CURRENT ISSUE
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| A Zoo Renewed |
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| By Chris Petersen | |
| Monday, 05 March 2007 | |
 Miami Metrozoo – rated one of the best in the nation – has plans for major expansions, starting with an exhibit on the Amazon. Covering nearly 300 acres with more than 400 acres preserved as natural pinelands, Miami Metrozoo features more than 1,300 wild animals in habitats that closely approximate their natural environments. In addition, the zoo offers educational programs, attractions for children and wildlife shows. Miami Metrozoo has been rated among the top-10 zoos in the United States by Travel & Leisure magazine, and has been named the top-rated attraction in Miami by Zagat Survey. The zoo’s roots began in 1948 with the Crandon Park Zoo, which was located on Florida’s Key Biscayne. The zoo grew throughout the 1950s and 1960s, eventually including rare animals such as a white tiger, Indian rhinos and a Key deer. In 1965, Hurricane Betsy caused considerable damage to the zoo, killing nearly 250 animals and leaving the zoo under three feet of water. This spurred the Zoological Society of Florida to begin planning a new facility, which came to be located on 740 acres on the former Richmond Naval Air Station property in Miami. The first exhibits in the new Miami Metrozoo were opened to the public in 1980. Universal Appeal Stephens says that despite the competition the zoo faces from movies, amusement parks and other family entertainment, Miami Metrozoo continues to draw visitors because its appeal knows no limits. The zoo is a “family destination” not only because kids enjoy it, he says. “It’s not just about kids, it’s not just about baby boomers, it’s not just about the mom with the twins in the stroller – it’s for all of them,” Stephens says. “We’re an attraction and a facility that provides the entire family a place to come enjoy themselves and learn something.” The addition of the zoo’s first air-conditioned building, Dr. Wilde’s World, in 2001, further enhanced the zoo’s educational offerings, featuring a variety of rotating exhibits ranging from “Biodiversity of the Tropical Americas” to “The Scoop on Poop,” which Stephens says drew the most visitors to the zoo for the October-November period in more than a decade. The facility also recently opened an exhibit there focusing on famed primatologist Jane Goodall. “Those kinds of things have been very helpful [for attendance] since that building opened,” Stephens says. Master Plan Miami Metrozoo has big plans for the future, kicking off with the opening of its Amazon and Beyond exhibit in 2008. The $50 million addition will be the largest exhibit of tropical American plants and animals in the United States, Stephens says. “It’s going to be 27 acres of expansion, which is larger than many entire zoos in this country,” he says. More than 1,000 animals will be included in the exhibit, such as jaguars, anacondas, giant anteaters and crocodiles. Amazon and Beyond will feature “countless animals we’ve never really had the opportunity to talk about before,” Stephens says, such as a greater representation of amphibians and reptiles. Creature Comforts Being located in Southern Florida, the weather provides the greatest challenges to the zoo, Stephens says. “We have a yearly challenge with hurricane season,” he says. A number of exhibits, including the zoo’s Asian aviary, which was reopened in 2003, were destroyed by Hurricane Andrew in 1992. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina uprooted more than 1,500 trees at the zoo and destroyed an amphitheater. Stephens says the zoo has a hurricane preparedness plan that it follows whenever tropical storms crop up. “We really had a year off [last year], so this year we’ll prepare as we always do,” he says. |
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