Is anyone familiar with this closed small zoo located in La Crosse, Wisconsin? I found no previous reference to it on the website.
This article has great coverage of their original Monkey Island exhibit which seems to be the clear favorite, though no zoochatter would likely be impressed with it as a habitat. There are some images here that focus mostly on the monkeys but also show deer behind chainlink and a peafowl. This article also shows a duck exhibit.
The zoo closed in November 2007, and its collection included spider monkeys, black bears, white-tailed deer, bobcats, porcupines and more; some of these animals were relocated to the roadside Special Memories Zoo in Greenville.
The initial promise after closure was that the succeeding "Myrick Hixon EcoPark" would include a small zoo with native wildlife and animals, including black bears, white-tailed deer, bobcats, porcupines from the old collection as well as nocturnal birds, otters, badgers, groundhogs and other native wildlife. This idea was scrapped by 2011 (video) in favor of a nature playground, which ran into numerous setbacks, only completing one out of five intended play areas, which went unused for years due to insurance concerns. This project was abandoned in 2023.
Since 2015, local groups have pushed to bring back a zoo at the site, with more realistic expectations, with fundraisers to bring back the duck pond (see above link) as part of a three-phase plan, it has become a local issue among political candidates. They are still raising money to restore the duck pond first, with a new zoo part of a potential third phase. By all accounts I have seen, the focus would remain on native wildlife and no monkeys.
Though I failed to find much information on the facility in life, I still found it an interesting saga to see how the city aspired to create something better, ran into problems, and now locals clamor to restore the zoo.
This article has great coverage of their original Monkey Island exhibit which seems to be the clear favorite, though no zoochatter would likely be impressed with it as a habitat. There are some images here that focus mostly on the monkeys but also show deer behind chainlink and a peafowl. This article also shows a duck exhibit.
The zoo closed in November 2007, and its collection included spider monkeys, black bears, white-tailed deer, bobcats, porcupines and more; some of these animals were relocated to the roadside Special Memories Zoo in Greenville.
The initial promise after closure was that the succeeding "Myrick Hixon EcoPark" would include a small zoo with native wildlife and animals, including black bears, white-tailed deer, bobcats, porcupines from the old collection as well as nocturnal birds, otters, badgers, groundhogs and other native wildlife. This idea was scrapped by 2011 (video) in favor of a nature playground, which ran into numerous setbacks, only completing one out of five intended play areas, which went unused for years due to insurance concerns. This project was abandoned in 2023.
Since 2015, local groups have pushed to bring back a zoo at the site, with more realistic expectations, with fundraisers to bring back the duck pond (see above link) as part of a three-phase plan, it has become a local issue among political candidates. They are still raising money to restore the duck pond first, with a new zoo part of a potential third phase. By all accounts I have seen, the focus would remain on native wildlife and no monkeys.
Though I failed to find much information on the facility in life, I still found it an interesting saga to see how the city aspired to create something better, ran into problems, and now locals clamor to restore the zoo.