has over 1,500 species, which is the largest number of species in any zoo in the world. The Monterey Bay Aquarium has about 124,000 individual animals which is the most of any zoo in the world.
The first recorded zoo was in Hierakonpolis, the capital of Upper Egypt during the Predynastic period. The city was located along the Nile, south of Luxor. It started around 4000 BC and over the course of 500 years it grew to be one of the largest, most bustling cities in Predynastic Egypt, thriving long before the country was unified and ruled by pharaohs. Archaeologists have discovered thousands of animal bones. Buried alongside the elite members of society, archaeologists have dug up bones of a baboon, an elephant, numerous cats and dogs, a leopard, two crocodiles, aurochs (extinct species of wild ox), hippos, gazelles, and many more animals.
The Capron Park Zoo is open from 9am - 4pm daily. The stated mission is "to inspire a lifelong passion in our community and visitors for wildlife, nature and its conservation locally and worldwide". The vision is to be a "leader in visitor engagement and facilitation of community support and participation in the conservation of wildlife and nature locally and globally". The zoo was made possible as a result of community support, first initiated by a penny drive led by Attleboro school children in 1925. That effort ultimately led to the opening of Capron Park Zoo in 1937 on 8 of the 33 acres donated by the Haford A Capron family. Capron Park was originally designed by the firm of Frederick Law Olmsted, the noted landscape architect who laid out Central Park in New York. For more information please see the link below.
www.capronparkzoo.com
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