New vision for the Amarillo Zoo: City explores nonprofit partnership

AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) - The City of Amarillo is considering a big change for the future of the Amarillo Zoo.

City council members discussed the idea of leasing the zoo to the Wild West Wildlife Rehabilitation Center (WWWRC).

This would allow the nonprofit to take over operations while keeping the zoo open to the community.

WWWRC Executive Director and Founder Stephanie Brady says the goal isn’t to take the zoo away from the city, but to build on what’s already there.

Brady says the new vision would establish as a nonprofit.

“The Amarillo Zoo would be the Amarillo Zoo and Sanctuary, and it would be a nonprofit of its own,” said Brady. “It would be something that would be supported by the community and through people coming there.”

Brady laid out long-term improvements:

• Developing an on-site examination and surgery suite to allow in-house medical treatment, emergency response, and other veterinary procedures.
• Plans also call for upgrading all facilities and animal enclosures to meet accreditation standards set by either the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) or the Zoological Association of America (ZAA).
• The existing gift shop would be redesigned into a combined café and concession stand, offering food and refreshments to encourage longer visits and boost revenue.
• Redesign the layout into themed geographic regions, such as South America, North America, and Asia, creating a more immersive experience for guests.

Sustained Funding:

• Corporate sponsors, donations, grants, increased attendance, gift shop, social media, community event with local small businesses, and legacy gifts.

Mayor Cole Stanley says the proposal would reduce the zoo’s $600,000 budget to $300,000 within a year, followed by annual $50,000 decreases until the facility becomes a fully self-sustaining nonprofit supported by the community.

Staffing was a major topic in the discussion.

Under the proposal, Wild West plans to retain part of the current zoo staff while incorporating members from its own organization.

To make that possible, the city would need to provide some transitional support to help with funding during the changeover.

The city was open to making that transition possible.

Stanley says they want all of the great employees that work for the City of Amarillo to stay here.

“We know that the team there at the Amarillo Zoo really love the animals and they work one-on-one with them every single day,” said Brady. “We’d love to be able to have some retention of the team that’s currently there and also bring in a few of our members of our team.”

Brady says some of her team plans to train alongside zoo staff and with experts at the Cameron Park Zoo in Waco to gain experience caring for animal species they haven’t worked with before.

“The potential for the zoo can be met, and it’s not constricted by you know budgets and things that the city has for it. As a nonprofit, we would be able to fundraise and do other things to get more money flowing into it to do some of the improvements,” said Christy Rowley, rehabber and president of the board for WWWRC.

Brady also proposed including land behind the zoo in future plans to provide room for expansion and additional animal habitats.

This proposal will remain an ongoing topic in future city council meetings as officials continue to discuss the best path forward for the zoo’s future.

It will be discussed at the city council meeting on Nov. 18.