The Amarillo Zoo will soon expand into Thompson Park to make room for animals it is currently trying to acquire.

“The decision was made this year that we were going to expand the tiger exhibit and the leopard exhibit,” Larry Offerdahl, director of Parks and Recreation in Amarillo, said.  “The exhibits are vacant right now, and we wanted to bring them up to a standard that we would feel it being more of a natural exhibit.”

The new renovations to the Amarillo Zoo are based on a 2003 master plan constructed by the city of Amarillo.  The new tiger and leopard exhibits and renovations are currently underway and are scheduled to be complete by mid-December.
“I am very proud of the recent progress at the Amarillo Zoo,” Debra McCartt, mayor of Amarillo, said.  “Over the last several years, I have seen the interest from the city and the community grow for the expansion and revitalization of the zoo.”
Two years ago, the zoo’s only tiger died due to old age.  The Amarillo zoo is now looking to obtain two tigers and at least one leopard for their new exhibits, and an anonymous donor is providing the funds for the purchase of the tigers.

“We are tripling the size of the tiger exhibit,” Offerdahl said.  “And we are increasing about 25 percent on the leopard exhibit.”

The Amarillo Zoo began charging customers for the first time in the 2009-10 fiscal year.  The city collected an estimated $190,000 through these admission fees.

The majority of the $445,000 budget allotted for the capital improvements at the facility this year will be paid by donors, grants and zoo visitors.  Twenty-five thousand dollars of that cost is coming from city capital improvements program revenues.

“I think people always like to see bigger exhibits,” Rhonda Votino, curator of the Amarillo Zoo, said.  “I think it’s more of a person’s perception.  The bigger it is they feel more comfortable.”

The Amarillo Zoo has built and added eight new exhibits since 2004, and will also soon begin a $385,000 project for an education center that is currently on the drawing board.  Construction on the education center is expected to begin early next year.

“Eventually, if we wanted to keep expanding the zoo, we could probably go to about maybe 25 to 30 acres,” Votino said.  “Currently the zoo is about a 15 acre facility.  So we could, in the future, double [the size of the zoo].”

The Amarillo Zoo is currently looking to get an accreditation through the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.  The accreditation would let customers know that the Amarillo zoo has quality exhibits, quality animal care and educational opportunities.

“The attendance at [the zoo] has continued to grow even with the city charging a nominal entrance fee,” McCartt said.  “To me, this says that this community understands the importance of the city zoo, as well as keeping up with the quality of life projects that are so important to our area.”