Zip line planned at Cape May County zoo

MIDDLE TOWNSHIP Get ready to fly like a bird over the Cape May County Zoo.

Officials announced this week the county will add a zip line and elevated rope-course attraction called "Treetop Adventure" to its 300-acre zoo and park in the Cape May Courthouse section of Middle Township. More than a half-million visitors already flock each year to the zoo.

"The zoo is such a popular attraction anyway, but we think this is going to really add one more component to really bring people in and help us bridge that gap between funding and operations costs," said Mike Laffey, director of operations for Cape May County who had previously worked as the zoo's director. "We think it's going to be something really great for the zoo."

Laffey said the plan to build the aerial adventure course had been talked about for a while and follows a national trend that pairs animal parks with such attractions.

Zip lining began to gain widespread appeal after scientists used the technology - which includes networks of lines and rope-ascension systems and observation platforms - 30 years ago as a means to study the tree canopy in rain forests without disturbing the flora and fauna in Australia and South America.

The trend began catching on as thrill-seekers in vacation hot spots constructed such systems for their own, nonscientific use. Since then, scaled-down versions - at lower heights and shorter distances - have been built in places like the Metro Richmond Zoo in Virginia, where the Treetop Zoofari is the newest attraction.

At the Cape May County Zoo, there will actually be two courses - one for adults and one for children - but there is no precise timeline for construction or an estimate on what the fees will be to use the attraction in the otherwise free-admission zoo, which is open year-round.

The zoo collects more than $1 million a year in private donations at the gate, and relies on about $300,000 in revenue from its food concessions and gift shop, in addition to funding from the county budget to offset the $2.5 million-a-year cost of operating the zoo and park.

Officials said state law prohibited such attractions from being built directly over animal exhibits and the one at the Cape May County Zoo will be constructed to create a bird's-eye view alongside the cages, pens, and open habitats of the various species there.

"It will ultimately skirt the outside edges of the zoo using the tree line and other barriers to create the attraction," said Laffey, noting that the county will "take its time" to choose an outside contractor to build the attraction and an operator to run it.

It will probably not be finished by this summer, he said.

"The way we would like to see it constructed, it will allow people to soar over the park like a bird," Laffey said. "But we want to take our time to choose the right vendor to operate it. We think it will really make a difference to seek the very best operator we can find for that job. There are so many factors involved, especially around the construction and safety of the attraction, so we want it done right."

- Jacqueline L. Urgo