What a shame! Here's an excerpt from my 2012 review:
Mississippi Wilderness – This complex opened in 2006 and includes a large Education Center that opened in 2009 with several terrariums and interactive elements for youngsters. An alligator swamp houses several juveniles of the species, while black bears and cougars are across the pathway from each other. A couple of bears have a steep, grassy exhibit that is decent but too small for such rambunctious mammals. There were 4 young cougars chasing each other all over their excellent but small enclosure, and then visitors walk into the Wetlands Habitat building to see the rest of the exhibits.
A large beaver pool with underwater viewing (and pop-up bubbles) was closed on my visit due to the beavers forcing a crack in the glass, and river otters have an equally large and impressive exhibit with underwater viewing at the far end of the building. In between is a tank filled with local fish that are regularly caught to be eaten (such as largemouth bass); a spacious turtle tank with 4 species (northern diamondback terrapin, red-eared slider, western spiny softshell and common snapping turtle); a water snake tank with 3 species (diamond-backed, yellow-belly and broad-banded); an Amphibian tank with 3 species (spotted salamander, red salamander, southern leopard frog); an aviary with 3 species (American goldeneye, black-neck stilt and black-crowned night heron); and there are several other terrariums with various reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates.
The whole area is superbly detailed, from the fake tree branches covering the entire ceiling with greenery to the popular choices in mammal species to the tree trunks coming out of the walls. It is a pity that many other sections of the zoo are so badly outdated and in need of a drastic modernization similar to the Mississippi Wilderness zone. A Venomous Animal House has these 10 species: eastern diamondback rattlesnake, canebrake rattlesnake, pygmy rattlesnake, copperhead, coral snake, southern unstriped scorpion, velvet ant, common house centipede, southern black widow spider and brown recluse spider.
Thanks for digging that out! It's as to see that the zoo just can't seem to make it happen. Which even sadder a it's the same with the rest of the city too.
