{"id":110296,"date":"2019-12-26T10:23:06","date_gmt":"2019-12-26T15:23:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=110296"},"modified":"2019-12-26T10:23:06","modified_gmt":"2019-12-26T15:23:06","slug":"zoo-supporters-bob-and-zalie-linn-offer-naming-gift-for-new-big-cat-habitat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=110296","title":{"rendered":"Zoo supporters Bob and Zalie Linn offer naming gift for new big cat habitat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Bob\nand Zalie Linn of Manlius, supporters of the Rosamond Gifford Zoo for over 15\nyears, are putting their names on a new big cat exhibit at the zoo, Friends of\nthe Rosamond Gifford Zoo President and CEO Janet Agostini announced. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBob\nand Zalie have assisted the Friends of the Zoo with other important projects in\nthe past, and now they\u2019re providing a very generous donation for an exhibit\nthat will bear their names,\u201d Agostini said. \u201cWe are really thrilled that the\nnew Woodland habitat will be named for a couple whose love for animals and for\ntheir community goes above and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nnew project will renovate the former African lion exhibit at the zoo for Amur\nleopards, a critically endangered species of big cat native to the forests of\nSiberia. The exhibit could potentially also be shared on a rotating basis with\nanother endangered species of big cat, Zoo Director Ted Fox said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nzoo began planning for a new exhibit when it joined the Association of Zoos\n& Aquariums\u2019 Species Survival Plan for Amur leopards in 2018. The zoo\nwelcomed Rafferty and Tria, a male and a female Amur leopard from two other\naccredited zoos, and the pair produced twin cubs, Milo and Mina, born June 19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Agostini\nsaid the new habitat will provide the cats an outdoor space to include trees,\nclimbing structures and a high mesh ceiling, as Amur leopards are acclimated to\ncold weather and are proficient climbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nLinns said they signed on to support the project as a gift to the zoo and their\ncommunity. Bob Linn, an Albany native, and Zalie, a native of Wellsville, NY,\nhave called Syracuse home since the early 1970s. They both graduated from\nIthaca College with degrees in accounting and found jobs at Ernst & Young\nin Syracuse, where they met and fell in love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While\nBob had never had pets, Zalie grew up with dogs, rabbits, turtles and birds.\nShe gave Bob an English setter puppy as an engagement gift, and they have had\nEnglish setters ever since. They went on to support many animal-related causes\nin Central New York, including the zoo, the SPCA and Helping Hounds Dog Rescue,\namong others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over\nthe years, the Linns enjoyed the zoo as members and donated to campaigns to\nbuild the zoo\u2019s Penguin Coast, Primate Park and the Helga Beck Asian Elephant\nPreserve. Bob has served on the Friends of the Zoo board, which he chaired from\n2009-2011, and on the Friends\u2019 finance committee. The Linns are members of the\nzoo Circle of Friends and the Elephant Society for donors who have named the\nzoo in their will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\nthink the zoo is an extremely important part of what makes this community an\nattractive place to live,\u201d Bob Linn said. \u201cI think our community should be very\nproud of what the county, the Friends of the Zoo and its many volunteers have\nachieved. We are very excited for the future of our zoo.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bob and Zalie Linn of Manlius, supporters of the Rosamond Gifford Zoo for over 15 years, are putting their names on a new big cat exhibit at the zoo, Friends of the Rosamond Gifford Zoo President and CEO Janet Agostini announced. \u201cBob and Zalie have assisted the Friends of the Zoo with other important projects […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":110297,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[23813,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","category-top-story"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p43meu-sGY","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/madisoncountycourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Bob-n-Zalie-Linn.jpg?fit=1000%2C1333&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=110296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110296\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/110297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=110296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=110296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=110296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}