Ellen Trout Zoo
The Angelina County Lumber Company Engine #110, on exhibit at the zoo.
31°22′31″N 94°43′38″W / 31.3752937°N 94.7271037°W / 31.3752937; -94.7271037
Date openedJune 17, 1967 [1]
LocationLufkin, Texas
Land area15 acres (6.1 ha) [2] pecies
No. of animals700 [1]
Annual visitors150,000
MembershipsAZA[3]
Websitecityoflufkin.com/zoo/

The Ellen Trout Zoo is a small zoo founded by Walter Trout in 1967 and located in Lufkin, Texas, United States. The zoo gets about 150,000 visitors a year.[4] It is currently owned and operated by the City of Lufkin, with Friends of Ellen Trout Zoo (F.O.E.T.Z.) (a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization) supporting it with funding for major expansion and renovation projects in the Zoo's master plan.[5]

The Ellen Trout Zoo is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). The zoo participates in several Species Survival Plans (SSP) including rhinos, Bali mynah, and cotton-top tamarin.[1]

History

In mid-December 1965, Trout received a 500-pound (230 kg) hippopotamus as a Christmas present. The hippo, named Hippie, was boarded at the Louisiana Purchase Gardens and Zoo in Monroe, Louisiana until a hippo pen was completed eighteen months later. The present zoo was built around the hippo pen, and was officially opened on June 17, 1967. The zoo was named after Trout’s mother.[4]

Since 1989, the Lufkin Kiwanis Club has helped with projects at the zoo. To date, thirteen projects have been completed, totaling over 3,200 person hours of donated time and $35,000 of donated materials.[6]

In 1999, the Maasai giraffe and white rhinoceros exhibits opened. These were followed by a Nile hippopotamus exhibit in 2002 where visitors can view the animals both above and below the waterline.[1] Hippie's old home is now the Koi pond exhibit.[4]

In 2007, a hippo named Pancho died after swallowing a rubber ball. The ball caused a blockage in the intestine that ended up causing a loss of oxygen to the brain and heart. The rubber ball was most likely put in the containment by a zoo visitor.[7]

Animals

The zoo currently houses about 700 animals and helps conserve close to 50 different species of animals that are in a Species Survival Plan.[4] Animals that visitors will see at the zoo include De Brazza's monkey, jaguar, Jamaican fruit bat, Galapagos tortoise, Fly River turtle, bontebok, blackbuck, emu, Bennett's wallaby, sulcata tortoise, nene, bay duiker, Malayan tapir, spectacled owl, Chilean flamingo, toco toucan, white-faced saki, Linnaeus's two-toed sloth, cotton-top tamarin, Komodo dragon, American alligator, Chinese alligator, Nile crocodile, Siamese crocodile, North American river otter, hippopotamus, bobcat, clouded leopard, lion, Malayan tiger, Masai giraffe, and southern white rhinoceros.

Education

Ellen Trout Zoo started offering educational programs to schools in the area in 1977. Current offerings include "Wildlife on Wheels," a series of in-classroom programs for elementary students about endangered species, animal adaptations, animal taxonomy, and rainforest environments, various school programs at the zoo, teacher workshops, university internships, and curriculum supplements.[8]

Summer programs include the Junior Zookeeper program for seventh, eighth, and ninth graders where children work directly with zookeepers, and the Zoo Safari program.[9]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 "About the Zoo". cityoflufkin.com. City of Lufkin. Archived from the original on 10 May 2010. Retrieved 8 May 2010.
  2. ↑ "Ellen Trout Zoo". americanzoos.info. American Zoos. Archived from the original on 28 November 2009. Retrieved 8 May 2010.
  3. ↑ "Currently Accredited Zoos and Aquariums". aza.org. AZA. Retrieved 11 April 2010.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Vernon, Cheril. "Lufkin's Ellen Trout Zoo Celebrates 50 Years". messenger-news.com. The Messenger. Retrieved 4 June 2019.
  5. ↑ "Friends of the Ellen Trout Zoo". cityoflufkin.com. City of Lufkin. Archived from the original on 12 May 2010. Retrieved 8 May 2010.
  6. ↑ "Ellen Trout Zoo Projects". go-lufkin.com. Kiwanis of Lufkin, TX. Archived from the original on 11 July 2011. Retrieved 8 May 2010.
  7. ↑ "Ellen Trout Zoo Hippo Dies". ktre.com. Retrieved 25 December 2019.
  8. ↑ "Education at the Zoo". cityoflufkin.com. City of Lufkin. Archived from the original on 12 May 2010. Retrieved 8 May 2010.
  9. ↑ "Ellen Trout Zoo". cityoflufkin.com. City of Lufkin. Archived from the original on 10 May 2010. Retrieved 8 May 2010.
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