Is Lubbock, Texas building a zoo?

Arizona Docent

Arizona Docent

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
Searching for zoos in west Texas, I came across this website for a proposed zoo in Lubbock. However, it appears not to have been updated since 2003 and most of the photos have been removed and are just empty boxes. So I am assuming the deal fell through? Perhaps our regular Texas forumster from Dallas Zoo can shed some light?

Lubbock Zoo Homepage
 
I wish I could add something, but this is the first I've heard of it myself.
 
I've been searching on the internet for more information. There are a few editorial articles from 2002 which all suggest that the zoo is coming along. One mentioned that Lubbock's taxpayers were uneasy about the prospect of their money being used for the zoo and that the zoo would therefore be built and run on private funds. But there is also an article from 2004 that said that some prehistoric bison remains have been found on the site where the zoo was to be put, and an article from 2006 says that many of the funds meant to be used for the zoo went instead to tsunami relief. It looks like plans for the zoo have been put on hold for a while.

If anyone heres any news about progress resuming, please be sure to post it. Thanks,

Bjarki
 
bjarki07 said:
I've been searching on the internet for more information. There are a few editorial articles from 2002 which all suggest that the zoo is coming along. One mentioned that Lubbock's taxpayers were uneasy about the prospect of their money being used for the zoo and that the zoo would therefore be built and run on private funds. But there is also an article from 2004 that said that some prehistoric bison remains have been found on the site where the zoo was to be put, and an article from 2006 says that many of the funds meant to be used for the zoo went instead to tsunami relief. It looks like plans for the zoo have been put on hold for a while.

If anyone heres any news about progress resuming, please be sure to post it. Thanks,

Bjarki
Click to expand...

Do you have links to those specific articles?
 
Some interesting data, according to this website Lubbock is the tenth largest city in Texas with a population of over 266k. Bigger than Waco, Abilene, Tyler etc. Who woulda thunk? Is it just Texas Tech students and faculty?

Regardless, its pretty much ground zero for zoo nerds. The only thing I could find in the area remotely resembling a zoological facility is Science Spectrum which has a little aquarium and maybe a few common herps. This would be how far away of a drive a resident of Lubbock is from real zoo:

1.5 hours from Amarillo Zoo (a small zoo)
2.5 hours from Abilene Zoo
2.5 hours from Spring River Zoo in New Mexico (another small one)
3 hours from Living Desert (the one in New Mexico, which is small)
5 or more hours away from El Paso, San Antonio, Dallas/FW, Houston and Austin as well as ABQ or OKC areas.
 
TeaLovingDave said:
I think you'll find that would be somewhere like Berlin, Vienna, Bronx, Prague or San Diego :rolleyes::D and that you should probably look up the meaning of a phrase before using it!
Click to expand...

What he may have meant was ground zero for a zoo nerd's imagination?
 
TeaLovingDave said:
I think you'll find that would be somewhere like Berlin, Vienna, Bronx, Prague or San Diego :rolleyes::D and that you should probably look up the meaning of a phrase before using it!
Click to expand...
How's the phrase meant to be used then? All i can find is the area post-nuclear explosion so I mean he means in that way how its completely desolate?
 
WalkingAgnatha said:
How's the phrase meant to be used then? All i can find is the area post-nuclear explosion so I mean he means in that way how its completely desolate?
Click to expand...

When used in relation to nuclear explosions, earthquakes or other disasters, it doesn't mean the entire area covered by said disaster, being more or less synonymous with "epicentre" and hence meaning the central and/or focal point. As such, when used in relation to zoo nerds, it either suggests the main focal point for them, or their most basic point of origin.

More apt terminology, if the intention was to convey an area entirely lacking in any zoological attractions, would be "desert", "wilderness" or "no-mans-land" methinks.
 
SusScrofa said:
Some interesting data, according to this website Lubbock is the tenth largest city in Texas with a population of over 266k. Bigger than Waco, Abilene, Tyler etc. Who woulda thunk? Is it just Texas Tech students and faculty?

Regardless, its pretty much ground zero for zoo nerds. The only thing I could find in the area remotely resembling a zoological facility is Science Spectrum which has a little aquarium and maybe a few common herps. This would be how far away of a drive a resident of Lubbock is from real zoo:

1.5 hours from Amarillo Zoo (a small zoo)
2.5 hours from Abilene Zoo
2.5 hours from Spring River Zoo in New Mexico (another small one)
3 hours from Living Desert (the one in New Mexico, which is small)
5 or more hours away from El Paso, San Antonio, Dallas/FW, Houston and Austin as well as ABQ or OKC areas.
Click to expand...
Midland will have one 2 hours away in 2027 hopefully
 
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