Zoo News has been describing a vision of reimagining the move of animal enclosures to a new location in Roosevelt Park due to the flood protection project. This is one of the big concerns to address ahead of time, but there is also the impact that the project will have on the south side of the river where the wall will be constructed. With the wall, service road, and buffer zone, a lot of real estate is removed.

The wall runs parallel to the river along Roosevelt Park, entering the zoo toward the end of the employee parking lot, north of the bear enclosure. It runs through the ruffed lemur enclosure, the concession and Outreach Animal building before sliding along the edge of giraffes, and turns as it passes through the zebra exhibit, eliminating the barn and roughly one-third of the space, and then transitions to a levee as it approaches the bongo enclosure, where it will eliminate the barn and about two-thirds of that enclosure.

Making plans to create new habitats for the animals in the Roosevelt Park area was a challenge, but staff was at least working with a blank canvas. Reimagining the existing site brought with it many more challenges, which staff sought to transform into opportunities.

There was less space and the loss of vital components of the zoo’s operation. To begin, staff focused on how the zoo was currently arranged and what changes could be made to develop that theme further. Visitors may find that most of the enclosures as you enter are all animals from the Asian continent. These would include the tigers, red pandas, gibbons and eventually the Amur leopards. Beyond these, guests find animals from the continent of Africa, including the lion, giraffe, zebra and penguin exhibits, so it just made sense to expand on these themes.

There will be changes to both sections as the zoo moves forward. Like the overview of the Wild Dakota and Dakota Homestead areas, the zoo will place more emphasis into a historical perspective, conservation issues, regional cultures and making the space more engaging for the guests. The most notable changes in Asia will include moving Bactrian camels to the serow and kangaroo exhibits, and an animal hospital that will house Outreach Animals on the site of the bear exhibit. In Africa, the giraffe exhibit will extend toward the lion habitat and include an indoor enclosure for year-round viewing. A boardwalk will separate the giraffes from the zebra exhibit, ending on a large, thatch-covered deck and the zebra barn constructed beneath.

All existing enclosures were reviewed during this process to develop plans to make life better for both animals and guests. If everything could be accomplished with the snap of your fingers, all animals will be viewable to our guests regardless of the weather. It just takes time and money to make a vision a reality, which is achieved by remembering the three P’s — patience, persistence and prayer. While you don’t want to put the cart before the horse, the staff is just making sure they know where they’re headed before harnessing him to the cart.