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The Columbus Zoo has just started a $180 million project that will expand the zoo from it’s current 90 acres to nearly 600 acres by the year 2015, making it the largest zoo in North America.
Some of the improvements include a hotel on zoo grounds, a large “African Savannah” exhibit where giraffes, hippos, and zebras will roam free coming in 2009, an Artic Frontier exhibit with polar bears coming in 2008, and the new Asia exhibit opening this summer.
Powell Road will be rerouted to the south end of the zoo opening up large areas of land to the north of the current grounds. Wyandot Lake may also be purchased from Six Flags by the Zoo, so that the waterpark proceeds may continue to fund animal operations.
yay Polar bears!!!
Wow.
Do you have a link to an article?
Link! 8)
This will be a nice addition to the city. I have only been to the Cbus zoo 2 times and both times I have thought it was a little small in comparison to some of the other ones I have been to.
The zoo is always a fun place to go… dates or just to hang out. It’d be nice once they get the proposed plans goin and rollin. I wouldn’t mind having the largest zoo in the U.S. right here in Columbus… more braggin rights for us haha.
Mmmm…animals.
Not just U.S…. North America! :shock:
Yeah, i love going to the zoo. Anne & I go at least twice a year. Once in the summer and once in the winter for the wildlights. 8)
Someone needs to start making “Polar bear seen in Powell” shirts though. Will go nicely with the Gahanna lion shirts.
This is great news I love the zoo.
Not to break the spirit of this great news but actually the toronto zoo is 710 acres right now and that’s still north america!
Oof. I guess whoever wrote the 10tv article didn’t do their fact checking. :roll:
Thanks for the info. Maybe this will upgrade willl still make the zoo biggest in the US?
The zoo is a good time. But a hotel? I don’t know about that….
I’m sure that really wouldn’t be for people who live in Columbus… but travellers coming from other parts of the country… when you think about it, there really aren’t any hotels too close to the zoo right now, so i think it makes sense to build one there.
Ok… i don’t know how the original article stated that the zoo expansion would make it the largest in north america, and now this information shows two larger. That’s still a HUGE jump for us, but not as big as previously stated. :roll:
Friday, July 07, 2006
Marla Matzer Rose
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Jerry Borin, Columbus Zoo executive director, says it was in the giraffes’ interest to relocate them temporarily.
With its pricey, new Asia Quest exhibit just opened and an ambitious 10-year plan to develop dozens more acres ahead of it, the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium has made some bold and tough choices.
For example, the zoo has decided to go without some of its most popular animals for periods rather than display them in conditions that aren’t ideal. If you go to the Columbus Zoo today, you won’t see polar bears or giraffes, though you can buy gift-shop items bearing their likenesses, and you can see giraffes in the zoo’s logo.
“Polar bears are very popular, and they’ve definitely been our No. 1 request to add for a while,” said Dusty Lombardi, Living Collection director at the zoo. But their size and taste for colder climates can create challenges for zoos.
“They’re very, very large carnivores,” Lombardi said, “and they don’t necessarily like the summer, which is when people come to the zoo.”
Polar bears should return within a couple of years, after an expansion of the zoo’s North American area is completed. Giraffes won’t have a home at the zoo until a new African Savannah habitat is completed in 2009 or 2010.
Instead of housing the three giraffes in a temporary area at the zoo, officials decided it was best to send them to live for the time being at the Wilds nature reserve in southern Ohio.
READ MORE
I don’t remember them ever having polar bears.
I do!!! When I was a kid that was one of the best parts of the zoo! I think they used to be around the area where they Austrailian exhibit now is. I’m not sure how long ago that was added, but it’s been sometime in the last 10 years or so…
Is there a concept map of the completed zoo project out there anywhere? Would love to see what is going to be like
I haven’t seen one yet. The news articles I’ve seen have only been press-release type info so far. No concept art or maps being distributed.
From my understanding though, the core of the zoo will remain the same. The road re-working is going to play a major update through the whole parking area, and the new expansion is going to add more land to the zoo.
Can’t wait to see how it progresses!
Oh, and welcome to the site! 8)