Topeka Zoo Topeka Zoo News

News since last post:

On May 6th, the zoo pushed back the launch date of “Kay’s Garden”, a Japanese themed garden and event center, to sometime in August.

Topeka Zoo pushes back "Kay's Garden" opening to August

On May 11th, it was announced that the zoo would be preparing to reopen on May 18th. The zoo would be limited at 500 guests at one time, social distance around 17-20 feet away, and are required to wear face masks.

Topeka Zoo plans for reopening

On May 18th, it was published that one of the zoo’s bobcats, named Johnson, passed away on May 16th due to chronic kidney troubles. Johnson was 18 years old.

Topeka Zoo mourns loss of bobcat

On July 12th, it was reported that the zoo’s fundraiser event “Brew at the Zoo” has been canceled due to COVID-19. The zoo expects a loss of $60,000.

Topeka Zoo’s biggest fundraiser canceled, causes $60,000 impact | KSNT News
 
geomorph said:
Here is an article about the zoo breaking ground for a new giraffe exhibit:

Topeka Zoo building new $7.5m habitat for giraffes | blooloop
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Giraffes have the most outdated habitat in the zoo according to the article? What about the elephants? :confused: (Is the zoo going to maintain elephants in the future? Are they going out of the elephant business temporarily or permanently? And wasn't this the site of the new elephant exhibit that was planned originally as the next phase for Camp Cowabunga?)
 
geomorph said:
Here is an article about the zoo breaking ground for a new giraffe exhibit:

Topeka Zoo building new $7.5m habitat for giraffes | blooloop
Click to expand...

A pretty good sign the zoo will phase out elephants, as this exhibit is pretty similar to the elephant exhibit in the master plan. I am surprised they have lined up so much funding so far though. Looks like a great addition though, although it’ll be interesting to see if the zoo temporarily expands the elephants space into the old giraffe exhibit/barn or keeps it as is. One elephant is over 60 and the other is nearly 50, so I imagine the zoos plan is too let them live out their lives. Eventually though hopefully the space will give the hippos an adequate exhibit.
 
nczoofan said:
A pretty good sign the zoo will phase out elephants, as this exhibit is pretty similar to the elephant exhibit in the master plan. I am surprised they have lined up so much funding so far though. Looks like a great addition though, although it’ll be interesting to see if the zoo temporarily expands the elephants space into the old giraffe exhibit/barn or keeps it as is. One elephant is over 60 and the other is nearly 50, so I imagine the zoos plan is too let them live out their lives. Eventually though hopefully the space will give the hippos an adequate exhibit.
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I've heard that they plan to build a new elephant enclosure after the deaths of their current elephants, but that's a few years. Did they change the plan?
 
Update on the giraffe exhibit:

Friends of the Zoo move forward with giraffe construction project

Friends of the Topeka Zoo says after further conversation with the City of Topeka, it will move forward with and coordinate a new mixed species giraffe habitat and animal housing enclosure at the Topeka Zoo. It said it is currently detailing the processes that will be used to hire a general contractor for the project and will share it with interested contractors within the next two weeks.

According to Friends of the Zoo, the new habitat will be a 3-acre outdoor home for giraffes, antelope, gazelles and large birds. It said the habitat will be in the southern part o the zoo campus and will feature a 10,000 square-foot giraffe facility, a 4,000 square foot antelope barn, a group entrance and an interior plaza.

Friends of the Zoo said while the experience will stand alone, it will also complete the Camp Cowabunga exhibit.
 
Visited this zoo on Saturday with my wife and had a pleasant visit despite the chilly temperatures throughout the morning that kept many of the larger animals inside. We were able to see them all though either inside their buildings or later in the afternoon when it became warmer.

A couple notes from our visit:
  • It was the 'Grand Opening' of sorts for the newly finished Kay's Garden next to the zoo (late last year). They were having an event featuring taiko music as it is a Japanese Zen Garden. Wonderful place, absolutely felt like my trips to Japan in the past.
  • One of the animals that my wife and I were excited to see was HoHo, the Malayan Sun Bear, as he was one of the two sun bears from Omaha that we got to see for many years until they were relocated to Topeka. However, he was pretty much the only animal we did not get to see that we wanted to.
  • Camp Cowabunga surprised me in its setup as I didn't look at photos prior to experience it first hand. It wasn't what I was expecting and I thought it was really well done.
  • Even though recently announced, construction on the giraffe exhibit had not yet broken ground.
  • Dik-diks were not in the Patas Monkey/Helmeted Guineafowl exhibit.
  • I am happy that the Large Mammal Building (aka Animals and Man) was open and you could view the hippo and giraffes inside since they were not on exhibit.
  • It appears the old Butterfly house/traveling exhibit space that recently held a bamboo shark touch tank is being removed.
  • From looking at the map, the space where a coyote was seems to be renovated from an exhibit into an educational play space. I've never been to this zoo before, but I could see an exhibit being there before.
  • Glad I got to see their Tropical Dome in person, despite its age, I greatly enjoyed it. I like the focus on smaller species and it was fun spotting the many birds in there with the docents. My personal highlight here was being surprised and seeing a chevrotain. I don't recall seeing one before at any of the zoos I have been to.
  • Speaking of the docents, my wife and I loved talking to the docents throughout the zoo. At each major exhibit we talked for a good 10 minutes with each one.
All in all, despite the age definitely showing at this zoo, the people here are very proud of their facility and they all want to make it better. You could hear the excitement in their voices when talking about future plans. I look forward to visiting again once the giraffe exhibit is completed and see what else they have in store in their future.
 
MGolka said:
All in all, despite the age definitely showing at this zoo, the people here are very proud of their facility and they all want to make it better. You could hear the excitement in their voices when talking about future plans. I look forward to visiting again once the giraffe exhibit is completed and see what else they have in store in their future.
Click to expand...

Has the Topeka Zoo officially announced that they are done exhibiting elephants? What is your sense of what is going on with that?
 
DavidBrown said:
Has the Topeka Zoo officially announced that they are done exhibiting elephants? What is your sense of what is going on with that?
Click to expand...

Like Wyman posted above, the two elephants they have are extremely old and the only way I see them getting new elephants is if they expand the elephant exhibit after the giraffes move to their new exhibit by Camp Cowabunga. This would require some connection to the front of the Large Mammal Building, or it might be that this building gets demolished and they start from scratch in this space. Using the old giraffe exhibits would almost double the size of the current elephant exhibit.

The docents did make it sound like they felt they had a lot of unused space at of the zoo grounds, and they do in some areas, but not enough to create a new elephant exhibit. Most of the unused space to the south towards the ball fields will be used for the new giraffe exhibit.
 
Other 2021 news:

On May 14th, the zoo announced that a (1.0) Sumatran tiger named Kensa Raja has transferred to another AZA facility. On June 17th, the facility was revealed to be the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium in Washington.

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On May 25th, the zoo announced the new giraffe area will be named Giraffe and Friends. There will be new barns for the giraffes and antelopes, as well as a three-acre yard.

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On May 29th, the zoo announced that (1.2) goats (breed not specified) named Holly, Benjamin, and Ivy will be in the farmyard area for the summer season.

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On June 2nd, the zoo announced that a (0.1) Hoffman's two-toed sloth baby that was born on April 27th was named Almond.

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On June 8th, the zoo broke ground in the Giraffe and Friends area.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=2897784540442930

On September 13th, the zoo announced that their Asian forest scorpion gave birth to (0.0.15+) babies in the week of September 5th-11th.

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On October 23rd, the zoo announced they have sent their (1.1) trumpeter swan pair to other zoos to further their breeding program.

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On November 1st, the zoo announced the passing of a (1.0) Jacob sheep named Jake. He passed away on October 30th, and was ~16 years of age.

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On November 11th, the zoo announced it has acquired a (0.0.1) greater Malayan chervotain named Malibu from an undisclosed facility.

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Also on November 11th, the zoo announced that (0.0.1?) reindeer will be brought in for the holiday season as part of a Christmas event.

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