Great Bend Zoo

About Great Bend Zoo

The Great Bend Brit Spaugh Zoo is a zoo in Great Bend, Kansas, at 2123 Main Street. Wikipedia places it in Brit Spaugh Park in the north-central part of the city, next to U.S. Route 281. The zoo's website describes a collection of native and exotic animals alongside a Raptor Center that rehabilitates injured raptors.

The zoo is run by the city. Its FAQ says that it is a city-run zoo with an annual budget for the animals' day-to-day care, and that its fundraising group, the Great Bend Zoological Society, often provides funds for items outside that budget, such as enrichment items and new exhibits. Visitor purchases in the gift shop and donations also go toward animal care, according to the FAQ. The zoo's history page states that the zoo has been, and still is, free to the public.

History

The zoo's history page credits its origin to Brit Spaugh, the first director of public lands for the city. The zoo was then named City Park, and the first animals were delivered in 1953. The page says a local newspaper of the time objected to removing a baseball field to house deer. That same year, the page says, the zoo received its first dangerous animals: two black bears donated by the Montana Fish and Game Commission, the older of which had been a university football team mascot.

The history page lists later milestones. In 1958 Spaugh brought in the zoo's first international animals, two aoudads, also called Barbary sheep, which were traded for surplus deer. Four spider monkeys arrived in 1959 to live on Monkey Island, and an alligator found in a local gravel pit was relocated to the zoo that year. On May 28, 1964, two polar bear cubs arrived. In 1965 the name was officially changed from City Park to Brit Spaugh Park in honor of its founder, and on July 16, 1965, six trumpeter swan cygnets hatched at the zoo. The page says that, according to the US Department of the Interior, a trumpeter swan hatching in captivity had never been recorded in the department's 100 years of records.

In 1966 the second director of public lands, Jerry Tillery, took over. The page says the zoo added a hoof stock area and adopted a theme of North American animals only during this period. In 1995 Mike Cargill became the third director, and the page says outdated enclosures were replaced with larger, more naturalistic ones and that the collection's focus changed from North American animals only to animals from all over the world.

In 2008, after a vote, the name Great Bend was added to the zoo's title so that it became the Great Bend-Brit Spaugh Zoo. The history page says the reasoning was that having the city name in the title would help people know where the zoo is located, particularly if the zoo were to become accredited in the future. In 2016 the zoo was awarded two grants from the Dorothy M. Morrison Foundation to renovate the grizzly bear exhibit and to reintroduce bison. The renovated grizzly exhibit opened in 2018 after six months of construction and includes a stream with multiple pools, a bear cave outside the exhibit fence for close viewing, and a new climbing structure. In 2020 a new American bison exhibit was completed and two yearling bison arrived from Sedgwick County Zoo in Wichita, Kansas.

Exhibits and habitats

The website organizes the collection into three groups: mammals, birds, and reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates. A zoo map is available on the website.

Among the mammals, the website lists African lions, including a male named Luke and two females named Sauda and Amana, and a serval named Sheba. Clouded leopard and bobcat are also listed, along with two unrelated cougars named Tommie and Tanner, described as orphans from the wild. Two grizzly bears, Piglet and Pooh, are siblings. Gus and Breeze are the bison, described as siblings from Sedgwick County Zoo. Primates include a lar gibbon named Manny, a pileated gibbon named Maggie, and ring-tailed lemurs named Ester and Ringo. Other mammals listed include an African crested porcupine named Peaches, a binturong named Poppy, capybaras, chinchillas, degus, KuneKune pigs, miniature pigs, and a three-banded armadillo named Norbert, whom the website describes as one of its most popular education program animals.

The bird list includes green-cheeked Amazon parrots, a blue and gold macaw, a sulphur-crested cockatoo, Muscovy ducks, a seriema, trumpeter swans named Ron and Leslie, a red-tailed hawk, and turkey vultures. The website says the zoo was one of only two facilities that successfully bred trumpeter swans in captivity in 1965. Several birds, including a Mississippi kite and the turkey vultures, came to the zoo through its rehabilitation program and were deemed non-releasable.

The reptile, amphibian and invertebrate page lists animals such as a western hognose snake, eastern collared lizard, ball python, green tree python, axolotl, Standing's day gecko, blue-tongued skink, bearded dragon, American alligator, White's tree frog, Chilean rose hair tarantula, and blue death feigning beetles.

Conservation and programs

The Raptor Center is a central part of the zoo. According to the website, its mission is to protect and conserve raptors through rehabilitation, education, research and habitat preservation. The center's building also serves as the zoo entrance and gift shop, and it has educational displays about raptors and a window into the veterinary clinic. The website also offers a Common Raptors of Kansas page and guidance on what to do after finding a bird in need.

The rehabilitation page describes a process that runs from intensive care through release or placement. Injured raptors are kept in enclosures that encourage limited use of broken wings, which the page describes as the most common injury seen. The page stresses limiting time spent with humans to avoid imprinting. Before release, each raptor is flight tested, and released birds are set free as close as possible to where they were found. Birds that cannot be released may be placed in accredited zoos, sanctuaries or other facilities as ambassador animals. The page gives the zoo's phone number, 620-793-4226, for anyone who has found an injured or orphaned raptor.

The zoo has an enrichment program that, according to its website, provides toys, activities and environments for all the animals, in categories including environment, cognitive, sensory, food and toys. The website lists a wish list for enrichment items.

Educational programs can be customized by subject or age group, with subjects including mammals, reptiles, insects, habitats, life cycles, enrichment, senses and adaptations. Each program includes a presentation with three animals chosen by the keeper. The website lists both on-site programs and outreach programs within a set distance of Great Bend, and fees are on the program page. The Great Bend Zoological Society sells memberships and runs an animal sponsorship program, and the zoo also lists volunteer opportunities.

Planning your visit

As listed on the zoo's website, the zoo is open daily from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., except Thanksgiving and Christmas. The website states that admission is free. The address is 2123 Main Street, Great Bend, Kansas 67530, and the website lists phone numbers of 620-793-4226 and 620-791-5001.

The website's rules page includes several points for visitors. Children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult. Alcohol, balloons, selfie sticks, loud music, balls, kites, Frisbees and squirt guns are prohibited, and so are bikes, scooters, skates and similar items. Feeding and touching animals is not allowed, including free-roaming peafowl. Smoking, e-cigarettes and chewing tobacco are not permitted. The page says some animals may be off exhibit because of weather, and that when temperatures are over 90 degrees Fahrenheit or below 40 degrees, many animals have access to indoor areas.

Wagon, wheelchair and mobility cart rentals are available at the front desk, located just inside the Raptor Center, on a first-come, first-served basis. Pets and emotional support animals are not allowed, according to the FAQ, while trained service animals are. The FAQ also asks visitors not to bring bread to feed the birds.