WASHINGTON — Conditions at the National Zoo improved during the last year, but a number of weaknesses remain, a report released Wednesday by the National Academies' National Research Council says.
After several animal deaths in early 2003, Congress asked the council to conduct a yearlong review of the zoo's flagship Washington facility and its Conservation and Research Center in Front Royal, Va. The report said "more than a decade of decline in almost every aspect of zoo operation" preceded the deaths.
