By BJ Austin, KERA News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-971088.mp3
Dallas, TX – The Dallas Zoo celebrated the one-year anniversary of its Giants of the Savanna exhibit over the Memorial Day weekend.
Zoo director Gregg Hudson says he considers the success of the Savanna a happy ending to the controversy - two years ago - about the living conditions of Jenny the Elephant.
Hudson: We were even wondering if we should have elephants or not. We made a huge commitment. We really stuck our necks out there. And it's really paid dividends: not just for the Zoo, but for the animals. They're more settled in and more natural behavior than I've ever seen before. We've got people coming from all over the world to see this from a science perspective and I think that's very rewarding.
The Savanna has a herd of six elephant, a dozen giraffe, as well as lions, cheetahs and other animals.
850 thousand people visited the Savanna over the past year - a Zoo record.