Zoo's otter exhibit a testimony to hope

Coming to Watertown six years ago I was given many introductions, many greetings. Probably the one I enjoyed the most was Tom Walker's. Tom came to my door and took me for a drive around town. As we drove he chatted and recounted his years as mayor, his own arrival as a New York Airbrake employee and professor of engineering at Jefferson Community College.

The college was the last stop on our tour. As we walked the grounds, he waved his hands as he spoke. With each wave of his hand it was as if the buildings were erased and erected; the decades of its history rose and fell. Our second stop was to the sewage treatment plant. I must confess this was a real highlight to me. I am an infrastructure nerd. Give me dams and highways and intersections and sewer lines and I am a very happy man.

Yet, our first stop was a bit of a surprise to me: the Thompson Park Zoo. The idea that there was a zoo in town was not a major recruiting feature when I interviewed here in January of 2003. Yet, once the snow cleared, this was the first thing Tom wanted to show me. We walked the grounds with the new zoo director, Ken Yates. Moving from exhibit to exhibit it was clear that the community had transformed a tired menagerie of animals into a cultural gem for the north country.

Here there were no hippos or zebras; it was your backyard. In the Thompson Park Zoo were all the creatures who should be eating your garden or skulking about the woods of the Tug Hill plateau. There were tanks of local fish that could be caught and birds that could be identified. It wasn't the San Diego Zoo of my childhood, but it was a moment of great pause and pride. Tom embodied a joy I wouldn't see again until I took my own children to Thompson Park.

And then, just before we departed, we walked past the sign that says, "No entry." In no uncertain terms, they said, I needed to meet Louie. Louie the otter swam in a small tank in the first holding area. He moved and squirmed and played and slunk with an excitement that seemed "on cue." Louie, I was told, was waiting for his home to be built. It wouldn't be long, they assured me. Children had been raising pennies, community groups had made donations and major sponsors were all lined up.

A year later I was asked to serve on the zoo board. I figured by now Louie would have been in a new home and out of the holding area. But such was not the case. In the next five years such would not be the case. In board meeting after board meeting as the zoo struggled through two executive directors, an accreditation crisis, and a funding shortage that hurt all features of an organizationdetermined to not be a "city zoo" as atax,but a community asset that is sustained by the desire of its members; in board meeting after board meeting Louie would come up only to be seen as an elusive dream.

Part of the challenge is that Louie's home needed to be part aquarium. This meant it wasn't just fencing, but tanks and filters and a whole other realm of maintenance. In tough times how could such an addition be realized?

Well, it wasn't easy, but Louie now has a fabulous home. A lot of credit needs to go to Dr. John Scott Foster who was willing to lead his staff and board to realize a big accomplishment. It took a lot of grit and some hand-wringing, but all will agree it was worth it. Much thanks needs to go to the donors and sponsors who have been patient waiting for this day. Yet, the real thanks, the biggest in my mind, needs to go to the children of Watertown. In the last five years I have not met many children who were not waiting for Louie, hoping for him, anticipating his return from Tupper Lake. To make something remarkable you need hope; and nothing is more powerful than the hope of thousands of children.

This month the zoo will open the Otter Creek exhibit. In truth, though, they will be providing a moment of awe and happiness for the north country. Be sure to come out and see it. While you are at the zoo, become a member and make a pledge to sustain it. Do this not only because this is what the zoo needs to continue, but do this because this is what it means to be part of something remarkable.

Just before we left the zoo after meeting Louie, Tom confessed his real desire: moose. He wanted moose at the zoo. Well, now that Louie has a home I am sure the children of Watertown will be ready to collect pennies and name a moose. For such is the power when children are involved.

The Rev. Fred Garry is pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Watertown.

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To make something remarkable you need hope; and nothing is more powerful than the hope of thousands of children.

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JUSTIN SORENSEN N WATERTOWN DAILY TIMES

River otters at Watertown's zoo are sure to be a hit. The community put much thought and effort into the otter exhibit.