Tragedy breeds cooperation.
In the case of the Christmas Eve fire at the Philadelphia Zoo that killed 23 rare primates and destroyed the popular World of Primates exhibit, cooperation began sprinkling in just three days later. Dozens of similar letters followed, mourning the loss of monkeys and apes and supplemented by small gifts of weekly allowances being saved for Star Wars and Godzilla action figures. Generous corporate donations were also among the deluge of mail, which didn't begin to slow down until well into February. That's why 17 of the region's top malls and shopping centers joined forces to create Malls to Zoo, a month-long cooperative campaign to help fund the exhibit's reconstruction. Today, a kick-off for Malls to Zoo is scheduled at the exhibit reconstruction site.