Attendance up at Columbus zoo

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

Attendance records are on track to fall this year at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium.

The Columbus Dispatch reports that as of Sept. 30, 1.92 million people had gone to the zoo. The total attendance for all of 2013 was 1.99 million.

Zoo officials say this year’s attendance should far surpass the record 2.2 million visitors in 2009.

Attendance was boosted this year by the May opening of the zoo’s new 43-acre exhibit, Heart of Africa. June’s attendance was 40 percent higher than in 2013.

About 15 percent of the zoo’s operating income comes from a 10-year, 0.75-mill levy that expires at the end of 2015. Franklin County voters last May turned down the zoo’s request to pass a permanent, 1.25-mill tax levy.