By Kayla Thompson
May 25, 2021 | 5:09 PM
JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – After the Jackson Zoo’s managing partner backed out of the deal, the City of Jackson took control of the facility. While the zoo does not have someone to manage it, the city will have to hire and pay employees.
A zookeeper, veterinary technician, animal care supervisor and development director for the zoo will be managed by the city’s Parks and Rec Department. Ison Harris is the director of the department and said this is needed to secure the zoo and people who can do the job.
“We had basically contracted workers working with no insurance or anything at that point. So if we’re going to go back through the process of managing it and RFP, we want to make sure that we secure those people. The reason why that’s important is because we’ve been losing valuable people because of that situation so we want to stabilize it,” Harris explained.