Palm Beach Zoo

About Palm Beach Zoo

Palm Beach Zoo sits on 23 acres of tropical habitat inside Dreher Park in West Palm Beach, Florida, at 1301 Summit Boulevard. It is accredited by both the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums, and it is operated by the nonprofit Zoological Society of the Palm Beaches, which has run the zoo since the city transferred operations to the society in 1969. The zoo describes its current collection as several hundred animals, many of them endangered, and by 2014 had adopted the fuller name Palm Beach Zoo and Conservation Society to reflect its mission.

The zoo grew out of Dreher Park itself, land once known as Bacon Park that had served as a landfill and tent campground before parks employee Paul Dreher championed its purchase and redevelopment. What began in 1961 as a red barn and fenced barnyard stocked with ducks, chickens, rabbits, and a goat has since expanded into a set of themed zones: Florida Wetlands, Asia, the Harriet W. and George D. Cornell Tropics of the Americas, and the Islands, each built around the animals and landscapes of a particular region.

History

The site that became Palm Beach Zoo was originally Bacon Park, land destroyed as a usable space by the 1928 hurricane after serving as a landfill and campground. Parks Department employee Paul Dreher spent years reclaiming and landscaping the property, and in 1957 the city renamed it Dreher Park in his honor. In 1961, the Parks Department built a barnyard zoo there, stocked by Dreher himself with ducks, chickens, rabbits, and a goat named Pepita; the zoo's first exotic animal, a donated rhinoceros iguana, arrived in 1963.

The zoo's early decades brought a series of well-known residents, including Joey the kangaroo, whose ownership dispute helped prompt a Palm Beach exotic-pet ordinance, and Toppie, an Asian elephant purchased by local firefighters in 1965 and kept at the zoo for nearly ten years. In 1969, West Palm Beach residents formed the Zoological Society of the Palm Beaches, which took over zoo operations from the city that October and has run it since, while the city continues to own the land. The zoo weathered a period of heavy debt in the 1970s and early 1980s before turning a profit under director Michael July, and it earned AZA accreditation in March 1989.

The zoo's name changed several times as it grew: from Dreher Park Zoo, to Palm Beach Zoo at Dreher Park in 1997 (shortened soon after to Palm Beach Zoo), and finally to Palm Beach Zoo and Conservation Society in 2014. Major building projects followed a large gift from board members George and Harriet Cornell, including the original Tiger Falls habitat in 2000, the Florida Pioneer Trail in 2001, an Interactive Fountain and Orientation Plaza in 2003, and the $18 million Tropics of the Americas complex in 2004. The Melvin J. and Claire Levine Animal Care Complex, the nation's first LEED Gold-certified zoo animal hospital, opened on Earth Day 2009. In 2018, the Baum Entry Plaza opened, funded by longtime donors Ruth and Theodore Baum, adding a rainwater-catching botanical roof and six ticket windows to the zoo's entrance.

Exhibits and habitats

Florida Wetlands recreates a cypress swamp and is home to the American alligator, American black bear, American flamingo, bald eagle, Florida panther, gopher tortoise, and North American river otter, among other native species. The zoo's Nature Play Pavilion, a hands-on outdoor play space, is also located in this area.

The Asia zone centers on the Henry and Charlotte Kimelman Tiger Habitat, which opened as Tiger Falls in 2000 and was expanded in March 2015 into the larger Tiger River habitat. Malayan tigers have lived here since 2006, with three cubs born to resident tigers in 2011. The expanded habitat also holds Aldabra giant tortoises, black howler monkeys, llamas, red-crowned cranes, rhinoceros hornbills, southern ground hornbills, and white-tailed deer.

The Harriet W. and George D. Cornell Tropics of the Americas opened in 2004 as an $18 million, three-acre complex combining wildlife with Mayan-inspired architecture, including two pyramids over 40 feet tall and a walk-through cave. It featured on Animal Planet's "Ultimate Zoo" in 2006. Animals here include jaguars, Baird's tapirs, giant anteaters, capybaras, ocelots (added to their own habitat in 2018), spider monkeys, and a range of macaws and other tropical birds. The Islands section showcases animals from island ecosystems worldwide, including the koala, siamang, golden lion tamarin, red ruffed lemur, ring-tailed lemur, and scarlet macaw.

Other on-site features include an Interactive Play Fountain, the Wildlife Carousel with 32 sculpted animal figures, and a bronze sculpture titled "Water Dogs" near the river otter exhibit.

Animal highlights

At least the species named across the zoo's habitat areas live on site: from the Florida Wetlands' alligators, black bears, and bald eagles, to the Asia zone's Malayan tigers and red-crowned cranes, to the jaguars, tapirs, and ocelots of Tropics of the Americas, and the koalas, siamangs, and lemurs of the Islands. The zoo describes its total collection as several hundred animals across the property, with recent additions including Fiona, a rescued Panamanian jaguar brought to the zoo in 2017 after being injured as a cub during a poaching incident, and King Louie, the zoo family's first-ever siamang birth.

Conservation and programs

The Palm Beach Zoo Conservation Society runs studies, campaigns, and awareness projects, partnering with organizations including the Southeastern Disease Cooperative at the University of Georgia, the Brookfield Zoo, the AZA Contraception Center, the Florida Wildlife Commission, the Brevard Zoo, the Santa Fe Teaching Zoo, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Palm Beach County Marine Mammal Stranding Network. The zoo was the first to partner with the Florida Wildlife Corridor initiative, which supports Florida panther conservation.

The zoo's Melvin J. and Claire Levine Animal Care Complex houses the headquarters of the Conservation Society along with the Center for Conservation Medicine, and it holds LEED Gold certification. In collaboration with Madidi National Park in Bolivia and the Wildlife Conservation Society, the zoo provides funding and staff for conservation work across roughly 18,900 square kilometers of protected Amazon habitat, an area home to jaguars, black-faced spider monkeys, lowland tapirs, giant river otters, Andean bears, and Andean condors, as well as eleven indigenous groups. The zoo also supports Wildlife Conservation Society anti-poaching efforts in Malaysia aimed at protecting tigers, and it took part in a 2017 AZA Species Survival Plan breeding recommendation that led to the birth of King Louie, its first siamang.

Education programs run by the zoo include Zoo Camp, Overnight Adventures, and the Ed Morse ZooMobile, serving children ages 3 to 18 as well as schools, scout troops, and community groups.

Planning your visit

Palm Beach Zoo is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with last admission at 4:15 p.m., as listed on the zoo's website; it closes for Thanksgiving and Christmas Day, though it has opened on Thanksgiving for its Zoo Lights event in some years. Ticket prices vary by day and season, and the zoo directs visitors to its ticketing page for current rates; all tickets are non-refundable and non-transferable. Parking is free and located near the entrance.

Most guests spend two to four hours exploring the grounds. The zoo describes itself as stroller-friendly, and wheelchairs and safari wagons that seat one or two children are available to rent for $10 a day on a first-come, first-served basis. Outside food and beverages are not permitted inside the zoo, though the on-site Latitude 26 cafe serves salads, burgers, sandwiches, and kids' meals, along with beer and wine for guests 21 and over, and a concession stand offers ice cream, churros, and other snacks. No pets are allowed, though service animals are welcome under ADA guidelines. Active, reservist, and retired U.S. service members receive free admission with valid ID, and up to three accompanying guests receive 50% off.

Because ticket prices, hours, and event schedules change, visitors should confirm current details on the official Palm Beach Zoo website before visiting.