I had the pleasure of touring this little zoo for the first time yesterday while on some business. It is an incredibly small facility (12 acres), but what it lacks in size or grandeur, it makes up for in heart. The staff is incredibly kind and welcoming and obviously so passionate about their animals, their little zoo, and making it the best that it can be. The local community loves their zoo, and this is obvious with the amount of fundraising they have been able to do over the past several years to fund their new capital projects as well as refurbishments to the rest of the zoo. Much of the zoo is outdated, but the newest sections of the zoo are quite well done, and all of the new enclosures being built in the African section (the giraffe yard + a beautiful wooden barn and two netted primate enclosures) appear to be top quality. There was construction going on across the zoo, and talking to the staff, there are plans to overhaul the whole zoo over the next several years, with this and hopes for AZA-accreditation on the horizon, this little zoo has a bright future and should be a charming center for education and conservation for the southern Mississippi community. I will admit that there likely isn't much to lure a zoo enthusiast to this small southern zoo (other than perhaps one of the last groups of lion-tailed macaques in the country or the yellow-knobbed curassow), but it is worth a quick visit if you are passing through (and will certainly be in coming years). What this little facility in the Deep South is doing for its community and for inspiring and connecting people with wildlife whom might not ever have any other chance to experience it, despite all of the odds stacked against it, makes it more than worthy enough for a visit, in my opinion.
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