....With much ado, main Paris zoo at last gets redo....

February 24th, 2010

PARIS (AP) – Paris will soon have a zoo worthy of one of the world’s most beautiful cities.

The city’s main zoo, in the Vincennes woods on the capital’s eastern edge, is getting a euro133 million ($180.57 million) overhaul, thanks to a public-private partnership to fund it.

The zoo has been badly run-down for decades and has not had any major renovations since it opened in 1934.

The animal park will reopen in 2014, putting an emphasis on endangered species, research and education. The French government and zoo officials unveiled the project Wednesday.

The site was closed down in 2008, with most of the animals sent to other zoos — except for giraffes, difficult to transport, and for a hippopotamus who put up a fight when she was put into a shipping crate.