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Arizona Docent

Arizona Docent

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15+ year member
The zoo director for the last two years is leaving to take a position with city parks. Apparently they had a string of short term unsuccessful directors before that. Financial troubles (which the retiring director seems to have fixed) caused them to lose their AZA accreditation.

The leaving director had not worked at a zoo before and it appears applicants for the position do not require this either - just a love for animals and good business sense. I know many ZooChatters dream of running a zoo, so maybe this is your chance? (I am half tempted - but only half - to apply myself).

Victoria Advocate | Texas Zoo executive director resigns, accepts job with city of Victoria
 
So the Texas Zoo is a former AZA Zoo? They have even less information about the animals they have on their website than the Capital of Texas Zoo does (the CoTZ has a photo gallery, the Texas Zoo doesn't even have that), I assumed they were basically a roadside zoo (though I still want to check them out). Has anyone here been?
 
I've visited 45 out of the 51 zoos and aquariums in the state of Texas (most of those visits are detailed on the thread "Snowleopard's 2015 Road Trip") and here is what I wrote about the Texas Zoo:

The Texas Zoo:

The Texas Zoo is a non-AZA accredited zoo located in Victoria, Texas. The main draw is a Jaguar, a Bengal Tiger and a couple of African Lions, all in mediocre enclosures. There are 3 species of lemur, Coatis, Red Wolves, Collared Peccaries (with two of them wearing harnesses!), White-Tailed Deer, Llamas and several other species but this is one very rundown little zoo and an hour is easily enough time to see everything. A Reptile House has a Nine-Banded Armadillo, a couple of Ringtails and many rattlesnakes (including a pop-up bubble into one exhibit) but overall this zoo needs a good lick of paint and someone to help out the dedicated staff.
 
jbnbsn99 said:
Back when I reviewed zoos, I did a review of it on my Texas Zoos thread. It's somewhere on this page: jbnbsn99's Texas Zoos #2
Click to expand...

I just spent 10 minutes reading through some of your old zoo reviews and I laughed out loud on several occasions. We are in complete agreement on those zoos on that single page that you highlighted, as we both spent an hour at Texas Zoo, both were somewhat disappointed in Texas State Aquarium, both loved Moody Gardens and I enjoyed your "venom" in the direction of the atrocious Bayou Wildlife Park. That place is one of the worst zoos I've ever seen in my life. I think that you and I have a lot of commonalities in the actual time spent at zoos and our thoughts on particular collections. I'd love for you to branch out of Texas, skip birding for a while, and perhaps tour Saint Louis Zoo and Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo...both in the USA's top 5 zoos.
 
In addition to what snowleopard said, there are also a few meager aviaries and an additional American section. Some stand alone aviaries hold species like caracara, a hawk, and an owl, but are far too small. One walk-through aviary has the remnants of what could've been a great South American display, though the notable species only include spoonbill and egrets. There is an adjoining exhibit for a small tortoise species.

The American section is mostly a row of grottos of various quality. The best (in my opinion) is netted over and has decent plantings, for a pair of ocelot. However, best makes it sound great, which it isn't. It's too small for two cats, though it does good with the space allocated. An adjacent grotto of the same style has less foliage, and is home to a bobcat. Two traditional concrete grottos hold grey fox and raccoon. They offer no climbing opportunities, which isn't suitable for these two rather arboreal species. On the other side of the path there are ok exhibits for North American river otters and American alligators.

The Reptile House mentioned by snowleopard is less a reptile house and more a mixture of mammals, reptiles, invertebrates, and one bird. The rattlesnake collection is great, though the exhibits could be larger. There are various displays for ringtail and opossum, but I didn't see any enclosure for an armadillo. There was one exhibit for a flying/gliding squirrel of some sort.

I'd recommend the zoo if you're in the area with time to spare, but I'd otherwise not go out of my way for it.
 
From what the the two of you've described, I'm surprised it was ever AZA-accredited. I once read the entire AZA accreditation manual cover-to-cover, and it seemed like a zoo needs at least half a dozen specialized non-zookeeper employees.

It sounds like it started out much like a zoo that I've fantasized about starting with a focus on native wildlife (my idea is that it would be free to the public as basically the antechamber to a larger zoo, though). I was thinking I might try to visit the Texas Zoo in January, but unless one of the owls it has is a burrowing owl, it sounds like it's worth giving a miss for now. Also, sounds like the Texas Aquarium isn't worth visiting until the expansion opens, but Moody Gardens is.

Both Fort Worth and Moody Gardens are zoos I wasn't aware even existed, since I was initially planning my trips with reciprocity and both zoos (like San Diego and the four Audubon institutions in NOLA have no reciprocity).
 
An ocelot kitten was born January 14, 2019.
The Texas Zoo welcomes new ocelot cub
It is currently off exhibit with the mother behind the "new" (how new I am not sure) ocelot exhibit. A walk-through video on the zoo's Facebook page does indeed show they have two ocelot exhibits - an older one with angled wire on top and a newer one with all glass viewing. It looks like a decent exhibit (not world class, but decent). The jaguar exhibit, on the other hand, can only be described as mediocre.
 
2022 News:

On January 6th, the zoo announced that a (1.0) ocelot named Obi passed away on January 5th at the age of 22 due to age-related complications.

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On June 25th, the zoo announced they acquired a (0.1) brown pelican named Bali from a rehabilitation facility in April 2021.

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On August 12th, the zoo announced they acquired (0.0.8) common degus which are now on exhibit.

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*Misc news: In March, the zoo renovated its American black bear exhibit.
 
Their fifteen year old red wolf, Carmen, passed away today. She never had any litters herself, but she provided companionship to to their wolves and was an ambassador for her species.
 
Male Red wolf arrives:

They hope to receive a mate for him in the future.

Red wolf introduced to Texas Zoo

A Red wolf named Ace has arrived at The Texas Zoo. He was born at Zoo Knoxville in May 2018 and arrived at the Texas Zoo in December 2022. To make sure he was acclimated to his new environment, the announcement of his arrival was delayed.
 
Piece of 2023 News Not Mentioned:

On February 15th, the zoo announced that they hired a new Executive Director, William K. Baker Jr., whose term started on March 1st.

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New Executive Director | The Texas Zoo

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On December 4th, the zoo announced that their jaguars are off display as they are constructing a new roof over the exhibit.

The Texas Zoo - Roaring renovations at the Texas Zoo! Our...
 
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