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ASHEBORO — It takes a well-trained eye to notice that the North Carolina Zoo’s African Pavilion looks a little worse for wear.

The foot-long meerkats still stand alert in their exhibit; baboons move between indoor and outdoor enclosures. And towering green ferns crowd the walkways.

But rain and plant-watering has damaged the structure. The waterfowl, Colobus monkeys and foxes that used to call the pavilion home have moved to holding areas or other zoos.

“(The water) is eating away at electrical wiring, plumbing and HVAC,” said zoo spokesman Rod Hackney, adding that the Teflon-coated fiberglass roof’s durability has been questioned. “It’s deteriorating just like everything else, and we don’t know how long it’s going to last.”

So zoo staff is thrilled that the state legislature included in its final budget $600,000 to plan renovations to the pavilion, which sees a lot of traffic as a walkway to other parts of the zoo’s Africa section.

The budget, which also would give the zoo $2.7 million to expand its polar bear exhibit, was approved this week and awaits Gov. Mike Easley’s signature. A proposed children’s nature center at the zoo did not receive funding.

“We got two projects out of three, and that’s really rather good,” said Mary Joan Pugh, the zoo’s chief of staff and business officer. She added that the struggling economy made this a tough year for such projects. “A lot of people didn’t get funded on their capital projects. It’s great news.”

Planning for the pavilion’s next incarnation will begin soon, and Hackney said zoo officials expect construction to start in 2009.

State funding for the African Pavilion would support only the planning stage, so the zoo will need more money soon to build the new exhibit.

“This will be more than just take down the building and then rebuild it,” said Russ Williams, executive director of the N.C. Zoological Society, the zoo’s fundraising arm. “It will be more like, take down the building and then create a complex of outdoor exhibits and maybe some smaller buildings, too.

“This will probably be a $24 million project.”

He said zoo officials want to tear down the three-pronged, tented pavilion and replace it with a collection of exhibits featuring aquatic African animals.

This new Aquatic Africa could house pygmy hippos, penguins and sea dragons.

In the meantime, zoo staff, which began discussing possible renovations about five years ago, have been gradually replacing animals with ferns and educational banners.

At the same time, the zoo’s lone polar bear, Wilhelm, is aging — more than 20 years old. To bring in younger bears, the zoo must expand and upgrade the exhibit to meet evolving standards.

Zoo directors also will modify Wilhelm’s holding area so he can comfortably live out his remaining years.

With matching funds pledged by the Zoological Society, Pugh said renovations could begin when the state’s expected $2.7 million comes in, which she estimates will happen in early fall.

“We’ll obviously move ahead on the polar bear exhibit,” she said. “The children’s nature zoo is the one we’ll have to do a little conferencing on to figure out what our next step is.”

The zoo recently readied plans for the children’s nature center, but the zoo’s directors can’t start looking at bids until they find the money to build it.

But don’t rule it out.

Hackney said the zoo secured funding to build a new giraffe feeding station — at 30 years old, the two giraffes are some of the oldest in the country — without state money.

“Things like that happen,” Pugh said. “You have to have plan B or C or D. We’ll regroup.”

Contact Emily Stephenson at 373-7080 or emily.stephenson@news-record.com