Lincoln Children's Zoo growing in space, people and conservation efforts

The zoo opens Friday for its year-round venture. And the ribbon cutting on the expansion will be May 10.

The expansion will include more exotic animals, including giraffes, Sumatran tigers, spider monkeys, ways to interact with those animals and adventures that will make the zoo an even stronger draw for Lincoln families and tourists from outside the city.

Visitors will explore a rain forest from a suspended platform, side-by-side with spider monkeys, in the repurposed historic Ager Center. They'll be able to feed lettuce to giraffes in their enclosure, or walk through the new red panda habitat. 

If the original expansion wasn't enough, the zoo announced earlier this month it will also create cheetah and anteater habitats, an outdoor play area, year-round café and an outdoor event space.

With the added attractions and new habitats, the number of people in and around the zoo is growing, too. 

Lincoln Public Schools' Science Focus Program, with a new 15,000-square-foot building, will not only expand its physical space, but the enrollment will increase.  

Visitors to the zoo are expected to grow to 350,000 to 400,000 in the next seven to eight years. That compares to 240,000 who came through the gates last year. Half of the zoo's attendance comes from outside of Lincoln, said zoo Executive Director John Chapo. 

The number of people working at the zoo is also growing, from 118 employees to 150 full-time and part-time workers. Add to that hundreds of volunteers, including 350 on the Zoo Crew youth program and 350 adults. 

Parking will grow with the expansion, from 197 stalls to 375 stalls for visitors and employees. 

And while the physical space and attractions are expanding, so is the zoo's worldwide role in conservation. 

In October, the Lincoln zoo became one of 230 in the country accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, a nonprofit dedicated to conservation, education, science and recreation, Chapo said. These zoos meet the highest standards in animal care, fun and educational family experiences. They dedicate millions of dollars to scientific research, conservation and education programs. 

The zoo has been breeding the endangered Salt Creek tiger beetle for about nine years, he said.

A year and a half ago, the Lincoln Children's Zoo hired a veterinarian, Dr. Trent Shrader, to be the director of medicine and conservation. Since then, Schrader has been traveling to locations in Nebraska and Colorado, Botswana and South Africa, to do research, draw blood and semen samples and help other researchers. 

Shrader is a native Nebraskan who graduated from Elmwood-Murdock High School in 2008 and from the Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine in 2015, specializing in exotic and zoo animal medicine. He interned at the Dallas zoo and in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and worked for a time at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo before coming to Lincoln. 

The local zoo was able to raise millions of dollars in its Love Your Zoo campaign. 

“We are humbled by the exceptional love for the children’s zoo and we are excited for what this means to the children and families of our community,” Chapo said.

The Lincoln Children's Zoo gets no money from tax dollars for operations, and it's been that way for the zoo's 53 years, he said. That puts it in a small minority of zoos across the country that don't get tax dollars to operate. 

The zoo's operating expenses are 85 percent earned through admissions, food sales, train rides, camps, fundraisers, zoo crew tuition and sales in the gift shop. Last year more than 1,900 kids participated in zoo camp. 

It also gives back to the community, Chapo said. The past seven years the zoo has spent a quarter of a million dollars in philanthropy such as free admission for low-income families. 

The children's zoo is home to more than 350 animals, including more than 40 that are endangered. Those include the Humboldt penguin, snow leopard and Matschie's tree kangaroo.

And Chapo and his staff are continuously looking at opportunities to bring in new animals, he said.

It takes years of work and planning to find the right animals, he said. Getting the giraffes, for example, took four years of planning, and working with the breeding group on what was available. 

"We want people to have a rich experience when they visit," Chapo said.

Children's Zoo through the years