It took Jim Hogle a while to accept what he was being told.

The Hogle Zoo, his family's namesake and legacy, wasn't keeping pace with the times, the zoo's future director explained. Many exhibits were small and some were run down. The animals --- and those who came to visit them -- deserved better.

"I think I knew," said Hogle, the president of the zoo's board of directors, "but it was still hard to hear."

Ten years and millions of dollars in public and private investment later, Hogle walks through the Salt Lake City zoo with a broad smile. Its newest exhibits are getting high praise from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, which accredits the nation's top animal parks. Attendance set a record last year. And now the Utah zoo sits tantalizingly close to a $33 million infusion of public cash that its leaders believe will thrust the park permanently out of the past.

But there is a catch: To unlock the public funds, the zoo has to raise $11 million in private donations -- and it has to do so in an economy that is particularly poorly suited for such an undertaking.

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Never satisfied » Earlier versions of the financing arrangement called for the zoo to collect $65 million in public funds if it could raise $20 million on its own. Zoo officials negotiated with the Salt Lake County Council for a smaller private contribution -- but also had to settle for a lesser public prize.

In the wake of the agreement, which still required the approval of county voters, zoo director Craig Dinsmore made no secret of his discontent.

"I'm never satisfied," he playfully explained in the park with Hogle last month. "I'm a zoo director --- I want it all and I want it now."

But there were some benefits to the truncated deal. Finding $11 million in private donations would be much easier than finding $20 million.

Then the economy tanked. Suddenly, $11 million was looking more challenging.

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A head start » Still, the zoo appeared to have a substantial head start. If voters approved the bond, the zoo would have just two years to produce its part of the cash --- but it could count any money it had previously raised toward fulfilling the vision in the park's "master plan."

That included a $1.5 million gift from the Utah-based ALSAM Foundation in December 2007 for a new animal hospital. It also included a $3 million grant, the following month, from the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation, to help build an arctic wildlife exhibit.

All told, zoo officials say they had nearly $8 million in pledges and donations before a single vote was cast. And they have reported another $600,000 in pledges and donations since county voters overwhelmingly approved the $11-to-get-$33 million deal in November.

Assuming the donations come through --- and Dinsmore said no one has backed out yet -- the zoo stands less than $3 million away from its goal, with 20 months of fundraising to go.

But there are some signs that the mountain is still growing.

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Reason for concern » Most of the $3 million grant for the arctic exhibit was conditional on the zoo raising $5 million on its own. The Eccles Foundation's hope "was that the zoo could leverage this gift to raise more private funds from others," zoo spokeswoman Holly Braithwaite said.

But the zoo filed for an extension when it couldn't meet a November deadline for raising the first $2 million. The foundation extended its offer through June -- which zoo officials say they are confident they'll hit -- but the initial shortfall was disconcerting to some board members.

"It's too early to say that anybody is in trouble," said board member Jeff Allen, "but I think that we'd better be concerned. Everybody has lost a lot of money over the past few months, and when you're not making money, it gets more difficult to give money away."

Dinsmore remains optimistic. He still hopes to sell potential donors on the "value added" aspect -- noting that every dollar donated puts the zoo closer to a much bigger pot of cash. And while the zoo once focused fundraising efforts on local foundations, Dinsmore said they're now looking outside of the state.

"We'll leave no stone unturned," he said.

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A grand vision » Part of the plan, Dinsmore said, is to "unleash" Hogle, a "master" at fundraising. Hogle demurs the title, but pledged to do his part.

It's been just over a decade since Dinsmore arrived at the zoo and offered his sometimes painful assessment. The years between sometimes have been painful, too, with federal accusations of animal neglect and state investigations of the zoo's use of an earlier pot of public dough -- adding a snazzy pavilion that gave it a sharp new entrance but did little to improve animal exhibits.

But as he stands in that pavilion, Hogle's eyes are fixed on the horizon.

In a few years -- if all goes according to plan -- visitors at this spot will have a panoramic view of the zoo's replica of an African savannah, home to zebras, giraffes, gazelles and maybe a pride of lions. Planners also envision a $22 million Arctic Edge exhibit, featuring polar bears, seals and wolves. The additions will be built to the same standards as the zoo's new Asian Highlands and Elephant Encounter exhibits, which have drawn top marks from accreditors.

Hogle said those features make him extremely proud, once again, to share his family's name with the zoo.

"It's never going to get to the point that we can't do things better," Hogle said. "And that's the idea. What I've learned is that there's always room for improvement."

Whether there's money, as well, remains to be seen.

mlaplante@sltrib.com