Turtle Back Zoo Turtle Back Zoo News

The zoo has announced that their last elderly gray wolf, Xander, will go off public view into retirement this fall due to his degenerative disc disease. Once that happens, I would imagine the zoo would start construction on the new animal hospital. As it was mentioned previously that construction on the new hospital would begin in September, both Xander and his brother, Fargo were expected to already pass away by now as they have been in end-of-life hospice care for most of this year. Fargo passed away in July but Xander is still beating the odds and staying strong! Although I do think putting Xander into retirement is a good option for him cause his exhibit’s so big and it’s easier to monitor him off exhibit in a smaller space and he really dosen’t need that much space(especially cause there’s not currently an open smaller habitat for him) starting construction on the animal hospital is a terrible idea, because they already have one.

also what happened to the giant anteater that lived with the maned wolf?
 
Kevin2342 said:
starting construction on the animal hospital is a terrible idea, because they already have one.
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Why would a new hospital be a "terrible idea"? While I don't know much about the quality of the current hospital, I'd imagine the zoo isn't going to spend money on a hospital unless they've determined it is absolutely necessary to improve the welfare of their animals and/or that the current hospital is too small or out-of-date to fit the needs of the zoo. What's so terrible about wanting to give their animals the best possible medical care?
 
Neil chace said:
Why would a new hospital be a "terrible idea"? While I don't know much about the quality of the current hospital, I'd imagine the zoo isn't going to spend money on a hospital unless they've determined it is absolutely necessary to improve the welfare of their animals and/or that the current hospital is too small or out-of-date to fit the needs of the zoo. What's so terrible about wanting to give their animals the best possible medical care?
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First, building a new hospital costs a lot of money. Second, even if they do want to do that, it’s a terrible idea to just tear down a really nice exhibit like Wolf Woods. They could just expand the current hospital at the same location of where the hospital is now, maybe by taking up some open space outside the zoo.
 
Kevin2342 said:
First, building a new hospital costs a lot of money. Second, even if they do want to do that, it’s a terrible idea to just tear down a really nice exhibit like Wolf Woods. They could just expand the current hospital at the same location of where the hospital is now, maybe by taking up some open space outside the zoo.
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You might want to look into the zoo's many struggles with the town before suggesting anything like "open space outside the zoo". Might as well be on mars.
An outstanding hospital to take care of their animals is more important than any exhibit, IMO.
 
TinoPup said:
You might want to look into the zoo's many struggles with the town before suggesting anything like "open space outside the zoo". Might as well be on mars.
An outstanding hospital to take care of their animals is more important than any exhibit, IMO.
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In addition to that, the locals get their pitchforks out at the thought of expanding another inch outside the current zoo boundaries. Along with that since the current hospital opened in 2005 the zoo has essentially doubled in size. I will say a positive ether way would be the fact that guests can go inside of it and be educated, I’m thinking it will be similar to the hospital at Rafiki’s Planet Watch in Disney’s Animal Kingdom, which I found really cool as a kid.
 
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@TinoPup is correct in that there has been major pushback from the community about expansion of the zoo in recent years.

It’s also worth pointing out that AZA has expectations for animal health facilities, and those expectations are constantly evolving. It’s why so many zoos have built hospitals lately, often times much bigger or more expansive (and expensive) than you might think they need.

I understand that these projects aren’t of much interest to visitors - everyone would rather see more animals than have the money and space go to a BTS project. But remember - it’s the zoo that’s making this decision. They know what the zoo needs (and can support) better than anyone on the outside.
 
Here's a map I just labelled of the current hospital. There is nowhere to expand to. The community wouldn't be okay with the train being removed.

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Aardwolf said:
@TinoPup is correct in that there has been major pushback from the community about expansion of the zoo in recent years.

It’s also worth pointing out that AZA has expectations for animal health facilities, and those expectations are constantly evolving. It’s why so many zoos have built hospitals lately, often times much bigger or more expansive (and expensive) than you might think they need.

I understand that these projects aren’t of much interest to visitors - everyone would rather see more animals than have the money and space go to a BTS project. But remember - it’s the zoo that’s making this decision. They know what the zoo needs (and can support) better than anyone on the outside.
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And it’s not like it’s going to be BTS, according to a May interview with the County Executive, visitors will be able to enter and be educated, killing 2 birds with 1 stone. Plus they could potentially use the former animal hospital for a new exhibit.
 
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KiwiBirb said:
And it’s not like it’s going to be BTS, according to a May interview with the County Executive, visitors will be able to enter and be educated, killing 2 birds with 1 stone. Plus they could potentially use the former animal hospital for a new exhibit.
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Great idea, hopefully wolves can be brought back to the zoo.
 
With all the talk of the community "opposing" the zoo's expansion, I would like to interject. Turtle Back Zoo is my local zoo, and every member of the local community I have spoken to about this issue is pro-expansion. I do not know why people say that the community is opposed.

EDIT: I also believe that a majority of the opposition to the zoo's expansion are mostly upper class and wealthy people from the local area who bought property near the mountain on which the zoo is on.
 
Ebirah766 said:
With all the talk of the community "opposing" the zoo's expansion, I would like to interject. Turtle Back Zoo is my local zoo, and every member of the local community I have spoken to about this issue is pro-expansion. I do not know why people say that the community is opposed.
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... because the community is constantly fighting with the zoo? There are plenty of newspaper articles, town meetings, petitions, etc. to support this.
 
TinoPup said:
... because the community is constantly fighting with the zoo? There are plenty of newspaper articles, town meetings, petitions, etc. to support this.
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The main opposition to the expansion of the zoo is a local action group known as Coalition to Save South Mountain Reservation, which is mostly made up of, as I said, upper middle class to wealthy individuals who have property in the area, in the Reservation, which is near the zoo.
 
Ebirah766 said:
With all the talk of the community "opposing" the zoo's expansion, I would like to interject. Turtle Back Zoo is my local zoo, and every member of the local community I have spoken to about this issue is pro-expansion. I do not know why people say that the community is opposed.
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It’s probably a Vocal minority. Let’s be honest a good amount of the community doesn’t care about the expansion. The are probably getting so much news made on them because to the news it’s a story of a small community standing up against a greedy company. The story often sells and it looks bad for the zoo.
 
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Ebirah766 said:
The main opposition to the expansion of the zoo is a local action group known as Coalition to Save South Mountain Reservation, which is mostly made up of, as I said, upper middle class to wealthy individuals who have property in the area, in the Reservation, which is near the zoo.
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That's what you edited in after my reply. They're still part of the community, are still very vocal, and still own nearby land. "Community" isn't a monolith, I never said or implied everyone opposed the zoo (it wouldn't exist if that were the case). Most of the nearby people seem more indifferent than anything, given the lack of pushback the group tends to get.
 
TinoPup said:
That's what you edited in after my reply. They're still part of the community, are still very vocal, and still own nearby land. "Community" isn't a monolith, I never said or implied everyone opposed the zoo (it wouldn't exist if that were the case). Most of the nearby people seem more indifferent than anything, given the lack of pushback the group tends to get.
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Why are you jumping on me for editing the reply? I just did more research and added that to my statement.

The group is irrelevant outside of the realm of the zoo. Their stated purpose is to prevent the zoo from expanding, from the reason of "conservation", which is a vague and difficult term to define, and I am sure this group cannot define it themselves. They make barbed, hateful videos describing how the zoo is destroying the local ecosystem, providing little to no evidence whatsoever.

They do not represent the local community. They are at best a petulant, vocal minority.
 
Leaf Productions said:
Turtle Back Zoo on Instagram: "Pile up the family & enjoy a cool summer afternoon at the Zoo for the final two extended hour nights. We're open 10am to 7pm this Wednesday & Thursday! "

When did Turtleback Zoo get Prairie Dogs? Specifically Black-Tailed Prairie Dogs.
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They’ve had Prairie Dogs for as long as I remember, at least 15 years, however I’m unsure whether or not they had Black-Tails for all that time, although they are the most common species in the US.
 
Ebirah766 said:
Why are you jumping on me for editing the reply? I just did more research and added that to my statement.

The group is irrelevant outside of the realm of the zoo. Their stated purpose is to prevent the zoo from expanding, from the reason of "conservation", which is a vague and difficult term to define, and I am sure this group cannot define it themselves. They make barbed, hateful videos describing how the zoo is destroying the local ecosystem, providing little to no evidence whatsoever.

They do not represent the local community. They are at best a petulant, vocal minority.
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I'm not jumping on you, I'm clarifying, because you made it seem like I ignored part of your post that didn't exist when I made mine.

Okay? Again, none of that negates the fact that they are part of the community and vocally oppose the zoo, and do play a big role in the zoo's current and future projects.

This entire thing is moot anyway, because they're not looking at expanding the current vet hospital (vs building the new one) and there would be nowhere for it to expand to.
 
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