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Record attendance of 688,313 visitors was set for calendar year 1989, a 16.8 percent increase over the mark of 589,256 set the previous year. All-time monthly records were set in January, March, June, July, September and October.
Governor James G. Martin joined other State and Zoo officials for grand opening ceremonies for the $2.2 million W. David Stedman Education Center. The 25,000-square-foot, two-story building houses the Zoo Education Division, educational facilities and administrative offices for the Zoo and Society. It was named for Asheboro businessman David Stedman, recognizing his long-time support of the Zoo.
The Zoo's R. J. Reynolds Forest Aviary was rated by the national newspaper "USA Today" as one of the "10 best environmental exhibits" in American zoos.
The Zoo set an all-time, fiscal-year attendance record for 1989-1990 with 668,602 visitors. The previous fiscal-year attendance mark of 611,275 was set in 1988-1989.
The Zoo recorded its first hatching of a Chilean flamingo, a bird seldom reared in captivity. Only 13 were hatched in North America in 1989. Two days later, a second was hatched in the Flamingo Habitat adjacent to the R. J. Reynolds Forest Aviary.
The State Budget Office notified Zoo officials that $6.25 million in funds appropriated by the General Assembly for construction of five major habitats in the North America exhibit region had been released, allowing construction bids for the projects to be let. The projects included the Rocky Coast, Streamside, Great Plains/Grizzly Bear and Black Bear/Wolf habitats as well as the Touch and Learn Center. The funds had been frozen in March due to a state revenue shortfall.
The Zoo Council approved a proposal to build an outdoor Wart Hog Habitat to be located adjacent to the Forest Edge Habitat in the African region. The Zoo Society Board of Directors later agreed to provide $200,000 in funding for the project.
The Zoo hosted a pre-conference tour of the Association of Zoological Horticulturists. Delegates toured the N.C. Botanical Garden and the Zoo before their annual conference at Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia, S.C.
A contract was awarded for nearly $9 million in construction projects for the North America exhibit region. Pizzagalli Construction Co. of Research Triangle Park was awarded the contract for five North America habitat clusters--Rocky Coast, Streamside, Great Plains/Grizzly Bear, Black Bear/Wolf and the Touch and Learn Center. Construction was expected to take two and- a-half years.
The Travel Council of North Carolina, an organization aimed at improving and promoting the State's tourist industry, toured the Zoo during their annual conference held in High Point.
The Zoo hosted national tour operators from the Travel South Convention being held in Winston-Salem, their first visit to Piedmont North Carolina and the Zoo.
The Zoo and the N.C. Zoo Society hosted the 1991 Southern Regional Conference of the American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums at the Holiday Inn Four Seasons Hotel in Greensboro. In addition to representatives from zoos and aquariums all over the Southern United States, the conference also hosted national meetings of the AAZPA Board of Directors, Wildlife Conservation Management Committee, Accreditation Committee, Bird Curators and Public Relations Committee. Some 280 delegates attended the conference.
Zoo Director Robert L. Fry cut the ribbon at reopening ceremonies for the renovated Leopard Habitat in the African Pavilion. The renovations, done over a five-month period by the Zoo Design and Horticulture staffs, included the addition of 1,600-square-feet of artificial rock, a waterfall with a collecting pool, a fogging system, climbing trees and tropical plants.
The Zoo Park Council approved a proposal to increase Zoo admission fees by $1 to offset major reductions in state allocations for zoo operations during the 1991-1992 fiscal year. Effective July 1, 1991.
Two African wart hogs went on display for the first time, making the N.C. Zoo one of only 12 zoos in North America and the only East Coast zoo to exhibit the species. The animals were temporarily placed in the Colobus Exhibit in the African Pavilion while construction plans were developed for a permanent outdoor wart hog habitat expected to open in spring 1992.
The Zoo and the North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine signed an agreement establishing a Zoo Medicine Residency Program. It became one of only six such programs in the country. Participants in the three-year program will study at NCSU and receive field training at the Zoo. The first resident, Dr. Lucy H. Spelman, began training in July.
The 1991 Zoo Council Awards were presented to Ernst W. Greup in the Individual category, WFMY-TV of Greensboro in the Community/Public Service category, Lance, Inc. of Charlotte in the Industry/Business category and Laurie Page-Peck of Asheboro, who became the first recipient of a new award for outstanding Zoo employees. Greup, who had served on the Council from its inception in 1969, became the first Council member to receive a Council Award.
The Zoo and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro were awarded a $210,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education for the first year of "Zoo Concepts," an innovative, three-year program aimed at using the Zoo to teach math, science and concern for the environment. The federal funds represented the largest education grant ever awarded to the Zoo. Zoo Concepts is designed to develop instructional programs that demonstrate the ways which zoo plants, animals, animal behaviors and habitats can be used in the classroom to teach abstract concepts.
A 34-foot-long, three-ton replica of a fallen chestnut oak tree was installed in the Zoo's half-acre Chimpanzee Habitat to provide a climbing apparatus for the chimps. The artificial tree, built by the Zoo's Design Division, was displayed to the public for the first time on November 19, 1991.
The Zoo Society exceeds $500,000 in annual net operating income for the Zoo for the first time.
The N.C. Zoo was ranked among the top 10 zoos in the Southern United States by "Travel South" magazine, a quarterly publication of Southern Living, Inc.
The Zoo was awarded the North Carolina Travel Council's prestigious Bill Sharpe Award during the 1992 Governor's Conference on Travel and Tourism in Asheville. The award, named for a former State News Bureau director, honors persons or organizations that have made significant contributions to the state's travel industry. The award was presented to Zoo Director Robert L. Fry by Governor James G. Martin and Travel Council Board of Directors Member Hugh M. Morton.
"Free Flight," an educational program featuring raptors such as hawks, vultures, owls, eagles and falcons in free flight demonstrations, was presented daily in the Zoo amphitheater throughout the month. Produced by the World Bird Sanctuary (WBS) of Eureka, Missouri, Free Flight helped increase April's total attendance by 20 percent to 88,423 and was seen by at least 30,000 of those visitors.
The N.C. Zoo was featured on a new, nationally syndicated television series, ZooLife with Jack Hanna. The half-hour series takes viewers behind the scenes at the country's finest zoos, aquariums and wildlife preserves.
More than 250 volunteers participated in the Park's first "Zoo Crew Day." The special day was set aside for members of the general public to volunteer their services and assist the Zoo with some much-needed spring cleaning.
The N.C. Zoo unveiled a 3,200-square-foot outdoor habitat for African wart hogs--without the animals. Due to injuries sustained by the male wart hog during introduction, the Zoo's male-female pair were kept off exhibit for the grand opening. But the unveiling was a success, with hundreds of donors who provided private funds for the habitat, other Zoo visitors and the media present.
The Zoo held its first ever Zoo Camp. The one-day camp offered fourth- and fifth-graders the opportunity to learn about the natural world and the role that humans play in that world.
Wild & Wonderful: Inside the North Carolina Zoo, a cable television series on the Zoo began airing on Time Warner Cable systems in Burlington, Greensboro and Asheboro. The half-hour series, hosted by Zoo Public Relations Coordinator Rod Hackney, features interviews with Zoo staff about animals, plants, special events, conservation and research programs along with segments on Zoo Society programs and an educational segment for children produced by the Zoo's Education Division.
Rod Hackney, the Zoo's Public Relations Coordinator, received the American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums (AAZPA) "Outstanding Service Award" at the organization's annual conference in Toronto, Canada. Hackney was recognized for serving two years as chairman of AAZPA's Zoo & Aquarium Month and for obtaining national sponsorship of Zoo & Aquarium Month by the FOX Television Kids Club.
The N.C. Zoo was named one of the first 10 recipients of a new national award from the Mutual of Omaha Companies recognizing outstanding efforts in educating the public about wildlife conservation. The awards were presented by Mutual of Omaha's Wildlife Heritage Trust, a new organization dedicated to promoting awareness of the natural world and to encouraging wildlife conservation education.
Time Warner Cable launches a new monthly, half-hour television series on the N.C. Zoo which is carried on its cable systems in several Piedmont cities. The program is entitled Wild & Wonderful: Inside the North Carolina Zoo.
Robert L. Fry announces his retirement from the position of Director of the N.C. Zoo after 14 years of service. Department of Environment, Health and Natural Resources Secretary Jonathan B. Howes appoints former Zoo Curator of Design Dwight M. Holland as Interim Director.
A pair of African wart hogs are born, the first of their species to be born at the N.C. Zoo
Zoo Council Awards are presented to former Zoo Director Robert L. Fry of Asheboro in the Individual category; Wachovia Bank of North Carolina in the Industry/Business category; Randolph Friends of the Zoo in the Organization category; and Zoo Public Relations Manager Rod Hackney of Bear Creek, as the second recipient of an award for Outstanding Zoo Employee.
The N.C. Zoo receives an American Zoo and Aquarium Association award for its long-term breeding program for African spoonbills.
September 23, 1993 The Sonora Desert becomes the first exhibit to open in the Zoo’s North American exhibit region.David M. Jones, former Director of the London Zoo, Director of Conservation and Consultancy Division of the Zoological Society of London and former CEO of the London Zoo Society, is appointed the third Director in the history of the North Carolina Zoo. He will assume his new duties on March 1, 1994.
Jeffrey S. Owen, an animal keeper, is named the first recipient of a new award recognizing the Zoo’s “Employee of the Year.”
The Free Flight birds of prey educational program returns to the Zoo for a third season. The show is extended for the month of May with more than 106,000 people visiting the Zoo during the month of April alone.
Family Fun magazine names the Zoo’s North American region as one of the 10 best new attractions in America.
Family Life magazine names the N.C. Zoo one of the top five zoos in America. According to magazine editors, “The N.C. Zoo represents a new and spectacular breed in the animal exhibition industry.”
Three polar bear siblings, two males and a female, arrive at the N.C. Zoo from the Louisville Zoo where they were born on November 29, 1992. They are to be exhibited in the RJR/Nabisco Rocky Coast habitat in the North American region.
Zoo attendance for the 1993-1994 fiscal year is recorded at 604,677 people, up by more than 24,000 from the previous fiscal year. It marks the highest yearly attendance in four years.
The North American region opens with The Golden Knights, the U.S. Army precision parachute team, landing in front of the new entrance to mark the occasion. Opening exhibits include Polar Bear, Seal/Sea Lion, Arctic Fox, Alligator, Cougar and the Hardee’s Touch and Learn Center. Michael Iceburg is the featured performer during the weekend of the grand opening.
The Zoo breaks two all-time attendance records the weekend following the North American opening. A single-day mark is set at 12,057 visitors and a two-day record of 23,114 is also posted.
Five Zoo staff members depart for a two-week expedition to St. Lawrence Island in Alaska to collect seabirds for the Alcid exhibit in the RJR/Nabisco Rocky Coast habitat.
The Zoo breaks its all-time monthly attendance record with 125,296 during August.
More attendance records are broken as 15,041 people visit the Zoo on the Sunday before Labor Day. Another record is established on Labor Day Monday when 13,528 visitors brings the two-day total to 28,569.
For the first time in the Zoo’s history, the number of animals in the collection exceeds 1,000.
The N.C. Zoo is featured as a model zoo in a series of reports and a special program on CNN, the national cable news network.
The Zoo’s first permanent sculpture, entitled Zoological Egg Rest, is installed in the Marsh habitat.
A new, single-day attendance record is set with 17,499 visitors on a day when admission is free.
New all-time attendance records are set for the month of December as well as for the calendar year. December 1994 attendance of 39,438 easily eclipsed the old December mark of 23,012 set in 1989. The calendar-year total of 811,655 topped the previous calendar-year record of 688,313 set in 1989 by more than 123,000 visitors.
The Zoo's first significant animal escape occurs when a female chimpanzee escapes briefly from its habitat. The chimp safely followed a zookeeper back into its holding area about 20 minutes later.
The Zoo opens five more exhibits in its North America region. They include the Alaskan Seabird exhibit in the RJR/Nabisco Rocky Coast, Grizzly and Black Bear, the Prairie with American bison and elk, and Red Wolf.
In a move required to offset state budget cuts, the Zoo Council increases Zoo admission prices.
The N.C. Zoo hatches a wattled crane egg, marking the first breeding of the endangered African species at the Zoo as well as a major accomplishment in the international zoo community.
A one-hour, prime-time, television special entitled Africa: A Zoofari Through Kenya, airs on WFMY-TV, Channel 2, in Greensboro, based on a trip to Africa by Rod Hackney, the Zoo's Public Relations Manager.
In a move aimed at improving visitor service and profitability, Marriott Management Services takes over food services for the Zoo.
The Zoo Society exceeds $1 million in annual net operating income.
The birds-of-prey program On The Wing, previously called Free Flight and presented by the World Bird Sanctuary of St. Louis, Mo. (formerly headquartered in Eureka, Mo.), returns for a two-month engagement in the Zoo's amphitheater. It marks the fourth time (after a one-year hiatus) that this popular educational program is presented at the Zoo.
The Zoo launches its first foreign conservation programs in the African countries of Uganda and Cameroon.
Streamside, last of the North American region exhibits to be completed, is officially opened. The two-building, $1.75 million complex represents life in and along North Carolina streams flowing from the Appalachian Mountains to the Coast. Jonathan B. Howes, secretary of the N.C. Department of Environment, Health and Natural Resources, is featured speaker for the ceremonies.
Southern Living magazine readers name the N.C. Zoo among the three best zoos in the South, along with the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. and Audubon Park in New Orleans.
More than 100 zoo horticulturists from around the world convene in Greensboro for the Association of Zoological Horticulture International Conference hosted by the N.C. Zoo.
The Lion Habitat is rededicated after major renovations are made to its overlook areas thanks to a major gift from the Food Lion supermarket chain.
On the Wing, the Zoo’s popular flying birds-of- prey show, returns for its fifth seasonal run in the Zoo’s amphitheater.
A new audio tour system designed for visually impaired Zoo visitors is installed thanks to a grant to the N.C. Zoo Society from BellSouth Pioneer Volunteers. The audio wands are available free of charge for the visually impaired and can be rented for $5 by other Zoo visitors.
The N.C. Zoo is named one of seven recipients of the North Carolina Recycling Association’s Awards for 1996 honoring State businesses, organizations or government agencies for outstanding waste reduction programs.
The N.C. Zoo records one of its most significant births ever with the arrival of five red wolf pups. It is the first birth of the highly endangered species at the Zoo and an important event for the national red wolf recovery program.
Rod Hackney, Public Relations Manager for the N.C. Zoo, is presented with the American Zoo and Aquarium Association’s “Outstanding Service Award” for his leadership as a member of AZA’s Public Relations Committee. The award is presented during AZA’s 73rd Annual Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Nearly 100 zoo veterinary technicians from as far away as China attend an international conference of the Association of Zoo Veterinary Technicians hosted by the N.C. Zoo.
Dr. Randy Fulk, Curator of Research at the N.C. Zoo, and Liz von Muggenthaler, an independent animal researcher, announce the results of an eight-month study conducted at the Zoo which confirms for the first time the existence of infrasonic (sounds below the level of human hearing) communications in giraffes.
The Zoo unveils The Stone That Stands In An Empty Sky, a concrete and steel sculputure by Asheboro artist Roger Halligan. It is the Park’s second major artwork.
The N.C. Zoo adopts a modern new logo featuring intertwined figures of a gazelle, bird and sea lion that represents a interconnected circle of life forms found on land, in the air and in the water.
Four keepers from the N.C. Zoo are honored by the International Marine Animal Trainers Association (IMATA) with its first-place award for “Advancements in Husbandry and Research Techniques.” The award for a new training technique for the “Voluntary Training of Punch Biopsy of a Harbor Seal” is presented to keepers Kari Traud, Kris Nelson, Jeff Owen and Margaret Baird during the IMATA Annual Conference in Baltimore, MD.
A seven-year-old Randolph County girl is bitten by a rabid gray fox while visiting the Zoo with friends and family. The fox, an indigenous animal and not part of the Zoo’s collection, is quickly captured and euthanized by Zoo staff members, thanks to the Park’s emergency animal escape plan. The girl, Jennifer Keck of Randleman, recovers safely at home after receiving post-rabies vaccination treatments.
At age 9, Kwanza, the first gorilla born at the N.C. Zoo, is transferred to the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago as part of the Gorilla Species Survival Plan.
The Zoo begins the process of livecapturing indigenous beavers, which had destroyed more than 2,000 trees on the site in two years and posed a threat to visitor and staff safety. Between 10 and 20 of the animals are to be captured and relocated to a small, fenced-in pond away from public exhibit areas.
John Groves, Curator of Amphibians and Reptiles at the N.C. Zoo, is awarded a $15,000 grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to begin a captive-breeding and research program for the Cape Fear shiner, a federally endangered fish found only in the North Carolina Piedmont.
John Maguire, Visitor Services Officer at the N. C. Zoo, is named “Manager of the Year” by the N.C. Chapter of the National Management Association. The award is presented to the year’s outstanding manager from State government. Maguire was one of 11 nominees, all of whom were nominated by fellow workers.
The Zoo records the first successful captive hatching of both horned puffins and parakeet auklets, two species of Alaskan seabirds exhibited in the RJR/Nabisco Rocky Coast habitat.
Ramar, the N.C. Zoo’s oldest male gorilla and one of the most well-known animals at the Zoo, is transferred to the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago where he will be placed with six female gorillas. The move is made at the recommendation of the AZA’s Gorilla Species Survival Plan in an effort to improve Ramar’s chances for producing offspring
Dedication ceremonies are held for two major new works of art at the Zoo. The Elephant Group, four life-size bronze elephants designed by New York artist Peter Woytuk, is unveiled at the Zoo entrance road off Zoo Parkway, and Sum of the Parts, a sculpture of metal blocks representing nature’s delicate balance by Winston- Salem artist Dempsy Calhoun, is dedicated at the Park’s North American entrance gate. Funds for both pieces were donated to the N.C. Zoo Society.
The N.C. Zoo announces plans for a major celebration of its 25th Anniversary during 1999. Among the highlights will be a special exhibit featuring giant robotic bugs, called Big Bugs!, to be presented from April through September. There will also be a pictorial review of the Zoo’s history in Junction Plaza Restaurant, opening March 20.
The Zoo Society exceeds $2 million in annual net operating income for the Zoo.
The Zoo Society officially launches its first educational Internet Web site, The Elephants of Cameroon at www.nczooeletrack.org. The innovative Web site is based on a cooperative project involving the N.C. Zoo, the World Wide Fund for Nature and the Cameroon Ministry of Environment and Forests that uses satellite and radio track technology to identify the migration routes of elephant herds in several areas of Cameroon, West Africa. The site allows students and teachers to communicate directly with scientists working in the field to help save the elephants of Cameroon.
The Zoo participates in a cooperative project with the International Crane Foundation and conservationists in South Africa and the United States on a new type of reintroduction program for the endangered wattled crane. Eight eggs collected from three sites in the U.S., including two from the N.C. Zoo, are brought together in Asheboro for pickup and hand delivery to South Africa, where they will be hatched and released.
The Zoo opens a pictorial exhibit in the Junction Plaza Restaurant commemorating the history of the zoo’s first 25 years.
The Zoo Society announces that The Elephants of Cameroon Web site has been visited by K-12 school students from all 50 states and users from more than 70 countries.
Big Bugs!, a traveling educational exhibit featuring state-of-the art robotic insects, opens a six-month run at the Zoo.
The Elephants of Cameroon Web site wins a silver medal at the Astrid Awards, an international competition honoring outstanding achievement in design communications.
The zoo begins airing a new weekly TV series called The Zoo FileZ. These two-minute video features on Zoo animals, plants and staff as well as its conservation and education programs are hosted by Public Relations Manager Rod Hackney and are aired weekly on stations in six of the state’s largest TV markets.
The Zoo hosts the annual meeting of the AZA’s Red Wolf Species Survival Plan with representatives from more than 10 U.S. zoos participating in the national effort to save the highly endangered red wolf.
The Zoo hosts some 600 athletes, coaches and chaperones from the 1999 Special Olympics World Games being held in Raleigh.
The Zoo hosts the North Carolina Central Park Conference at Catawba College in Salisbury, bringing together local, regional and state leaders to forge an economic and ecological vision and growth plant for the rural Piedmont. The concept is designed to preserve and protect the unique character and natural resources of a seven-county area dubbed “The Central Park of North Carolina.”
The Zoo and Zoo Society host a celebration marking the successful completion of a two-year effort to restore Randolph County’s historic Pisgah Covered Bridge. The project partners the Zoo and Zoo Society with the N. C. Department of Transportation, The Piedmont Land Conservancy, The LandTrust for Central North Carolina and residents of Pisgah. The Society raises more than $73,000 in private funds and in-kind gifts to finance the project.
The School of Design at N.C. State University is awarded contracts to prepare a master plan and design development studies for an Earth Resources Center at the Zoo. The ERC will serve as both an educational and recreational facility utilizing the latest in communications technology to teach visitors about the natural world and the impact of humans on the environment.
The Zoo Society launches its second educational Web site, The Red Wolves of Alligator River at www.nczooredwolf.org, based on the reintroduction of the red wolf in a five-county area of northeastern North Carolina.
Two popular magazines name the N. C. Zoo as one of their top attractions in 1999 readers’ polls. Southern Living magazine in its November issue names the Zoo one of the top five zoos in the South, while readers of Our State magazine name the Zoo as the state’s “Best Spot for Children.”
To download a PDF of the Zoo history click here.
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N.C. Zoo is a member institution of AZA and an agency of the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources, William G. Ross Jr. Secretary; Michael F. Easley, Governor. A part of the North Carolina Government portal.
The Zoo is closed Christmas day and during severe weather. Call our information line at: 1-800-488-0444.
