Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo Beardsley Zoo News

The zoo is preparing their 90 Days of Summer promotions for their 90th anniversary.
Enjoy these special savings from Memorial Day, May 28 through Labor Day, Sept 3 as we celebrate the Zoo's 90th birthday.

Mondays: Roll Back Monday - all admission prices roll back to only $9!


Tuesdays: $1 Carousel rides


Wednesdays: Receive half-price admission if you were born in the 90s! MUST SHOW PROOF (Valid photo ID, birth certificate, passport, report card). Hint: If you were born in the 90s, you'd be 12-22 years old.


Thursdays: If it's a scorcher (over 90 degrees Fahrenheit), receive one free child admission with one paying adult.


Fridays: Our 90th guest of the day gets in FREE and receives a special gift!


Birthday Bonus! As we celebrate our birthday, we want you to celebrate yours! Anyone who comes to the Zoo on his or her birthday gets in free (photo ID with birthday required. Valid through 12/31/12).


Please note: These offers cannot be combined with any other discounts or coupons
In addition, on April 28th, it's Pet Awareness and Adoption Day, where guests learn about pet care and safety, crafts, and having some pets to be adopted.
 
From today to Thursday, Beardsley is celebrating International Bat Awareness Celebration. It's a kids celebration, with crafts, scavenger hunts, story times, and bat box raffles. Maybe they'll do something with their vampire bats?...
 
On April 28, it's Beardsley's Pet Awareness and Adoption Day from noon to 3:00 P.M. There will be presentations for pet safety, crafts, and more stuff for the kiddies. There will be pets that can be adopted right there. Don't worry, after unknowingly going on this day last year in May, the dogs are not near any of the animals as they are in the area around the bathrooms right before the former Andean Condor exhibit.
 
Lots of news recently!:)
On May 19, the zoo will celebrate its 90th anniversary party.
The former Andean Condor exhibit has a new resident. Desmond is a 1-year old Andean Condor from Denver.
The Yacare Caiman hatchling that hatched in October is now on exhibit in the Rainforest Building. There are also more Vampire Bats in the Rainforest Building, increasing the collection to 18.:D
There is a new male Canada Lynx in the Predators exhibit to breed. I'm not sure if one of the two females are gone to make way for him or they're both still there, but either way there might be kittens at Beardsley soon, unfortunately in a far too small exhibit.:(
I hope to see all the new arrivals on my next visit, hopefully soon!
 
Happy 90th birthday Beardsley! What an eventful visit I had today!
The new condor Desmond seems to be doing fine.
The Chacoan Peccary piglet and her mom, Acorn, are allowed to be with the dad, Bernard.
The map said that a Pampas exhibit is coming soon. As a result of construction in the Maned Wolf yard, the Maned Wolves are off-exhibit. You can still see them however in a holding area in back of the exhibit.
There are Prairie Dog pups in the Hoofstock area now.
Joaquin, the Andean Bear, has moved to another zoo:(, and his former exhibit is being renovated. While I will most certainly miss him, I am glad that he will be going to a better place. If anyone knows which zoo he moved too, that would be great.
There are Northern Pintails in the Alligator Alley aviary.
I believe that one of the North American River Otters has been off-exhibit, perhaps taking care of a pup, since only one has been on exhibit during 3 visits within 4 months.
The female Sandhill Crane has laid an egg, and is doing a good job of keeping it incubated:). The male is doing his part in parenthood and anxiously paces around the nest whenever too many guests are there. When a family got too close for his liking, he started making that trumpeting call unique to the sandhill crane.
The female Red Fox has passed away.:(
There are new goats in the New England Farmyard. I believe one might be a juvenile San Clemente Goat, and I'm not sure of the other breed of goat.
The Keel-Billed Toucans have not been on exhibit since March it seems, and I am wondering what happened to them.
The Yacare Caiman hatchling is on exhibit in the Amazon Tree Boa exhibit near the ocelots. He normally hides under rocks in the small pool.
There are lots of new graphics in the New World Tropics Building.
The zoo has acquired 2-3 Galapagos Giant and Aldabra Tortoises for a summer exhibit. Today they were available for only the press to see. Over the next week, an exhibit will be prepared for them. The week after that, they will go on exhibit.:)
 
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I found out that there is a Galapagos Giant Tortoise and an Aldabra Tortoise at Beardsley currently. They are from Cameron Park Zoo.
I'd also like to say that I'm worried about Apache and Cheyenne, the Timber Wolves. You can really tell that their age is getting to them. They walk with a limp, and Apache didn't look so good today. He seemed like he was trying to throw up, but the sad thing was he couldn't. I'm worried that it will soon be their time, as they are some of my favorite animals at Beardsley. :(
 
From the Connecticut Post:
BRIDGEPORT -- Do snakes stroll?

Technically they don't, but a California King snake slithered down a stretch of sidewalk on Noble Avenue around noon Wednesday, bringing out the police, animal control officers and ultimately the staff from Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo.

The first police officers on the scene radioed that they had found a rattlesnake. It wasn't. It was a California King snake, which, while not poisonous, has been known to eat rattlesnakes, said Don Goff, deputy director of Beardsley Zoo.

While it was slithering along the neighborhood near the zoo, the snake did not belong to Beardsley, Goff said.

"It is here now, in quarantine, and will eventually join our other California King snake,'' he said.

The 2-foot-long, black-and-white striped snake was probably someone's pet that was either abandoned or escaped, officials said. California Kings, which are found all through the American Southwest, are legal to keep as pets in Connecticut. They are not considered exotic or dangerous, officials said. Although the average length of an adult "Cal king" is about 4 feet, snakes between 5 and 6 feet are not unusual.

The snakes eat small rodents, like mice or small rats, according to a herpetology fact sheet at VMS Professional Herpetoculture (VMS Professional Herpetoculture). As might be expected of a desert native, the snake prefers low humidity.

The snake that was relocated to the zoo won't be lonely, Goff said. The other California King snake at the zoo was also recovered from a Bridgeport street about six months ago, he said.

According to the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, there are only two venomous snakes in Connecticut -- the timber rattlesnake and the copperhead.
 

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Thanks for the continuous updates, BZF! I'll be eager to see the tortoises, as well! Do you have any word on the pampas enclosure? Is it similar to the canceled South America exhibit, or much smaller? Do you know what other species will be included, if any?
 
AnaheimZoo said:
Thanks for the continuous updates, BZF! I'll be eager to see the tortoises, as well! Do you have any word on the pampas enclosure? Is it similar to the canceled South America exhibit, or much smaller? Do you know what other species will be included, if any?
Click to expand...

All I know about the Pampas exhibit is that I went to the zoo in May, got a map, and saw words near the Maned Wolves on the map that said "Pampas Plains Exhibit Coming Soon." I feel it will be much smaller than Andes Adventure. I am almost 100% positive Maned Wolves are a part of it, as they are native to the Pampas, and their exhibit was closed to construction. I feel that Chacoan Peccaries will be part of it as they're close to the wolves, as well as Greater Rheas. Maybe Llamas, but I'm just guessing.
 
Hopefully Giant Anteaters and some other species. I hope that this Pampas exhibit is a smaller exhibit inside a larger expansion for South American animals. Perhaps if Beardsley builds a South American exhibit in steps it will be able to get done.
 
It seems that Beardsley might be going to use a step by step plan in a South American expansion after the Pampas exhibit. On one of their Facebook posts, they said they hope to build a larger flight area for the Andean Condor in the near future.:)
 
More word on the Pampas exhibit:
Diageo Donates $30K & 800 Volunteer Hours to Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo
Diageo, the same company who helped build the Galapagos/Aldabra Tortoise exhibit, donated $30K and 800 volunteer hours to the zoo. It seems that this exhibit will be build in 4 phases, and should be completed by 2017. A total of $5,000,000 is the planned total investment. Species include Chacoan Peccaries, Greater Rheas, and Giant Anteaters. A raised walkway for viewing animals is planned, along with an amphitheater and South American plants. Can't wait for this exhibit.:) I'm just wondering why the article didn't include Maned Wolves.
 
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