Animal Health Care

Animal healthcare is at the top of our priority list. Here is a breakdown of the steps we take to take care of our animals. 

Vet Zoo Visits

Veterinarians regularly visit the zoo. Visits occur every three to four months. Our vet will spend a longer time observing our larger animals. Our smaller animals we transport to the zoo once a year for a general checkup and vaccinations. Animals visit the vet if they exhibit an illness or suffer an injury. 

Zoo Keepers

Our zoo keepers complete welfare/ health checks on a daily basis. Animals are observed regularly, anytime there is a change in an behavior our vet is made aware and a treatment plan is put in place. Zoo keepers also ensure animals receive any supplements or medications. When an animal's medication is not ingestible, keepers will apply the medication, whether it is ointment or eye drops. Keepers will also check exhibits to make sure nothing in the exhibit could be potentially harmful to our animals. 

Preventative Care

Annual vet checkups help us collect data on our animals. Vaccines are updated, blood samples are pulled and notes are made of the animals' body condition.  Zoo keepers work to maintain trusting relationships between keeper and animal so that zoo animal's can feel comfortable showing signs of injury or illness. Animals often will hide anything if they feel sick or if anything is wrong, this is a basic instinct of survival that protects them in the wild. 

Animal Diet 

 Every single one of our animals has a specific diet formulated for them by animal care staff and vet recommendations. What animals would eat in the wild, types of food and food amounts are all taken into consideration when these diets are developed. Our animals will also give our staff different cues related to their diet. Whether it is not being fed enough, too much, eating too fast or if the animals dislikes the food our staff notes those behaviors. Staff records animal appetites and looks for consistency and patterns in their behavior to help identify any indication of illness or behavioral changes. Diets are changes based off of the records kept on each animal. 

Visitor Role

To help keep our animals healthy visitors should make sure to never feed zoo animals. If one of our animals get sick, knowing what they have eaten or ingested makes a difference in how to treat them. If the public sees fellow visitors throwing objects or food into animal enclosures we ask that zoo staff is contacted immediately so we can do everything we can to keep zoo animals healthy.