The Wild Animal Park’s name change to “Safari Park” isn’t going to be a smooth transition.
A Facebook page entitled “Save the Wild Animal Park” has been started after recent news of the park’s name change and has already gained close to 1,000 members in three days.
The park's board director told our media partner the North County Times that the new name will help people distinguish it from the zoo.
"One of the reasons we're making this change is that we've discovered that when people are doing searches on the internet for us that they really need a key word. And safari is the term that they've been using," said park spokesperson Christina Simmons.
Still even before the change, if you Google the words "San Diego Safari," the Wild Animal Park pops right up, which has some asking is estimated $1 million change necessary.
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Members of the Zoological Society of San Diego say their opinions were never considered in the nine-month decision process and are ready to fight the name change.
Supporters of "Save the Wild Animal Park" believe that the animals should always be the number one priority, and that non-profit funds should go more directly to them, rather than to rebranding an already successful product.
A Zoological Society of San Diego member says, “We feel that the name change is a waste of member-provided funds and that the new name is a misrepresentation of what the Wild Animal Park offers.”
Simmons said the change will be gradual, signs and logos will be replaced only as they wear out. "We really don't expect there to be a great deal of cost associated with this change," she said.
Supporters of the Facebook page say that people will still call the park the Wild Animal Park regardless of the expensive change.
