Zoo: Air quality never cited as reason for closing Delbridge Museum

Nonprofit responds after work group highlights no airborne arsenic exposure risk

Officials at the Great Plains Zoo say the public was not misled about why the Delbridge Museum was shut down last summer.

Following calls this week to resume showings of a 170-specimen collection of taxidermic animal mounts at the Great Plains Zoo and Delbridge Museum campus in central Sioux Falls, a spokeswoman for the nonprofit told The Dakota Scout that airborne arsenic exposure was never cited as a reason for closing the facility in August. 

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“We’ve always been transparent about air quality in the museum,” said Denise DePaolo, public relations and marketing director for the zoo. “The concern for the public remains physical contact, and proper mitigation is not in place.”

Those remarks come after a work group studying options for what to do with what’s known as the Brockhouse Collection were provided results of air quality assessments this week conducted by an outside consultant, which confirmed there’s no airborne risk of arsenic exposure.