The Dorchester Reporter reports that Gov. Patrick says that if the legislature overrides his veto of some funding for the Franklin Park and Stoneham zoos, he might have to cut money from a program that subsidizes health insurance for legal immigrants.

Patrick to zoo officials: Quit the fearmongering and we'll talk about saving the zoos.

Earlier:
Franklin Park Zoo threatens to shut down, kill some animals.

Blames state budget cuts, Globe reports.

Michael Pahre notes the passing of the Franklin Park Zoo's Mandy, but wonders if she really just died of old mandrill age. He and his daughter visited the zoo the day before her death and noticed how all the exhibits were decorated for Easter. He doesn't remember anything in particular about the unmemorable mandrill display, but:

... If there turn out to have been Easter decorations introduced to the mandrill exhibit, I expect that the investigation by the Franklin Park Zoo into the mandrill's death may have to look at the possibility that she ate something inedible. As noted by the Globe ... Mandy had a history of "chronic uterine ailments," but her death nonetheless appeared to be sudden and surprise the zookeepers. ...

The Urban Pantheist discusses Cleopatra, a pygmy hippopotamus now at the Franklin Park Zoo's Tropical Forest building. For a plant eater, she sure has some sharp teeth.

Jennifer Forman Orth reports from the front lines of the battle against the Japanese knotweed that is choking off native plants in Franklin Park and elsewhere in eastern Massachusetts:

Turns out zookeepers harvest the stuff in the park and feed it to the giraffes, who respond to it like kids at a self-service softserve machine. In fact, zookeepers credit the knotweed with helping save the life of one giraffe who had come down with a wasting disease - it was the only thing he'd eat.