Henry Vilas Zoo Henry Vilas Zoo News 2024

EsserWarrior said:
Had anyone else noticed that Henry Vilas Zoo lost their vet again? While interning at a different facility over the summer, the vet they had was moving to be Henry Vilas Zoo’s vet, but not long ago I saw the position open again.

I saw they just fire their curator and see if things get better from there…

We will see what happens when they get inspected by the AZA!
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They have had the same vet for a few years. The individual worked for UW Veterinary School and is now a permanant, fulltime employee with Dane County. No one has been fired.
 
ConcernedThirdParty said:
Next, an Overview of Conditions in the Herpetarium and Primate House​
  • The interior of the herpetarium was closed for maintenance. An electrician’s van was parked outside the door.
  • The previously noted resurfacing has been completed on the outdoor alligator pool. It is a synthetic rock coating over the plain concrete that was there before. Both gators were on display outside. Hopefully the next step will be an awning to reduce the glare on the glass. Even with polarized lenses I could not see through it.
  • The Ornate Box Turtles have emerged from hibernation and were visible
  • The Aldabra tortoises were both still in the Primate House, (perhaps their pond will be resurfaced as well). No bandages or other signs of previously mentioned surgeries were present.
  • I have mixed feelings about the current situation with the primate house. It has as dark dreary feel, but that is essentially part of the design. The viewing areas are deliberately kept dark to make it harder for the animals to see the humans and in theory reduce stress levels. This was the prevailing method when the building was constructed though other methods certainly exist now. The tragic history of the buildings original inhabitants likely played into these choices as well. For those who don’t know, the zoo previously held a group of chimpanzees that were rescued from a very abusive “household pet” situation. They had severe psychological trauma, and despite the zoo’s best efforts, their behavior continued to worsen over the years and seemed directly related to the presence of zoo guests. Eventually, the decision was made to transfer them to a nonpublic sanctuary.
  • The big (pun not intended), advantage of the current facility is the size of the habitats. The indoor Ring-Tailed and Black Ruffed Lemur exhibits are likely among the largest in the country for those species and also include decently sized outdoor areas. While the Orangutan habitat is not as large as is ideal it is still larger than many other facilities. Compared to nearby Milwaukee which keeps multiple pairs of Orangutans in separated sections Vilas keeps one pair and their current baby. Compared to each of these assigned sections, the Vilas habitat is about 30% larger in floor space and 50% taller. The extra height in particular gets a lot of use.
  • I imagine that the cost of replacing the building with a “naturalistic standard” and similarly sized habitats would be well outside of the zoo’s foreseeable future budget.
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The Henry Vilas Zoo chimps moved to Lincoln Park Zoo. Not a sanctuary.
 
ZooZoomer2401 said:
The Henry Vilas Zoo chimps moved to Lincoln Park Zoo. Not a sanctuary.
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I double checked, and you’re right about when the last ones left. This was 15ish years ago, but I didn’t realize they kept a pair for a while after the main group left. There was a different group there until the mid-2000’s. That group was not AZA bred and was very poorly adjusted. I personally saw the large male attack the exhibit glass on multiple occasions. There were also at least two instances where he broke the inner pane of the double paned glass wall (I didn’t see that happen but came through later and saw the aftermath).
 
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ConcernedThirdParty said:
I double checked, and you’re right about when the last ones left. This was 15ish years ago, but I didn’t realize they kept a pair for a while after the main group left. There was a different group there until the mid-2000’s. That group was not AZA bred and was very poorly adjusted. I personally saw the large male attack the exhibit glass on multiple occasions. There were also at least two instances where he broke the inner pane of the double paned glass wall (I didn’t see that happen but came through later and saw the aftermath).
Click to expand...
HVZ has had 2.3 chimpanzees in it's last 25ish years. Casey and Cookie were former pets. Casey, the male, did not appreciate guest presence and his early life as a pet did him a great disservice as an adult male, unsure of how to act around people or other chimps. Casey and Cookie's group also had female Magadi who was a very tolerant and highly intellegent, so much so she was a healthy addition to the pair of poorly adjusted pets. Magadi was born at Lincoln Park Zoo.
The second group of chimpanzees was male Kiri and female Nyani. Kiri was also born at Lincoln Park Zoo and Nyani was a twin born at Detroit Zoo. Kiri and Nyani were the first group to transfer out of HVZ in 2007. Cookie and Magadi transferred to Lincoln Park Zoo to become part of their off-exhibit troup in 2013. Unfortunately, Casey passed away under anesthesia while undergoing an exam, shortly before he was slated to move with Magadi and Cooky to LPZ.

Georgette Braun: Ban on owning primates can't cancel memories
 
@ZooZoomer2401

Thank you for finding this.

I had been hoping to find a more complete written record contemporary to the events at hand. My information came from docents at the time and they certainly took a harsher tone on the previous owners and apparently put a “we sent your dog to a farm upstate” spin on the ending. Probably because there are always kids at the zoo (Still doesn’t excuse it).

The more local news stations clearly glossed over the darker aspects of the situation. I, was not an active reader of the news at the time, but these are the “Stories” I found that Madison based outlets wrote at the time.

Chimps at Henry Vilas Zoo to be replaced by lemurs

Chimps out, ring-tailed lemurs in at Vilas Zoo

I probably should have stated my sources in my initial post about the primate house; but it was only meant to provide a bit of context to the current conditions in the building not be an analysis of any sort like my posts in the general discussion thread.

As I allude to there, Vilas has long had issues with transparency and public communications more broadly.

The county board and now former county executive do seem to be making legitimate efforts to improve in this regard lately, so hopefully that continues to improve
 
5/27/2024 Updates
I don't have much to report, but there were a few notable changes at the zoo:
  • The new macaw exhibits outside the aviary appear to be three commercial bird cages. I have uploaded a photo to the gallery. It has been titled the "Bird Bungalow."
  • The new garden near the aviary is nowhere near as beautiful as the former butterfly gardens and consists of some wooden plant holders.
  • The empty exhibit in the large tank next to the piranhas now houses an African Bullfrog. It had a divided about 1/4 down the way of it, with the smaller side being filled with fake plants. I don't know if they plan on adding live plants or anything to it, but I think it would be a major improvement. I uploaded a photo of it to the gallery.
  • As previously mentioned by @ConcernedThirdParty, the two exhibits in the faux tree near the piranhas has been filled by Land Snails and Fruit Chafer Beetles. Neither exhibit is attractive and I hope they get changed in the future.
  • The former Eastern Massasauga exhibit has now been redone. I uploaded a photo to the gallery. I am assuming it'll continue to be a massasauga exhibit in the future.
  • There are still a few climbing structures in the Aardvark exhibit, but many of them have been added to the new Garnett's Galago exhibit. I do not believe they are on exhibit yet, despite the sign saying they are hard to see. The exhibit has a long way to go before I would deem it appropriate.
  • It appears that there are more than four Black-and-White Ruffed Lemurs at the zoo, despite the signs only listing four. There were four on exhibit in the outdoor exhibit, with two being in the indoor exhibit with the hyrax.
 
@EsserWarrior, it appears your observations seem to underline that some of the newer exhibits and renovations are qualitively far under or sub par (macaw, new versus former butterfly garden and the exhibit now with bull frog and the fillers with insects.

Would you say the Henry Vilas Zoo still lacks a good vision for a sustainable and accredited future. Where is it failing in your perspective?
 
EsserWarrior said:
5/27/2024 Updates
I don't have much to report, but there were a few notable changes at the zoo:
  • The new macaw exhibits outside the aviary appear to be three commercial bird cages. I have uploaded a photo to the gallery. It has been titled the "Bird Bungalow."
Click to expand...

That’s disappointing after seeing the size of the foundation.

EsserWarrior said:
5/27/2024 Updates
  • The empty exhibit in the large tank next to the piranhas now houses an African Bullfrog. It had a divided about 1/4 down the way of it, with the smaller side being filled with fake plants. I don't know if they plan on adding live plants or anything to it, but I think it would be a major improvement. I uploaded a photo of it to the gallery.
Click to expand...

African Bullfrogs are extremely hard on live plants. It would take several months without a large animals present for any live plants to grow out enough to survive. My guess would be they didn’t want to wait that long. Hopefully the divider means they hope to add a full water feature soon; As that is an often-overlooked habitat feature for this species.

EsserWarrior said:
5/27/2024 Updates
I don't have much to report, but there were a few notable changes at the zoo:
  • It appears that there are more than four Black-and-White Ruffed Lemurs at the zoo, despite the signs only listing four. There were four on exhibit in the outdoor exhibit, with two being in the indoor exhibit with the hyrax.
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Yes, definitely more than four. I think it may always be the same two separated. On my last visit there were a lot of very loud vocalizations between the two groups.
 
EsserWarrior said:
5/27/2024 Updates
I don't have much to report, but there were a few notable changes at the zoo:
  • The new garden near the aviary is nowhere near as beautiful as the former butterfly gardens and consists of some wooden plant holders.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I’m not sure the word “garden” applies.
I don’t think they plan for it to be there long. The new renderings show it being replaced by an unlabeled building.
 
Vilas's Current Status​

If anyone has not seen them yet here are the most recent renderings of the current “Heart of the Zoo” master plan.

Heart of the Zoo - Henry Vilas Zoo

While it looks nice, it seems to have all the same problems of the Vilas’ previous master plans. Even the ones that have turned out well (The Arctic Passage won an AZA award) were sharply reduced in scale from the original plans due the realities of budget and space setting in.

I’m preparing a more thorough analysis of the plan. But I will put this one conclusion here now just to see if anyone else already has the same mindset.

Vilas needs to immediately abandon all plans to display large tropical herbivores like Giraffes and Rhinos. Because of Wisconsin’s variable climate, the zoo’s limited campus size, and its unique financial situation. They will never be able to provide modern standards for these species.

This local news story from last year basically sums up the current mindset at the county board. Everything happening right now is a desperate, last-minute bid to save the AZA accreditation.

Henry Vilas Zoo facing difficulties in receiving funding
giraffe-barn-rendering4.jpg
 
ConcernedThirdParty said:
Vilas needs to immediately abandon all plans to display large tropical herbivores like Giraffes and Rhinos. Because of Wisconsin’s variable climate, the zoo’s limited campus size, and its unique financial situation. They will never be able to provide modern standards for these species.

This local news story from last year basically sums up the current mindset at the county board. Everything happening right now is a desperate, last-minute bid to save the AZA accreditation.
Click to expand...
I would love to hear more about the "unique financial situation" as I've only started following Vilas recently. Is the AZA accreditation in any specific danger or just that generally things aren't up to standard?
 
The land the Zoo is on was donated to the city (over 100 years ago) with the stipulation that whatever it is used for be free to the public, that is why they don't charge admission. With 700,000+ annual visitors, even a 1-dollar admission fee would make a big difference to the financial situation. Vilas is funded by a combination of donation / grants, county funds, and concession sales. In 2019 the Henry Vilas Park Zoological Society (formerly the independent non-profit which fund-raised for the zoo) and the county severed ties due accounting discrepancies at the society. Fundraising efforts still have not fully recovered.

Henry Vilas Zoological Society gives $8 million to support Henry Vilas Zoo

As to the AZA accreditation, no one with direct knowledge has said their fears directly. But every statement by members of the county board (the county owns and operates the zoo) that mentions the zoo seems to reference “ensuring compliance” with AZA standards. Vilas seems to have barely survived reaccreditation in 2019.

Certainly, a number of publicly released occurrences have parallels to other zoos which have lost accreditation.

The biggest unanswered question is what the status of zoo director Ronda Schwetz is within the AZA.

She has been controversial to say the least. While she has been formally cleared of all accusations after a series of investigations, there is clearly still a belief in the community and in the board that something is amiss.

Here are a few local media reports on the ongoing situation at Vilas for reference though many more exist:

Henry Vilas Zoo director accused of sexual assault to a former employee

Henry Vilas Zoo facing difficulties in receiving funding

What's going on at the zoo?

Dane County supervisors call for firing of Henry Vilas Zoo director after settlement

Racism, dead penguins and retaliation: Why the Vilas Zoo lost its only Black zookeepers
 
The management structure at Vilas is more unique than I think most people realize. While many (perhaps most) AZA facilities, are owned by local governments, it is less common for them to be directly managed by them as is the case with Vilas. Many of the most successful facilities like The San Diego Zoo and Brookfield Zoo Chicago are owned by the government but operated by independent nonprofit organizations. This gives greater freedom of operation for all key aspects including: fundraising, hiring, animal care, educational services, and removes all of it from political wrangling.
 
While in most states (including Wisconsin) a private employer can terminate anyone at any time without cause, governments can usually only terminate nonpolitical employees with cause. In an independent investigation clears an employee of an accusation, (say a zoo director, as a completely random example) they cannot be terminated for that reason. If they were to fail to perform a key duty of their job however, (maintaining an independent accreditation as another completely random example) that would likely be grounds for termination.
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
@EsserWarrior, it appears your observations seem to underline that some of the newer exhibits and renovations are qualitively far under or sub par (macaw, new versus former butterfly garden and the exhibit now with bull frog and the fillers with insects.

Would you say the Henry Vilas Zoo still lacks a good vision for a sustainable and accredited future. Where is it failing in your perspective?
Click to expand...

According to the expansion plans that you shared, I think that Henry Vilas Zoo's future is sustainable and will allow it to maintain its accredited status. I cannot believe I have never seen the plans before! Thank you for sharing them.

I have heard from former employees/online articles that the upper management of the facility appears to be the issue. Schwetz should have been kicked to the curb years ago. Removing her from the facility will clear issues that the AZA has with her, and it will provide the facility with an opportunity to gain a new reputation.

There is now a full-time veterinarian on staff, so that should clear any problems they had with medical care issues they have faced in the past.

When it comes to exhibits, there are a few things I would change:

PRIMATE HOUSE
  • New climbing structures in the indoor and outdoor orangutan exhibits - using Racine Zoo as an example, their exhibit has extensive ropes hanging from the ceiling, and their individuals appeared quite active. By no means does Henry Vilas have poor climbing opportunities for their orangutans, but I think adding more could potentially increase the activity time for their individuals and increase guest interest.
  • Lemurs - Henry Vilas has been focusing on Black-and-White Ruffed Lemurs for years now, so I do think they should phase out the Ring-Tailed Lemurs to prevent them from being ignored in favor of the ruffed lemurs.
  • Education Area - the signed area in the back portion of the building is never used. I think they should renovate it to be an indoor exhibit for tamarins or marmosets.
Overall, I do not have many critiques for this area. I think that small improvements in the future would ensure that this area meets both AZA standards and the husbandry needs of its species.

BIG CAT COMPLEX
  • The existing cat exhibits are decent for their current residents, but I do think that the new plans are going to vastly improve their care.
FORMER GIRAFFE / SURROUNDING AREA
  • This area is arguably the weakest part of the zoo. Once the renovations are complete, I think the zoo's reputation will be restored.
CHILDREN'S ZOO
  • The future plans indicate that a few of the species here will be moved to new areas of the zoo, so I am curious to see how they plan on changing this area. It appears that the flamingos and the goats will remain, but the rest are unspecified.
  • Without the aardvark, the current gibbon exhibit could be expanded to provide them with a new indoor and outdoor exhibit and allow Henry Vilas to become a breeding facility that could exhibit a family group.
  • Meerkats, porcupines, and Red Pandas being moved to other areas of the zoo will basically empty that entire second building, so I wonder what they will do with that section.
  • If I am not mistaken, the buildings have been struggling with the HVAC systems, so I think it would be wiser for the zoo to tear them down entirely than try to fix them.

DISCOVERY CENTER / HERPETARIUM
  • The keepers in this building have been making great improvements to exhibits in this building. If they continue to renovate the exhibits there, I will have no complaints.
  • The "renovation" that was done to the Aldabra Tortoise indoor exhibit appears to literally be nothing. I stand by the plans I suggested earlier in this thread.
  • The native turtle and fish exhibits need to go. The public does not show any interest in them. They are both large exhibits, so they have the potential to exhibit larger species that will bring in guests.
  • The Rhinoceros Iguana and Boa Constrictor have swapped exhibits due to the iguana's medical problems. I do not know if they plan on switching them back in the future, but the boa is not the correct choice for that exhibit. The keepers have given the boa no climbing features in an incredibly tall exhibit, and the individual is so small that it is hard to spot. They will have an amazing opportunity to add a new, large species or mixed species exhibit in that space.
  • Phasing out the ratsnake and ball python would also provide the zoo with an opportunity to exhibit more active or interesting species.
  • If the zoo can start hosting programs in that new entrance building, I hope they renovate and reopen the Discovery Center side too.

NORTH AMERICAN PRAIRIE / WISCONSIN HERITAGE
  • The only critique for the Wisconsin Heritage exhibit is that the Sandhill Crane exhibit is small, but that is only due to the zoo's perimeter.
  • The bison exhibit in the North American Prairie area is great, in my opinion. While it is not the largest in the country, they furnish it well.
  • If they add a new outdoor education area to the new entrance, they could potentially tear down that old education pavilion and expand this area. (Potentially add a new prairie dog exhibit?)

VET CENTER
  • The Golden Lion Tamarins are not the best choice for that exhibit. Both individuals seem stressed and they both suffer from over-grooming.

ARCTIC PASSAGE
  • I do not have any critiques for this exhibit, despite maybe letting the plants grow in those hot-wired sections.

AVIARY
  • A complete renovation of the beginning section of the building is required. Personally, I would tear down the piranha, bullfrog, and faux tree exhibits and then construct several new smaller exhibits, or make a single, large mixed-species exhibit.
  • Renovating the two smaller aviary/aquatic exhibits would provide guests with new, immersive areas to explore.
  • They need to add new birds to the aviary!
  • The Seba's Short-Tailed Bat, Capybara, and River Otter exhibits are okay. I think they could potentially expand the otter exhibit outward to provide them with better viewing and more land.
NEW PLANS
The new renovation plans are promising, and I'd like to briefly discuss each individually.
  • The new giraffe exhibit will allow the zoo to house a breeding herd. As the zoo used to be a housing facility rather than a breeding facility, breeding new species will increase visitor numbers. It also indicates that ground-dwelling birds will be added. I am assuming they will be ostriches, what do you all think?
  • Two unspecified exhibits will be added to the giraffe building. I am excited to see what they end up being. It also appears that meerkats and aardvarks will get a new indoor and outdoor exhibit there, but the renderings do not show them.
  • It appears that there will only be one rhinoceros exhibit rather than two. I wonder if they still plan on breeding the species or not.
  • The Przewalski's Horse seem to have been scrapped, with the zoo proceeding with only a new camel exhibit, which will not be attached to the Children's Zoo barn. It appears that the camel exhibit is connected to the rhino exhibit, so they still plan on letting them go into the outdoor rhino exhibit during winter. I wonder if they will breed these as well?
  • The porcupine/tortoise exhibit appears to be next to the outdoor giraffe exhibit, so I wonder if they will throw this up while they are building the giraffe stuff? The "mixed greenhouse" exhibit is connected to the barn, so they will likely leave that until later.
  • The new penguin and red panda exhibits are both needed - I am excited to see the zoo have new areas and breed both these species.
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
@EsserWarrior, it appears your observations seem to underline that some of the newer exhibits and renovations are qualitively far under or sub par (macaw, new versus former butterfly garden and the exhibit now with bull frog and the fillers with insects.

Would you say the Henry Vilas Zoo still lacks a good vision for a sustainable and accredited future. Where is it failing in your perspective?
Click to expand...

Insects = "Fillers"? Why is an insect exhibit not good enough?
 
Analysis of Henry Vilas Zoo 2024 Masterplan
​
As I have previously argued, and @EsserWarrior seems to agree with, the problem with the primate house is not the overall habitat structure, but rather the guest experience side of it, I would also agree the interiors could use some general sprucing up with more and better looking climbing and enrichment items. I would consider discontinuing Orangutans instead of Ringtails in keeping with modern standards, but all of the primates at Vilas seem to be doing very well. In all, this area is certainly not a high priority for a full rebuild.

Of the areas with current rebuild plans, the feline area of the new plan seems the most promising with much larger spaces allocated for both the lions and the tigers. The 11,153 square feet will make it one of the few in the country that meets the 10,000 square foot AZA recommendation. Converting the old tiger habitat to snow leopard use is probably the best idea in the whole document. The Pallas Cat is a nice touch as well. All of these species except the lion are very cold tolerant so should be able to make use of their full spaces year-round and while not fully cold tolerant lions can handle more than you would think. Hopefully there will finally be public access to the indoor feline spaces but that is not fully clear from the plans.

The giraffe yard is an OK but not great size; before EsserWarrior mentioned Ostriches, I was thinking something like the Maribou Storks that used to cohabitate with Vilas’ giraffes but either would be excellent additions. I also have concerns that they are still not making the indoor herd room large enough considering the harshness of Wisconsin weather and the apparent intent to have a full breeding herd. The nearby inclusion of the Meerkats and Aardvark will help to “fill in the gaps of the area” as well. I hope the tortoise mentioned with the porcupines is the eventual home of the long underhoused Aldabras. The Greenhouse is a small but nice touch as Vilas is desperately short on indoor exhibits. The new Giraffe space looks better than I expected before the plans were released but still seems to be overly optimistic given the space available.

The main design issue with the current red panda space is the height. I find it very frustrating how often major zoos overlook exhibit height when designing habitats for arboreal animals. Hopefully the new space for them addresses this. It looks to be directly in place of the old penguin pool and the existing hill / valley paths there should be perfect for this.

The new penguin space looks to be planned in place of part of the current picnic area which in turn seems to be supplemented by a public pavilion and event space by the giraffes. This should provide big benefit to the guest experience and allow the zoo to have proper events year-round.

I think the rhino / camel space is the biggest problem with the plan as it stands. With no publicly listed data on the current rhino yard, I took measurements from a satellite image and the current space is likely a little over 18,500 square feet. The new rhino yard is listed at 20,034 square feet which is a bit larger than the current but it really should be closer to twice this if they intend to continue keeping Rhinos. The building is the biggest problem here though. While anything would be better than the dreadful current rhino building, the new one still seems way too small especially since it will be shared with the camels and the rhinos will likely spend 25 – 35 % of the year in there. I still think that Vilas should discontinue keeping rhinos and this space should be reimagined.

Jumping to existing areas of the zoo, I have to disagree with EsserWarrior. I do not think the current bison yard of about 10,000 square feet is nearly large enough. The George Fait North American Prairie was requested and funded by a single large donor, (try to guess who) and has had numerous issues since being built. The problems with the prairie dogs should have been foreseeable with the lake only 100 yards away and the badger space was never going to be large enough for less geriatric individuals. Other plans like including Pronghorns were luckily abandoned when reality set in.

I think they need to seriously consider using the space assigned to the Rhinos in the masterplan to build a proper Bison habitat that meet modern standards. At about 25,000 square feet the total space could allow the incorporation of the aforementioned Pronghorns as well. They a very interesting species that is rarely seen in zoos despite being a native, (to the US) cold tolerant species. The Bactrian Camel(s) while not geographically themed would be a reasonable addition to this space as well as the Mongolian Desert is one of the only places on Earth with more extreme temperature fluctuations than the American Midwest.
Regarding the herpetarium, while the incremental improvements to individual habitats is certainly long overdue, the entire building is really due for replacement. I think the best option would be to replace the entire area from the herpetarium through the current prairie with a new, much larger building focused or herptiles, aquatics, and small tropical mammals.

As a donation funded institution, the Vilas Zoo has to be a viable destination year-round and must ensure it has the proper facilities and an appropriate collection of animals to provide this. Vilas and Dane County have a long history of overestimating available space and underestimating costs. I sincerely hope this plan works out better than previous ones but I am not very optimistic at this point.
 
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