Fort Wayne Children's Zoo

Educational & membership services:nearly 17,000 area households were zoo members in 2022, with membership sales coming in at 10% above our 7-year average. We also saw a 16% increase in renewals over previous years. "members-only" perks in 2022 included two member preview days at the beginning of our season, special offers and discounts all september long during member appreciation month including free guest passes and rides, as well as free admission to wild zoo halloween and our new winter event wild zoo wonderland.in 2022, the zoo hosted 601,427 guests. Special guest experience events were a hit with guests of all ages including a new event dino days with 19,833 guests. Wild zoo wonderland, another new event saw 8,223 guests attend this holiday inspired family daytime event. Perennial favorite, wild zoo halloween was the biggest of the events with 36,897 guests. Private events hosted a record 50 birthday parties and 63 corporate picnics at the zoo increasing guest attendance and revenue. Plans are underway to increase these numbers for 2023.

Zoo operations:the zoo is a conservation leader, providing $300,000 in direct conservation support with 30 conservation partners around the globe in 2022. The kids for nature conservation kiosk continues to involve guests in conservation, allowing them to vote among three projects with their zoo provided penny at the entrance. A portion of each ticket sale and membership goes to the zoo's conservation programs along with corks for conservation event proceeds, employee giving, guests donations and wild things gift shop "round up" program. The zoo participates in various research projects initiated by external and internal investigators that want to learn more about the animals that call our zoo home. For instance, eggs laid by our zebra shark, "valentine", have been submitted for a study aiming to learn more about their reproductive cycles and potential rates for parthenogenesis, or reproducing without a male present. As we continue to learn and share knowledge, we can better help these amazing animals thrive both under human care and in the wild. Head zoo veterinarian, kami fox and vet tech, sara sloan represented the Fort Wayne children's zoo by participating in the mariana islands avian conservation program in the south pacific. This important conservation program translocate endangered native bird species to additional mariana islands, as insurance populations to secure their long term survival. The Fort Wayne children's zoo has been participating in the mac program for more than 10 years.

Animal exhibits and improvements:more than 1500 animals call the Fort Wayne children's zoo home and are cared for daily by incredible animal care and health teams. Educating guests with more than 100 keeper chats weekly, accessing animal wellbeing, providing zoo animals with choice and control, training behaviors allowing the animals to assist in their medical care, and providing enrichment to elicit natural behaviors is just part of a day's work for our animal care specialists. In 2022, zoo season started with "protecting our flock" signs found throughout the zoo. All bird species remained in their indoor space as a highly transmittable avian flu was reported throughout Indiana, including allen county. On the advice of state veterinarian and state health officials, the birds remained off exhibit until mid-summer.the zoo celebrated the birth of raji, a clouded leopard cub. His parents raury and sanji were paired by the association of zoos and aquarium's clouded leopard ssp (species survival plan) in hopes of this positive outcome. Species survival plans are in place to create genetically diverse populations of animals to protect them from extinction. The zoo participates in 63 cooperative species survival plans. Tengku, the male orangutan, has a very special heart. In january, zoo staff, along with an entire team of animal healthcare professionals, took a revolutionary step in great ape cardiac advancements. In partnership with the great ape heart project, tengku, was recommended to receive an implantable loop recorder (ilr) device a tool that tracks cardiac function when inserted through a small incision near his heart. Tengku was only the second orangutan to have a successful ilr device inserted and working. Now we're able to scan the device and information is sent directly to his keepers and a great ape heart project cardiologist for analysis. The zoo celebrated the long life of giraffe matriarch, zuri, who died in late november days away from her 34th birthday. Zuri held the title as the oldest giraffe in north american for many years, which can be attributed to the excellent care she received at the zoo. Zuri arrived in Fort Wayne in 1989 and quickly became a zoo favorite among both animal care staff and guests. Zuri greeted over 17 million guests and was an exceptional ambassador animal for this endangered species. In 2022, the zoo was back in full swing with construction projects and maintenance. Red panda ridge construction leading the way with one of the oldest untouched areas of the zoo being reimagined. This project is expected to finish up early 2023 with a grand opening of red panda ridge scheduled for summer 2023. Maintenance and capital improvement projects in 2022 included a new look at the front entrance with newly painted front entrance buildings and upgraded signs; journey office improvements and additions; indonesian rainforest room upgrades; and new saki monkey and agouti exhibit space to name a few totaling $1.3 million dollars.