A Year of Transformation

Reid Park Zoo has been a community treasure for over 50 years and we take pride in knowing we have our community’s full support with the 2017 passage of two propositions that work together to create a Zoo improvement fund. This fund will transform your Zoo over the next ten years, and this was made possible by Reid Park Zoo’s guests, our community, our donors, the leadership of our Board of Directors and City officials. And if you are reading this, that includes you!

Our year of transformation began with the grand opening of the new Animal Health Center at Reid Park Zoo. This state-of-the-art facility gave us the necessary resources to lead the way in animal health care through groundbreaking procedures and preventative care. The new treatment rooms, animal holding and quarantine areas have already provided critical space during habitat renovations and will aid in future construction projects.

Animal Health Center photographed by Erik Hinote.

 

The unparalleled Freeport-McMoRan Education Gallery in the Animal Health Center has given our guests a view like never before into the care provided for the animals at Reid Park Zoo during countless behind the scenes tours and educational programs. Our education department was busy throughout the year with camps for kids, tours, outreach programs to schools and senior centers, and presentations of our animal ambassadors at the Zoo.

Otters enjoying their habitat after renovations were completed.

 

The transformation continued throughout the year as we welcomed red pandas as our winter visitors, the return of the American alligator and were charmed by the new goat herd. We also created an expansion of the meerkat habitat to better accommodate the mob and otter habitat renovations that provide a more enriching experience for the guests and animals.

Anteaters & Highways staff conducting a procedure on a giant anteater in the wild.

 

Reid Park Zoo has a long history of partnering with conservationists around the world with programs like Anteaters and Highways, Tarangire Elephant Project, Baird’s Tapir Project, and more. We continue to support the work that will make it possible for our children and grandchildren to know there are still elephants in the wild. The support we provide is because of the difference you made when you visited the Zoo, participated in a giraffe encounter, bought a ‘Go Green’ kit from a teen volunteer, or made a donation to the Zoo’s Conservation Fund – you are saving animals in the wild!

Asian Lantern Festival Coming to Reid Park Zoo February 2 – March 23, 2019.

 

As we begin a new year, we are excited to continue to offer free self-guided, K-12 school field trips and reduced admission rates to guests in the WIC or SNAP programs. Also we will bring a one-of-a-kind Asian Lantern Festival and a troop of energetic squirrel monkeys to Reid Park Zoo! I invite you to follow along with us as together we continue to improve your Zoo with bigger spaces that will bring more smiling faces in 2019.

I look forward to seeing you at the Zoo!

Nancy J. Kluge
President and CEO
Reid Park Zoo