NYC Parks commissioner Gordon Davis described the zoo as a "Rikers Island for animals". Even so, the zoo was one of the most popular attractions in Central Park through the 1980s, according to surveys taken during that era. Around the same time, there was a plan to shift control of the Central Park, Prospect Park, and Queens Zoos from the city government to the New York Zoological Society, a quasi-public conservation organization. At the time, none of the zoos had dedicated curatorial staff and all had only a skeletal zookeeping staff. The society proposed sending the larger animals to different zoos with more humane conditions, and animal-rights groups sued the city in an effort to close the two zoos and move the animals to the larger Bronx Zoo. A 1976 report by the World Federation for the Protection of Animals found that all three zoos were operating in "shameful conditions", and that the animals at the Central Park and Prospect Park Zoos were living in poorly maintained facilities. Renovations After fifteen years of sporadic conversations, the administration of mayor Ed Koch and the New York Zoological Society (renamed the Wildlife Conservation Society, or WCS, in 1993) signed a fifty-year agreement in April 1980, wherein the Central Park, Prospect Park, and Queens Zoos would be administered by the Society. They proposed renovation plans for all three zoos in 1981. The Central Park Zoo's renovation plan called for the demolition of five of the six structures around the sea lion pool (except for the Arsenal), as well as new classrooms and auditoriums for students, and a snack bar to replace the zoo's concessions. The New York Times reported that "the caging of these animals in inadequate spaces has long enraged animal lovers." Starting in November 1982, the Central Park Zoo's animals were temporarily moved to other zoos while construction was ongoing. Most of the large animals were permanently rehoused in larger, more natural spaces at the Bronx Zoo. The zoo had three "problem animals" that few other zoos wanted to take, but even they found homes. The main zoo was closed in late 1983, though the children's zoo remained open. Demolition continued through 1984, though construction on the new zoo did not begin until the following year. The subsequent redesign was executed by Kevin Roche of Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo Associates. The facility's menagerie cages were replaced with three naturalistic habitats that