There is definitely an elephant named after Marge Schott’s precious dog, Schottzie.
But the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden knows this: there is no building named after Cincinnati’s controversial benefactor. So no decisions need to be made to remove Schott’s name from a facility.
That said, there has been some confusion. Mainly because the zoo itself used Schott’s name online and on its official map to identify its elephant reserve.
The Cincinnati Enquirer reported June 7th that several University of Cincinnati baseball players and alumni were demanding that Schott’s name be removed from the Bearcats ballpark. On June 9, The Enquirer reported that the Saint Ursula Academy was considering removing its name from two of its buildings. Both organizations recently announced that they would be removing their names from their buildings.
This led to questions for the zoo in connection with its elephant reserve.
Googling “Marge Schott-Unnewehr Elephant Reserve” will populate the results with links listing the elephant exhibition by that name – including a link to the official zoo website listing the exhibition as “Schott-Unnewehr Elephant Reserve” referred to as.
According to the HTML script for the July 2nd page, it was published on March 12th, 2014 and was last modified on June 10th of this year.
In addition, a map of the zoo from 2011, which can be found on the zoo’s Pinterest page, clearly identifies the elephant exhibition as “Marge Schott / Unnewehr Elephant Preserve”.
Finally, a sign in front of the exhibition reads “Elephant reserve – made possible by the generosity of the Schott Unnewehr Foundation”.
Michelle Curley, a spokeswoman for the zoo, said in an email that the name of the exhibit is simply “Elephant Reserve”. She said the 2011 card incorrectly identified the exhibition as the Marge Schott / Unnewehr exhibition, and it never officially bore that name and was only intended to recognize her foundation’s contribution.
Curley also said the only building in the zoo that bears a Schott name is the Harold C. Schott Education Center, named after another Schott family member.
When The Enquirer on the Zoo website asked about the page with the name of Marge Schott and what changes may have been made to the page earlier this month, Curley said, “I’m not sure, but I corrected the name as I did just looked at the page. “”
The page for the elephant reserve no longer bears the name Schott-Unnewehr.
Curley also confirmed that the sign still exists outside of the exhibit, but does not indicate that the exhibit is named after her.
“The (Schott) Foundation has supported the zoo over the years and would have been recognized for it on the signage,” Curley said in an email.
Although the sign says “Schott-Unnewehr Foundation,” funding for the Elephant Reserve came from the Marge and Charles J. Schott Foundation, Curley said. The foundation contributed under her name and sometimes with her maiden name: Unnewehr.
According to The Enquirer, it is unknown how much the Marge and Charles J. Schott Foundation donated to the zoo nearly 20 years ago for the renovation of the exhibit worth $ 6.5 million. However, the foundation makes approximately $ 500,000 in annual contributions to the zoo.
The Marge and Charles J. Schott Foundation did not say whether Marge Schott’s name was included in the elephant reserve.
“The foundation will follow the example of the Cincinnati Zoo and its research,” said Jackie Reau, spokeswoman for the foundation, in an email.
Reau referred The Enquirer to an earlier statement from the Foundation which said: “While we cannot make an apology for Ms. Schott’s rhetoric decades ago, we can ask you out of the mistakes of Ms. Schott and her great love for Cincinnati to learn. ”
The Cincinnati-born Schott became the owner of the Reds in 1984 and was no longer allowed to lead the team from 1996 to 1998 after making statements advocating former NSDAP leader Adolf Hitler. During her tenure as the owner, Schott made blurring about Afro-Americans, Jews and people of Japanese origin.
Schott agreed to sell its majority stake in the Rote in 1999. She died in 2004.
Keith Jenkins contributed to this report.
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