Topeka Zoo blossomed for decades under the leadership of Director Emeritus Gary K. Clarke but the facility then lost its AZA-accreditation in 2001 and is on the verge of losing it yet again as the fall from grace has been staggering. One of the issues is having only two elephants in an outdated paddock.
An excerpt from my 2012 review:
The indoor area for the elephants is a joke in terms of size and structure (all cement floors with nothing but bars and walls), and there is one African and one Asian elephant and that is obviously a major negative these days. There have been numerous protests about this zoo over the last few years and I have no idea why Topeka is holding out and determined to keep its pachyderms. The zoo will not be AZA-accredited by 2016 unless they can find 3 female elephants to stick into an outdated paddock, but the indoor area is nothing but pure cement and I'm not sure that they even have room for more than two elephants. The sensible solution is to shift the elephants to accredited zoos with multi-acre paddocks.
The zoo has plans to expand this exhibit to three acres. The plans look good and this is the zoos first priority for there master plan. The barn will also be expanded to 13,000 sq ft. There will be both a bull and herd exhibit. This exhibit will occupy the entire northern portion of the zoo.
The zoo director has continually stated that he wants to expand the exhibit to 3 acres and bring in a 3rd elephant but at the moment the full funding does not seem to be there and where the zoo will obtain another elephant is anyone's guess. If 17 zoos applied to take on Lee Richardson's two ageing elephants (another Kansas zoo getting out of the elephant business) then what hope does Topeka have? Its current elephants are 55 and 45 years of age and won't even live to spend much time in the new exhibit and so it seems a good bet that Topeka's elephant plans could well be a daydream.
