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WHEREAS, located on Pittsburgh's historic North Side, the National Aviary is America's Bird Zoo; and
WHEREAS, the National Aviary's large walk-through exhibits create an intimate interaction unlike any other, including more than 600 birds, rarely found in zoos anywhere else around the world, many of them threatened or endangered in the wild; and
WHEREAS, in the late nineteenth century, Pittsburgh's first plant conservatory was established on the Aviary's current site, but was destroyed by a natural gas explosion in the late 1920s; and
WHEREAS, built by the City of Pittsburgh in 1952, the Aviary was originally envisioned as a botanic garden, but the addition of birds to the indoor gardens created one of the first zoos to present its collection in free-flight rooms and natural exhibits within over 25,000 square feet of space; and
WHEREAS, when municipal budgetary cuts threatened to close the institution in 1991, a group of concerned citizens formed Save the Aviary, Inc., a private nonprofit corporation, before the Aviary was privatized in 1992; and
WHEREAS, in 1993, through an act of the U.S. Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton, the Pittsburgh Aviary was designated honorary national status for of its world-class bird collection and renamed the National Aviary in Pittsburgh; and
WHEREAS, on Friday, September 28, 2012, community members gathered at the National Aviary, to commemorate the building's 60th Anniversary and its growth from simply presenting its diverse collection in attractive settings to realizing its responsibility to celebrate, protect and preserve birds for the continuation of the web of life;
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NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Council of the City of Pittsburgh does hereby recognize and honor the important work of the National Aviary for its dedicated efforts in inspiring respect for nature through an appreciation of birds; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Council of the City of Pittsburgh does ...
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