Posted: Thursday, July 2, 2009 12:00 am
PORTLAND (AP) - A popular newborn baby elephant and a dinosaur exhibit have combined to help the Oregon Zoo set a new attendance record.
Director Tony Vecchio says 1.62 million people streamed through the gates of the Portland zoo during the fiscal year that ended Tuesday. And he credited the popularity of Samudra, the Asian elephant born at the zoo last Aug. 23, and the dinosaur exhibit that was on display last summer.
Baby elephants are proven winners.
The first time the zoo's attendance topped one million was during the 1962-63 fiscal year, which included the birth of Packy the elephant in April 1962. The Oregonian says Packy was the first elephant born in the United States in 44 years.