Steve Trebilcock just got a new pair of snowy owls for the David Traylor Zoo. They’re not easy to get these days and he’s glad to have them.
For a few months out of the year, Trebilcock also has a snowy zoo, or at least a cold one. And that needs a little work, he said, to keep the public’s interest year-round.
“If we’re going to have animals in the zoo and the public is paying to have a zoo, the public should be able to see the animals,” said Trebilcock, the zoo director. “And right now, there’s a lot of the year when the public can’t see the animals.”
What’s needed are indoor exhibit areas for some of the more temperature-sensitive animals. And that project may get moved to the front burner in the fairly near future, along with a few other new touches from the zoo’s master plan.
The plan is just what it sounds like, a look at where the zoo should go and how the zoo should grow. Right now, zoo officials and supporters are considering whether to push a fund-raising campaign for the next few items on the list and if so, what the target should be. That decision will probably be made this fall, after a feasibility study is finished.
If the zoo campaign does get off the ground, it’ll likely have four main targets, roughly estimated at more than a million dollars all together. Those include:
F A walk-through aviary with a winter holding area, estimated at $200,000 to $250,000. Trebilcock has a soft spot for birds — he last headed up the bird department of the San Antonio Zoo — but right now most of them can only be displayed four months out of the year because of cold outdoor temperatures.
F A renovation of the lemur area for an estimated $125,000, repairing the existing building and adding an indoor display area. The lemur exhibit was built in 1990 and over the years, daily hosing has worn down the concrete.
F A reptile house for an estimated $300,000, again for year-round public display.
F An otter exhibit for an estimated $400,000, with much of the expense due to the water needed. After all, who doesn’t love otters?
That’s on top of a number of changes that are already coming to the zoo as a result of its recent accreditation. Some are behind-the-scenes sort of things — medical paperwork and the like — that most visitors would never notice. Others will be a bit more obvious, such as the new veterinary building that will be built near the zoo entrance.
The building won’t be fancy — just a metal building on a concrete slab — but it will be useful. Right now, most veterinary work is done in the exhibits themselves. If the weather gets cold or wet, or it’s necessary to isolate an animal, a storage room in one of the barns is used. That’s handy, but it’s still too near other animals if something contagious is involved.
“You want some kind of sterile solution,” Trebilcock said. “The temporary thing we’ve been doing is workable. It’s just not the best.”
Other changes will be even more visible to zoo regulars. The zoo has been working with a professional company to create new, more colorful signs for the exhibits and is also working with Emporia State University to create “conservation” graphics for more endangered animals. The first one, by student Heather Smith, will be a display about mountain lions. Most mountain lions aren’t endangered, but a subspecies, the Florida panther, is.
The signs are expected to be up before summer.
It may take five to 12 years to get everything done. But as far as Trebilcock is concerned, it’s worth the effort.
“I want the zoo to remain in the forefront of everyone’s mind, as being one of the jewels of the town,” he said.