Roger Williams Park Zoo Roger Williams Park Zoo News 2025

Smaggledagle

Smaggledagle

Well-Known Member
5+ year member
Other December 2024 News Not Mentioned:
On December 26th, the zoo announced that 51 eastern cottontails were born in 2024.

5.4K views · 122 reactions | Thanks for another wildly wonderful year at Roger Williams Park Zoo! As 2024 draws to a close, we want to express our sincere gratitude to all of you... | By Roger Williams Park Zoo & Carousel Village | Facebook

On December 4th, it was reported that the zoo broke ground on the new education center, which will take around 1 1/2 years to complete.

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On December 11th, it was reported that the zoo transferred a (1.0) Linne's two-toed sloth named Jeffrey to The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk in Connecticut.

The Maritime Aquarium welcomes its first sloth | Finding Connecticut

On December 23rd, it was announced that the zoo transferred a (1.0) serval named Sav back to the Capron Park Zoo in Massachusetts.

https://www.facebook.com/CapronParkZoo/posts/pfbid02V7Scgb9cAoSx1ozsGX8mEVvzc49nRGXWnN6rpF8ThfJMnJuoPx1VQH84drC12XsEl

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On January 3rd, the zoo announced their (0.1) six-banded armadillo named Josephine was pregnant, though suffered a miscarriage over the past weekend.

8.3K views · 1.4K reactions | This is kind of a big dillo… we’re having a baby! #armadillo #animalcare #vetcare #babyanimals | Roger Williams Park Zoo & Carousel Village
Roger Williams Park Zoo & Carousel Village
 
 
The female Matschie's Tree Kangaroo PAIA will be transferred to another Zoo in late February.
Roger Williams Park Zoo on Instagram: " Some bittersweet Zoo news: Paia the Matschie’s tree kangaroo will be moving to a new Zoo at the end of the month. While she will be missed, this move is an important step for her and for the future of tree kangaroos! She is moving as a recommendation from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums Species Survival Plan (SSP) which focuses on breeding to ensure the survival of this endangered species. Paia was born here at Roger Williams Park Zoo in 2022 to mom Keweng and dad Morobe. We have loved watching her grow up and sharing her adorable antics with the world via social media. We know that many of you have come to love Paia as much as we have. We hope you'll join us in wishing her well in this new adventure!"
 
Animallover360 said:
Yeah. They’ll probably either expand the giraffe area or get a new species of hoof stock/rhinos like many zoos do once they get rid of elephants.
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Is it cynical of me to think this may cause the zoo to become less popular or successful? The general public mostly cares about ABC species, which without elephants this zoo would only have something like 2 or 3.
 
Well I knew this was coming for a while now and surprised it hasn't happened sooner. It was inevitable that the New England area in general was going out of elephants (why I left my home state over a decade and a half ago). Still it's a bummer
 
NNM. said:
My assumption is they’re not getting more.
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From the zoo's press release linked in an above post...
"Because it is not feasible to bring other elephants to the Zoo, Alice, Ginny and Kate will join another herd and have companionship for the rest of their lives."
 
The move to shift the zoo's 3 African Elephants elsewhere is not a surprise at all, as the exhibit is small by modern standards and the cold winters and small barn are obviously factors. It's a really positive decision in many ways, as the zoo is at least being proactive by planning ahead before the elephants get too old to move. As far as the zoo's popularity is concerned, I know that Detroit Zoo had a long stretch of maybe 8 years when they regularly broke all-time attendance records after sending their elephants away, but Detroit is a bigger and more notable zoo and so Roger Williams will have to make intelligent decisions as to what species to focus on in the future.
 
with elephant’s moving on, they could really expand upon their giraffe program. add in some hooved friend’s and they’d probably do lion as the zoo lack’s big cat’s. white rhino and other cold tolerant hoof stock would help winter visitation. repurposing the indoor pavillion for giraffe’s would also be a boon for the zoo. positive thing’s for a nice, new england zoo.
 
As much as I've enjoyed seeing the elephants here over the years, I personally am on-board for this move. The zoo's indoor housing is old and far too small for elephants and giraffes, and the giraffe yard has always left something to be desired for me. Personally, I'd like to see the zoo invest in some new/larger indoor housing and utilize the elephant yard for the giraffes (maybe mixed with another species?) and the current giraffe yard utilized for something smaller. As fun as rhinos would be--and that may very well be what they do--I personally feel as though we'd have the same space issues with trying to house rhinos in the smaller yard as we do with the giraffes.

~Thylo
 
I have a hunch TES is the most likely location for the older elephant girls will be headed to as it's strictly meant to house geriatrics. But I personally would love for them to head to Fresno as they need more cows soon and nowalzi and her daughter can have some older ladies in their herd. Other contenders could be the new Jacksonville or Brookfield habitats if finished by then. Since Memphis' new facility is bound to open around that year, they could also be a choice, but they already have so many older cows, and they prob wanna bring in a younger herd with males instead when it opens. Cheyenne Mountain, North Carolina, Milwaukee, Atlanta, Cleveland and Maryland would all be out tossed out the window as they're more destined for younger herds in the future wether it be breeding or bachelors. I'm unsure if rodger Williams can hold both these herd structures.
 
On February 26th, it was reported that the zoo will acquire 12 Humboldt penguins for the new penguin exhibit, to be called Penguin Point, which will open in spring 2025*.

Penguins returning to Roger Williams Park Zoo this spring | WPRI.com
Penguins returning to Roger Williams Park Zoo this spring

Smaggledagle said:
On January 30th, the zoo announced that the Faces of the Rainforest building is closed to the public for renovations.
Roger Williams Park Zoo & Carousel Village
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On March 3rd, the zoo announced they reopened the Faces of the Rainforest building to the public.

Roger Williams Park Zoo & Carousel Village
 
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