Could It Be They’re Taking the Farm Out of Knott’s?
I don’t usually cover the news from the petting zoo at Knott’s Berry Farm, but we’re short-staffed these days, so I pitched in last week.
Can you believe it? First day on the beat, and a story dropped in my lap.
After 20 years of delighting kiddies and adults alike at Camp Snoopy, the petting zoo may be closing. Knott’s wouldn’t confirm it, but when I gave them a chance to deny it, they wouldn’t do that, either. That caused me to stroke my chin and murmur, “Hmmm.”
Our source is none other than the “Bird Lady of Orange,” otherwise known as Susan Doggett. A licensed wildlife rehabilitator, Doggett has a long-running relationship with Knott’s because each year it sends her dozens of birds that are injured on its grounds.
Accordingly, Doggett got a call one day last week about an injured bird. When she reached her usual contact at Knott’s, however, she thought he sounded upset. He proceeded to tell her that the petting zoo was shutting as of Nov. 1. Doggett says another Knott’s employee verified his account of what Knott’s officials told them.
“There was no iffiness about it,” Doggett says. “I’ve known him long enough and trust him to know he’s not making it up.”
Knowing I was on to potentially the biggest Berry Farm story of the week, I phoned Susan Tierney, the park’s chief spokeswoman. She was cordial but noncommittal. Next year marks the 20th anniversary of six-acre Camp Snoopy, she said, and the park plans some capital improvements. Those plans are still in the works, she said, and what’s talked about one day “can be changed the next.”
That tells me that if anyone wants to get a petition drive going to save the petting zoo, now would be a good time to start one.
Does anyone care?
In a world where youngsters understand megabytes but not where milk comes from, does anyone still care if children can’t pet a goat or feed oats to a horse?
Heck, yes, says Doggett, who has a book about the park’s founder, the late Walter Knott. “My grandfather was a friend of Walter Knott’s,” she says. “If Walter Knott had any idea this was going to happen, he’d be rolling over.”
Removing the zoo, Doggett says, would strip it of its “family” feel and make it more like any other amusement park dominated by thrill rides. “This is a nostalgic place, it’s all old-time themed, and they’re getting away from what Knott wanted,” Doggett says.
Well, we can’t run that by Mr. Knott, but it’s true that society doesn’t place the same importance on hanging around a barnyard or a corral that it once did.
A pity, Doggett says. In her view, contact with animals educates children and gives them a more balanced view of life on the planet. “These are animals that city kids, especially, don’t see,” she says. “They don’t have an opportunity to come face-to-face with these things anymore.”
The sad truth is, it’s not Knott’s responsibility to ensure that children maintain contact with farm animals. They run a business out there, and if they think horses and goats don’t pull a crowd like they once did, well ...
Now, if the public were to rise up and demand that the park keep its chickens and pigs, that might get the businessmen’s attention.
Not to be crass about it, but I doubt Knott’s will be moved by laments of lost yesteryears. They may pay attention, however, to what a parkgoer said last week when told about the rumor of the zoo’s demise.
“You’re kidding,” the 40-year-old mother of four told a Times reporter. “They can’t do that. Kids love it here. This place started out as a farm. It’s the last of the farm that’s left.”
She then added jokingly: “Let’s picket.”
Picket. Now there’s a word that could make the Knotts folks fall in love all over again with barnyard creatures.
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Dana Parsons’ column appears Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Readers may reach Parsons at (714) 966-7821; The Times’ Orange County edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626; or dana.parsons@latimes.com.
