Thanks for the updates I *think* I might be able to squeeze in an hour or so here next week.
Capital of Texas Zoo Capital Of Texas Zoo news
- Thread starter Arizona Docent
- Start date
In their Facebook posts, they say they want to improve the exhibits of the facility and then bring in new species so I would expect the quality of exhibits to be better than the last time people saw them.
keeperkitchen
New Member
Does anyone have any information on this zoo? More so the owner. I visited for the first time a few weeks ago and the owner Michael hicks gave off back yard breader I'm only into breeding animals for the money kind of vibes. I got the impression that he does not really care for the well being of the animals. I also feel like alot of the anaimls he breeds end up as people's pets? Just curious if anyone knows anything about him.
The have been teasing one or two new exhibits. Hopefully more details to come, I wish someone had some pics of the new bear and lion enclosures they were building.
Log into Facebook
Big things to come! Stay tuned!!!... - Capital of Texas Zoo
Log into Facebook
Big things to come! Stay tuned!!!... - Capital of Texas Zoo
Teased new habitats are for coati and then the Asiatic black bear and lions. The coati is complete and the other two are nearing completion.
Log in to Facebook
Log in to Facebook
I meant to post this like a year and a half ago after I visited this place in Mid-June of 2022 as I had an extended conversation with the owner then and got an early look at the still "upcoming" Asiatic Black Bear and African Lion exhibits, but alas life has been busy and every time I think about doing it I never do. I'm more of a lurker on this site than a commenter. Guess better late than never as I can see several things I can hopefully give my take on or provide the information I have.
The owner told me the Fanaloka had passed away prior to my visit in June 2022, but he didn't not tell me exactly when. Just to give some sort of timeline of when it may have passed away.
I can not say this was the vibe I got when I visited in June 2022 and had an extended conversation with him about his zoo. If anything, I got the impression he was a little misguided at times, but had good intentions. I have left roadside zoos like this one with that feeling after listening/talking to owners, but I did not seem to get it here. As everyone here knows, the zoo is definitely not world class, but I got the feeling Mike is genuinely working to improve the zoo and the habitats. It seemed like he had taken many criticisms of his zoo to heart and was making legitimate changes to improve its perception. I'll go into all this a bit more later.
In terms of background, he told me he got his start working at larger zoos (sounded like AZA ones), but his dream was always to own a zoo/become a zoo director. He told me he met/became friends with many people that are now zoo directors in the region as they all got there start as zookeepers together. If I recall correctly, he specifically mentioned the Zoo Director of Cameron Park Zoo in Waco who opened the Asian section there. This is one place I felt his view may have been a little misguided, as I got the impression he felt he was a zoo director in the same terms his friends are.
Moving on from this, Mike appeared to have actually listened to people telling him that his exhibits were poor and was actively making improvements to exhibits because of it. This is despite the fact he didn't necessarily agree with those opinions and was at times trying to discredit the criticism. Criticism from Zoochatters appear to have been a major impetus for change for him, even while he tried to discredit the forum. He seemed to be perplexed how people who never worked in animal care/zoos could tell him what was good or bad about the animal care that he provided. I wasn't going to get into an argument with him, but obviously people can have a high level of knowledge on subjects they might not be professionals in. Yes, this might never be as good as hands on experience, but you can't just dismiss it out of hand. From what he told me, Mike used to have an account here on Zoochat, but got rid of it for this reason. Despite not necessarily agreeing with the criticisms he is making changes to address them through new exhibits.
While it is commendable that he is striving to make such big changes to his zoo, this is also a place I felt like he maybe missed the point a bit. All of his improvements seemed to be obsessed with exhibit size. For example, while I was there he told me the new African Porcupine and Otter exhibits are the largest in Texas and the Lion and Asiatic Black Bear exhibit will be the largest. When the new exhibits open, the serval will have the largest exhibit in Texas as it will move into the old Lion enclosure. Don't get me wrong, this is a significant step in improving the zoo, but I'm guessing there have been other criticisms of the exhibits as well. For example, in the pictures I took, there seems to be very little enrichment in any of the exhibits. That being said, one step at a time and the new exhibits are a significant upgrade. In terms of the "largest" exhibit claims, I have no idea where he got this information as after visiting this zoo, I went 30 minutes away to the Austin Zoo and the African Porcupine exhibit there appeared to be significantly larger. Granted it looked to be an exhibit that typically/previously held big cats, but at a rescue like that place, you tend to put animals where you have room.
On another note, he told me the heard of Wild Ass at the zoo was acquired somewhat recently and he took them in because no one else wanted them. He said based on what he was told, everyone believed they were hybrids (mostly donkey at this point?), but he thought they were maybe pure breds. If I recall correctly, he thought they were potentially Nubian Wild Asses as he said he had gotten pictures of the population that still (potentially) exists in Egypt and his appeared identical. From looking into this a bit further now, this seems to be quite hopeful as it is not even known if that Egyptian population is genetically pure. He said he was working with one of the universities in Texas (Texas A&M, I believe) to get genetic testing done to hopefully get an answer. I would be very interested in knowing where that ended up.
Obviously, this is just my impression of the conversation we had and there are others on this sight that might have felt differently.
I'm surprised that these are not done yet, as there was hope that they would be done last year when I was there. Based on what he told me, this was going to be by far the nicest portion of the zoo. He was planning to brick the walk up and a viewing area (another significant change from the rest of the zoo, which is all dirt paths) and have nice big displays with information for both species. He took me back to the area and the fences were mostly up so I got some pictures of the exhibits that I will upload here.
I should apologize to Mike, if he sees this, here as I told him I would do this last year after my visit. Sorry Mike! Seeing as the exhibits aren't open yet, I guess better late than never! I'll be honest, I'm not 100% sure I labeled these correctly so they could be flipped in terms of what species will be in each exhibit.
Asiatic Black Bear
African Lion
The owner told me the Fanaloka had passed away prior to my visit in June 2022, but he didn't not tell me exactly when. Just to give some sort of timeline of when it may have passed away.
I can not say this was the vibe I got when I visited in June 2022 and had an extended conversation with him about his zoo. If anything, I got the impression he was a little misguided at times, but had good intentions. I have left roadside zoos like this one with that feeling after listening/talking to owners, but I did not seem to get it here. As everyone here knows, the zoo is definitely not world class, but I got the feeling Mike is genuinely working to improve the zoo and the habitats. It seemed like he had taken many criticisms of his zoo to heart and was making legitimate changes to improve its perception. I'll go into all this a bit more later.
In terms of background, he told me he got his start working at larger zoos (sounded like AZA ones), but his dream was always to own a zoo/become a zoo director. He told me he met/became friends with many people that are now zoo directors in the region as they all got there start as zookeepers together. If I recall correctly, he specifically mentioned the Zoo Director of Cameron Park Zoo in Waco who opened the Asian section there. This is one place I felt his view may have been a little misguided, as I got the impression he felt he was a zoo director in the same terms his friends are.
Moving on from this, Mike appeared to have actually listened to people telling him that his exhibits were poor and was actively making improvements to exhibits because of it. This is despite the fact he didn't necessarily agree with those opinions and was at times trying to discredit the criticism. Criticism from Zoochatters appear to have been a major impetus for change for him, even while he tried to discredit the forum. He seemed to be perplexed how people who never worked in animal care/zoos could tell him what was good or bad about the animal care that he provided. I wasn't going to get into an argument with him, but obviously people can have a high level of knowledge on subjects they might not be professionals in. Yes, this might never be as good as hands on experience, but you can't just dismiss it out of hand. From what he told me, Mike used to have an account here on Zoochat, but got rid of it for this reason. Despite not necessarily agreeing with the criticisms he is making changes to address them through new exhibits.
While it is commendable that he is striving to make such big changes to his zoo, this is also a place I felt like he maybe missed the point a bit. All of his improvements seemed to be obsessed with exhibit size. For example, while I was there he told me the new African Porcupine and Otter exhibits are the largest in Texas and the Lion and Asiatic Black Bear exhibit will be the largest. When the new exhibits open, the serval will have the largest exhibit in Texas as it will move into the old Lion enclosure. Don't get me wrong, this is a significant step in improving the zoo, but I'm guessing there have been other criticisms of the exhibits as well. For example, in the pictures I took, there seems to be very little enrichment in any of the exhibits. That being said, one step at a time and the new exhibits are a significant upgrade. In terms of the "largest" exhibit claims, I have no idea where he got this information as after visiting this zoo, I went 30 minutes away to the Austin Zoo and the African Porcupine exhibit there appeared to be significantly larger. Granted it looked to be an exhibit that typically/previously held big cats, but at a rescue like that place, you tend to put animals where you have room.
On another note, he told me the heard of Wild Ass at the zoo was acquired somewhat recently and he took them in because no one else wanted them. He said based on what he was told, everyone believed they were hybrids (mostly donkey at this point?), but he thought they were maybe pure breds. If I recall correctly, he thought they were potentially Nubian Wild Asses as he said he had gotten pictures of the population that still (potentially) exists in Egypt and his appeared identical. From looking into this a bit further now, this seems to be quite hopeful as it is not even known if that Egyptian population is genetically pure. He said he was working with one of the universities in Texas (Texas A&M, I believe) to get genetic testing done to hopefully get an answer. I would be very interested in knowing where that ended up.
Obviously, this is just my impression of the conversation we had and there are others on this sight that might have felt differently.
I'm surprised that these are not done yet, as there was hope that they would be done last year when I was there. Based on what he told me, this was going to be by far the nicest portion of the zoo. He was planning to brick the walk up and a viewing area (another significant change from the rest of the zoo, which is all dirt paths) and have nice big displays with information for both species. He took me back to the area and the fences were mostly up so I got some pictures of the exhibits that I will upload here.
I should apologize to Mike, if he sees this, here as I told him I would do this last year after my visit. Sorry Mike! Seeing as the exhibits aren't open yet, I guess better late than never! I'll be honest, I'm not 100% sure I labeled these correctly so they could be flipped in terms of what species will be in each exhibit.
Asiatic Black Bear
African Lion
Attachments
Last edited:
FWIW, three months earlier to your visit he received a critical citation from USDA about securing and maintaining exhibits, three separate circumstances. This included a neighbor's dog getting into the zoo and subsequently into an exhibit where it proceeded to kill five animals.
Interesting to hear more of an inside perspective though.
I am definitely not surprised to hear that. I figured there was other things outside of just general criticisms leading to these changes, specifically USDA inspections. For me, he seemed pretty open with sharing his thoughts/opinions so I'm definitely giving him the benefit of the doubt as to his intentions with the changes. Either way, there appears to be changes happening for the better and I hope he/the zoo has turned over a new leaf.
That is interesting, but it makes a lot of sense too. From what I have read he does seem to be well intentioned, not like some of the roadside zoos out there that make crummy places and seem to be un-caring about the animals they have.
I really wish that people like him would be a part of the community, we could use more people that are actually working in the zoos, not just looking from the outside.
Wow, getting some DNA information on that would be really interesting, hopefully we get an update on that some day.
Private zoos often take a very long time to complete big projects. Wildlife World in AZ has been working on the new tiger habitat for well over a year, probably closer to 2-3 years. It has seemed largely complete for around a year...supposedly it will open in the next few months.
biggest_dreamer
Well-Known Member
So according to discussion from a while back, it seems the consensus was that the bearded pig was no longer here. However, it looks like USDA never stopped listing it in their inspections, even as recently as last month. Is this just lazy/inaccurate reporting, or is there a chance the zoo still has it?
When I visited in 2021, they no longer had bearded pig.
On February 7th, 2024, the zoo announced they acquired a (1.0) red kangaroo named Jerome which is on exhibit.
Capital of Texas Zoo
On December 15th, the zoo announced they acquired (1.3) sable antelopes which are now on exhibit.
Capital of Texas Zoo
Capital of Texas Zoo
On December 15th, the zoo announced they acquired (1.3) sable antelopes which are now on exhibit.
Capital of Texas Zoo
On March 10th, 2025, the zoo announced that a Thompson's gazelle was born 2 weeks prior, which is on exhibit.
Capital of Texas Zoo
On May 25th, the zoo announced births of various species, including patas monkey, red kangaroo, and black-tailed prairie dog, as well as unspecified species of monkey, deer, and ibis.
Capital of Texas Zoo
Capital of Texas Zoo
On May 25th, the zoo announced births of various species, including patas monkey, red kangaroo, and black-tailed prairie dog, as well as unspecified species of monkey, deer, and ibis.
Capital of Texas Zoo
Does anyone want to go inside an exhibit and hand feed some Grivet Monkeys?
From the zoo's Facebook page:
Come feed our Grivet Monkeys at Capital of Texas Zoo!!
Trained for 6 months before letting people in, The monkeys are quite polite as they sit at their station and accept a banana treat.
Learn to appreciate wildlife in a way that means you will support conservation programs for the rest of your life.
capitaloftexaszoo.org
Facebook link:
(1) Facebook
From the zoo's Facebook page:
Come feed our Grivet Monkeys at Capital of Texas Zoo!!
Trained for 6 months before letting people in, The monkeys are quite polite as they sit at their station and accept a banana treat.
Learn to appreciate wildlife in a way that means you will support conservation programs for the rest of your life.
capitaloftexaszoo.org
Facebook link:
(1) Facebook
Wisp O' Mist
Well-Known Member
This sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen.
Nubian wild ass colt was born at the zoo
Log in to Facebook
Log in to Facebook
King of Komodo Dragons
Well-Known Member
the director of the Capital of Texas Zoo has replied to this post stating that the last Bornean Bearded Pig in the US has passed away.
Chris Bejstrup
Chris Bejstrup
At one point this zoo stated that they were going to get giraffes - does anybody know if that happened?