Do you think there will ever be a new AZA zoo built in the USA?

elefante

elefante

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
The "cities in need of zoos" thread got me thinking of this. It seems that a large percentage of AZA zoos in the USA are 50 years old or older. They are generally well established and serve a wide metro area. You might say the market seems "saturated" at this point. That being said, do any of you think there will ever be a new AZA zoo of any size built in the USA? Why or why not?
 
elefante said:
The "cities in need of zoos" thread got me thinking of this. It seems that a large percentage of AZA zoos in the USA are 50 years old or older. They are generally well established and serve a wide metro area. You might say the market seems "saturated" at this point. That being said, do any of you think there will ever be a new AZA zoo of any size built in the USA? Why or why not?
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Zoos aren't built as AZA zoos - zoos join the AZA.
 
elefante said:
The "cities in need of zoos" thread got me thinking of this. It seems that a large percentage of AZA zoos in the USA are 50 years old or older. They are generally well established and serve a wide metro area. You might say the market seems "saturated" at this point. That being said, do any of you think there will ever be a new AZA zoo of any size built in the USA? Why or why not?
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Sacramento Zoo was *this* close to relocating to Elk Grove.
 
While I think the current efforts are futile/borderline scamming, I think North Alabama's continued growth will lead to something eventually.

Whether that's a "good" ZAA if not AZA private facility or something else.

Nashville, Birmingham, Memphis, Chattanooga, Montgomery, Atlanta, and Knoxville all with 2.5 hours limits that potential though.
 
I believe that the Georgia Safari Park has aspirations to join the AZA eventually, they are a very new facility that only opened a couple of years ago, although it is a safari park and not a traditional zoo. Home | Georgia Safari

New private traditional zoos are more questionable, the barrier to entry on the cost to build is high. New Public funded traditional zoos are pretty unlikely, I don't think anyone is planning on one right now, since Sacramento decided to pull the plug on their plan to move.

Over time some of the walk through parts of the potential safari park AZA facilities gets better and larger, but still, not a traditional zoo. Wild Florida has a nice walk through zoo part and then they added the safari park, but they are not AZA aspirational as far as I am aware.

No doubt we will see more aquariums over time as well, but the OP was about zoos.
 
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Aspirations and intentions are all well and good, but whether they actually happen is another thing. There are plenty of facilities that would like to join the AZA but can't meet the stringent requirements. It's not impossible but it is tricky. When you do get it you then have to hold it, membership fluxes every cycle, and you can get tripped up pretty easy. Which while good to hold the standard high, seems to be somewhat inconsistently applied at times. Such as you've got them kicking out El Paso for dilapidated grounds but not San Francisco (yet anyways, we'll see there).
 
Maybe one day. I just want new ethical zoos built. I just want a zoo a lot closer to where I live in the Youngstown/Boardman area.
 
birdsandbats said:
You don't think the Saint Louis WildCare Park will join the AZA?
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As far as I'm concerned, the facility already exists, even if they have not opened to the public or completed construction, as they are already holding and breeding animals.

My focus was more on the "built" part of the question.
 
birdsandbats said:
You don't think the Saint Louis WildCare Park will join the AZA?
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I don't really view it as a traditional zoo. That said, I think that we will see (and are seeing) more of these safari park zoos opening than we will see a traditional city zoo. I am skeptical we will see a new traditional city zoo anytime soon other than the potential Midland project. However, it is probably one of (if not the) the most exciting new zoo or aquarium projects in the country.
 
GodzillaLover04 said:
Maybe one day. I just want new ethical zoos built. I just want a zoo a lot closer to where I live in the Youngstown/Boardman area.
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Oh hey I am in this area as well and eventually want to open up a small zoo. Can't say I am too worried about applying for AZA accreditation straight away but probably eventually. Ohio is really strict on animals if you are not AZA accredited which makes it harder for new zoos to open up since it will limit a lot of animals that would bring in visitors.
 
As @SwampDonkey mentioned above, zoos are incredibly expensive to build. Even with a phased approach, an institution with enough critical mass to not only attract visitors but be a fully functioning, AZA-accreditable facility would very easily cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Standalone, single-species exhibit projects can hit $20-30 million these days, so when you factor in guest amenities, staff space, back of house facilities, infrastructure... the initial investment required is eye-watering.

Many an eccentric, wealthy investor have approached zoo design firms looking to start their own safari park or zoo, only to nope right out when the realities of the price tag hit.
 
I wouldn't mind at least a small zoo like the Columbian Park Zoo, as long as it's just several minutes from where I live, I'd support it. It doesn't have to get accredited right away, it just has to be an ethical zoo like Living Treasures.
 
It is possible to build private zoos, but they will not be up to the level of AZA city or state funded zoos, and even the ones that are close (or previously even AZA) tend to avoid it these days as AZA has strict rules on financials and private sales. There are a number of decent private zoos that will not be AZA but work with AZA zoos but also sustain their operations on gate revenue and animal sales (Iguanaland, Brights, Sylvan Heights). Some of these are well regarded, some mixed.

A few of the best are specialist facilities rather than typical zoos, Sylvan Heights, Iguanaland and Reptilandia come to mind. There are some general zoos such as Wildlife World, Metro Richmond, Gulf Breeze, Brights that are decent to good in most of their exhibitory. I know WW is controversial here, but they are a really unique private zoo given their massive size of land and incredible collection, not to mention the inclusion of a full size aquarium; they have been steadily replacing the worst cages over time.

Then there are private zoos with decidedly mixed facilities such as Bee City. Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo opened a completely new zoo in 2020 that is quite good in a new location. The newest of these that I am aware of is Broadway Zoological Park in NC, @Astrotom3000 went there earlier this year.

All that said, safari parks seem to be the "go to" for new private generalist facilities with more than several having opened over the last 10 years. Texas Zoofari, Alabama Zoofari (the same company), Atlanta Safari Park, Georgia Safari Conservation Park, Wild Florida (they had the walk through before, but the safari park area is pretty new), Aloha Safari Park, etc. Some of these have walk through parts that would qualify as a small traditional zoo.
 
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