Tulsa Zoo Receives Accreditation From Zoo Association

The Association of Zoos and Aquariums re-accredited the Tulsa Zoo Tuesday, and congratulated the zoo for the improvements made over the last two years.

For the past two years, the accreditation has been granted yearly and on the condition that the zoo continuing to make improvements. The accreditation commission raised concerns with some of the facilities, after a giraffe died from hypothermia in January 2010.

Tulsa Zoo has since been working to address those concerns.

The AZA requires zoo and aquariums to successfully complete this rigorous accreditation process every five years in order to be members of the association.

10/18/2010 Related Story: Tulsa Zoo Keeps Its Accreditation, But With Conditions

"Only zoos and aquariums that meet the highest standards are accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums," said AZA President and CEO Jim Maddy. "The community should take great pride in knowing that the Tulsa Zoo is ranked among the best zoos and aquariums in the world."

In March, Tulsa Zoo unveiled a master plan to make the zoo a world-class zoo. It called for remodeling projects to the chimpanzee and sea lion exhibits and plans to make the zoo easier to navigate.

3/6/2012 Related Story: Board Approves Master Plan For Tulsa Zoo

The CEO of the Tulsa Zoo, Terrie Correll said in a statement that they hope the master plan will be included as a quality of life project on the proposed Vision2 sales tax plan.

"We would use the funds from Vision2 to help complete the first phase of the Master Plan, which includes a new Asian cat exhibit, an improved chimpanzee exhibit and a completely revamped African savannah exhibit," Correll said.

Correll said the zoo aims to open a new or improved exhibit each year, which would result in more visitors, jobs, tourist dollars and an increased economic impact for all of Green Country.