Baby Animals and Tom LaBonge Arrive at the Los Angeles Zoo

A baby Koala, twin Peninsular Pronghorn Antelope fawns and a desert Bighorn sheep met the public for the first time at the Los Angeles Zoo this week, according to a newsletter put out by local Councilman Tom LaBonge. The fawns and sheep were born in March. Baby Fergie the Koala was born last July; she spent the intervening months growing up in her mother's pouch.

Councilman Tom LaBonge is a fan of the zoo; he recently joined zoo and city officials to dedicate its newly renovated environmentally friendly parking lot, according to LaBonge's newsletter.

The entrance to the zoo now has newly planted native trees, grasses and shrubs, too, and new educational signage along the promenade. The parking lot is part of a $13.9 million stormwater improvement project funded by the voter-approved 2004 Proposition O Clean Water Bond. The goal of the stormwater project is to stop polluted discharges from entering the storm drain system and local coastal waters.

"The project [at the zoo] implemented best management practices such as various types of permeable pavement, bioswales, recycled water for irrigation and other green elements to reduce the mount of runoff that flows to the Los Angeles river" read the announcement on LaBonge's newsletter.