I had the opportunity to go to the new areas of the zoo today. I will give a comprehensive review, but in summary, the zoo is living up to the recent mediocrity it seems to be moving forward with. The tenure of Lex Salisbury, while mired in troubles, was clearly the golden age of Zoo Tampa/Lowry Park Zoo. I don't agree with his heavy handed management and financial improprieties, but he clearly managed to get things done well.
I was going to judge this new renovation as how the current administration was viewing the zoo and their vision for moving forward, and my judgement is a solid "c". Nothing is terrible, but nothing is great either. All in all the renovations were not needed and do not really add anything to the zoo other than new wood and paint, IMO.
Hamadryas Baboons:
This habitat replaces the chimpanzee. After the debacle of the bonobos coming to ZT, having hamadyras baboons come was exciting. I have been following the renovations of the habitat from across the lemur moat since they started.
All in all it seems that they simply added large viewing windows. The original chimp climbing structure and faux termite mound remain, simply power washed. The lack of actual habitat updates, on a project that took months and months to complete is frankly shocking.
I grade the habitat a "C". They have simply found a space for more baboons, the viewing angles are OK, but not great, and the habitat is simply the original chimp habitat from the 90s that really could have used a much more comprehensive update.
Comparing this to habitats like Phoenix, or the new NC Zoo habitat being built....this is just a waste of resources. They would have done better to simply move the patas monkeys into there and been done with it, at least then one could see those monkeys on regular exhibit.
Old chimp habitat in 2020:
"New" baboon habitat:
Wild Florida:
This is the largest renovation and expansion of the zoo since Safari Africa opened, so in around 15 years. The renovations, frankly do not add much to what was already a good section of the zoo. Visually they look nice, the new wood, paint, graphics, etc. all look very well done. The area did need an update, but I am not sure this was the best they could do.
The biggest challenges that the zoo's Florida area had was the loss of habitats when they added the water flume ride. Around that time the zoo removed the bison, white tailed deer/turkey, and moved the red wolf and eagles.
I do not know how many millions of dollars were spent on this renovation, but I believe it would have been better to simply renovate what was there, add something to the old deer habitat and save the difference.
When the "new zoo" was opened the animals were separated via elevation and moats. The new habitats here are separated via black chain link fence, glass, and mesh.
The old bear habitat is mostly in tact, but for some reason they decided it would be a good idea to remove most of the plants and mulch it all. They shrank it down some to accommodate one of the new panther habitats.
There was very little information about this project before it opened. The new Wild Florida renovated area now has habitats for the following animals:
Black bear (1 new habitat)
Red Wolf (1 new habitat)
Florida Panther (3 habitats)
Barred owl
Screech owl
Stripped skunk and turtles/tortoises (minimal renovations)
In "Wild Florida" renovated area, but not renovated:
Black bear (1 "renovated" habitat)
Flamingo
Florida Aviary
American Alligator
Outside of renovated area:
Otters
Manatee building
Bald Eagle
Red Wolf (old habitat)
The new black bear habitat (Black Bear #1) is small, open, and only has one structure for the bear. It is a black chain link cage, honestly the zoo is better than this - at least I thought it was.
Black bear #2 is the old bear habitat cleaned up and made slightly smaller.
The new red wolf habitat is nice, it is essentially the old deer habitat with some added structure. The red wolves should have been here all along rather than the habitat they were in by the tomistoma. Honestly, this is probably the highlight habitat. Speaking of the old habitat, the map still shows it as red wolf, but with only two animals, they are either going to need more wolves or put something else in there.
New Red Wolf habitat:
The new panther habitats are honestly, not great. They are sunny, open, and have little climbing structure. Pictures do better justice.
Owl Aviaries:
Skunk plaza with owls on the left:
The rest of the habitats are just the old ones, so not much to say. Overall, I give this renovation a "C" grade. It is OK, and it does spruce up the area, but it should be better.
Some people may think I hold ZT to a higher level than they should be held, but they need to hold themselves higher. ZT used to do things top level all the time, now all these new changes or things left in neglect show that the administration is lost, they are doing things on the cheap and could be doing so much better. This is still a great zoo, but honestly, they could be doing a better job on these renovations.
